Introduction: Survival Firearm Cleaning Kit
B.O.B. bags are gaining popularity. Thousands of bag configurations, most have firearms. I haven't seen a single post on cleaning kits for said firearms. I'm hopefully teaching you something new. anyone building a bag has probably noticed that their shiny brass cleaning kit complete with oil and solvent compartments all in a decorative case (both of mine depicted above)won't easily fit in a stuffed pack. Many probably never thought of it. If you have a battle rifle of some sort you'll have an advantage.
What you'll be needing is your gun and some intimate knowledge of its use and parts. So buy/read the factory manual! You must be able to field strip the arm! Everything else will vary.
What you'll be needing is your gun and some intimate knowledge of its use and parts. So buy/read the factory manual! You must be able to field strip the arm! Everything else will vary.
Step 1: Cleaning Tools
The most common method of cleaning involves connecting rods usually made of brass. if you own a battle rifle like my SKS, it already has a cleaning kit (depicted above). The rod is under the barrel. the tools are in the stock contained within the rod handle. For my 12ga I have a bore snake (depicted). its lite and fits a smaller space than some brass rods. Let's pretend I'm building this for the 12ga. For the sake of my bag, I'll pick the boresnake.
Step 2: Cleaning Cloth
For the rag and clothes, if you didn't turn it into charcloth, you can desecrate a cotton shirt to obtain a rag and a bunch of little clothes. The clothes aren't necessary for the bore snake but they're reusable. Add some q tips for firearms with tight nooks and crannies.
Step 3: Solvent and Oil
This is where it gets interesting. You can get a stinky bottle of solvent and some oil. many claim that Automatic Transmission Fluid(ATF) acts as a detergent AND a lube with much success. ATF lubricates at a broad range of temperatures. On community.police.sumthin, I found a formula used by some east coast swat team. They say, in a clean 1gal plastic mayonnaise jar, mix 2qt 10W30(or any motor oil) with 1qt ATF then add a bottle of hopped gun lube. They claim its about $.20 an ounce and very slick! Many older battle rifle can be greased instead of oiled. My SKS came from the store smothered in Delo maintenance grease. Smells weird when it warms up.
Step 4: Containment
Now all that's left is to store it. If you want take the whole bottle of oil or pick up a medics bottle with a dropper from the hippie store. You can cram all this into a variety of items. if you downsized, you can cram it all in a binder pencil sleeve. Or you could always store the oil separately. The rest would probably fit in a powerbait jar.