I do a lot of AR-15 shooting these days, either testing guns for articles, or just for my own shooting pleasure. One thing that I don’t especially enjoy, and never have, is AR cleaning. Because they use a gas tube rather than a gas piston, they require frequent cleaning. And they aren’t one of the easiest rifles to clean. Today, we’re looking at the AR cleaning tool, from CRKT and Ruger. Several years ago, Ruger commissioned CRKT to produce some cutlery for them – under the Ruger name, and it has been a great relationship.
The first time I handled an AR-15 type of rifle, was in October 1969, and it was the then US military combat rifle, in the form of the M16. I remember how happy I was to be issued this light-weight rifle, compared to the big and heavy M14 I carried in Basic Combat Training, and the recoil was nothing compared to that of the M14 with its 7.62 NATO round that kicked a bit hard for a scrawny 17 year old kid. And, to this day, I still remember the white glove inspections, when it came time to turn-in our M16s to the unit armorer, after we thought we had thoroughly cleaned those rifles. No matter how clean we thought we cleaned those M16s, the armorer always found something that needed more attention. I wised up to their inspections. I was more than content with my cleaning jobs, and I’d go to turn in my cleaned M16, only to be told it was still dirty. Well, I’d wait until much later, when the armorer wanted to close up for the day – and I’d then return my “re-cleaned” M16 – and guess what? Yep, it passed the inspection, without me cleaning it again.
Continue reading“CRKT/Ruger AR Cleaning Tool, by Pat Cascio”