What is your best gun cleaning trick?

I have a bunch of different tips and tricks I've picked up and adapted over the years. I'll list a few.

First and foremost, is that many people clean their guns way too often. I know it goes against everything were taught growing up and/or in the military... but overcleaning can cause parts to wear out faster. I don't usually clean until after a few hundred rounds at least.

-Lube is much more important to firearm, always make sure you use enough.

-Utilize grease. Grease works very well on sliding parts on a firearm, and I'll tend to use it on places like the slides of pistols, and on the bolt carrier group for my AR. Use a very thin coat, or you'll get some splatter your first few shots. I use cheap automotive white lithium grease. Some firearms function better with grease, such as M1a's and Garands.

-Choose the viscosity of your lube according to the temp outside. A thicker lube when it is hot out, and a thinner lube when it is freezing.

-I stopped using traditional cleaning rods awhile ago, and have been using boesnakes ever since. Makes cleaning much easier.

-Use those disposable blue shop rags instead of paper towels. They work much btter when wiping your firearm down, don't leave lint, and last much longer. A roll is only 2 dollars and lasts a long time.

-If you use dental picks, make sure you get the plastic or coated ones to prevent scratches.

-Ed's red bore cleaner is a very famous homemade bore cleaner made from materials found in most hardware or automotive stores. A whole gallon can be made for less than $20. It is made up of equal parts k1 kerosene, dexron III ATF fluid, acetone and mineral spirts. Most of these items can be used as a cleaner themselves, when combined it works even better.

-You don't need to spend a lot of money on a big cleaning kit. I do about 90% of my cleaning with a brush, q-tips, shop rags and a boresnake.

-Fireclean. Hands down the best cleaning and lube product I've ever used. Read the reviews on it. Its the fist miracle cleaner I've used that works as advertised.

Well, that's what I could think of off the top of my head. Hope it helps

My best gun cleaning trick - is to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner that is large enough to dip a whole pistol in. Taking any gun apart and re-assembling it slowly dings all the parts and it will loosen them over time. Match shooters will dip their match pistol into a ultrasonic cleaner - it gets ALL the dirt, grease and grime out without having to disassemble it. You then rinse in hot water and blow dry with a heat gun until all the parts are too hot to touch - or if you don't have a nice one, you can use a hair dryer in a pinch. Just lube up the important places and you are good to go. This is especially nice when doing weekly match shooting and practice shooting several days a week.

I don't like cleaning rods on my rifles. I found Otis has a nice cleaning wire pack as well as other great stuff. I highly recommend it.

Personally I dislike running metal/copper brushes through my barrel especially if I'm just cleaning it after it been sitting a while. Normally I just use patches for clean up sessions and only run a brush via a bore snake or a chamber brush when I come back from the range.

So long as you use good quality CLP, you should be a-okay and much easier time cleaning.

Obviously with a cleaning rod with an open end it will scratch up and damage the barrel. My number one cleaning tip is to not send anything down a barrel other than a bullet until the groups open up.

Crazy Dan uses my secret: Bore snake. Best for a fast bore clean.

Mineral spirts. End of message.

Spray brake parts cleaner is one of the best cleaning aids yet.

I spray the bore generously with M-Pro7 foaming cleaner. I spray from muzzle to chamber (Before you give me hell hear me out.) I usually let the solvent work for about an hour then I revisit it. I dip my copper brush (selected for caliber) in the solvent and run it through the bore several times muzzle to chamber. If I look inside I see a black slurry coating the barrel. I then use my trusty Hoppes bore snake and do about 3 passes through the bore. I then run a patch through the bore, it's always white. I lubricate a patch with Hoppes 9 and run it through the bore. Next I spray the entire upper receiver with solvent and let it sit, after it's freed up the gunk I go at it with an old tooth brush and several ear cleaners. The trigger assembly and lower parts of the weapon vary by make and model, but I do make sure to clean them thoroughly as well after every trip to the range.

Dental picks are my secret. Work wonders for getting all the nooks and crannies clean. Particularly when I add a new one to my family. I tend to buy obsolete military weapons, and they can be pretty full of crud in the hard to reach areas.