Uh Oh, My new Colt M4...I should have asked

[elchucko]

Brought my new Colt 22 cal M4 OPS home yesterday afternoon. I tried cleaning the gun barrel from the breach with an Otis flexible rod kit. I opened the receiver, oops I thought as I attempted to insert the brass fitting into the breach. There's not enough clearance (the bolt to barrel) opening to insert the end of the Otis flex rod! OK, assuming you are cleaning the barrel from the breach, how do you do it without taking the slide action and bolt out of the thing? At this point my only option is to insert a cleaning rod from the muzzle end to clean the barrel. I knew from reading up on the subject the Colt was not as easy to clean as other 22 ARs but I didn't consider this to be an issue because the issue was not brought up or at least it flew by me! :confused:

[Microgunner]

You might try a BoreSnake.

They get into small breach openings.

[elchucko]

I should have asked "how do you clean your Colt"? I think a problem with a bore snake is after several or many uses the snake is fouled and cleaning the snake is an issue.

[elchucko]

The cleaning instruction steps found in another "sticky" post on this forum goes into breaking down the Colt beyond what the manufacturer recommends to do more through cleaning. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any detailed instructions on a "basic" clean other than "clean the barrel" and breach. I guess I've been used to clean guns from the breach. I'll do the muzzle if there are no other alternatives.

[Microgunner]

Cleaning the BoreSnake is easy and should be done frequently.

Simply wad it up into a dirty sock and throw it in with the wash.

Comes out like new.

You can buy a cone shaped bore guide for the muzzle when forced to clean this way.

[techmike]

Colt says to use a 1" long .22 cal brush from the muzzle end. I have never seen a 1" long brush. I also use a bore snake for intermediate cleanings, then strip it down to do a real cleaning.

[techmike]

Well, I sit corrected. Amazon has 1 inch brushes. LINK And I recommend this for a rod - LINK.

It is very important to remember: Do not remove the flash hider for cleaning. If you remove the flash hider and push a cleaning rod down the bore from the muzzle end, the barrel will come loose from the slide housing, and at best a spring and small pin will come loose. At worst the spring will be damaged and the slide (bolt) will no longer lock open on an empty mag. Then you will also have to fully disassemble the internals to set it right.

[asmurff]

I've washed my bore snakes in both the washer and the dishwasher, both ways it comes out nice and clean.