I have really taken to Swab-its Cleaning Foam Swabs since I evaluated them in October 2016. At that time, I worked with their Bore-Sticks, Bore-Tips and Gun-Tips swabs. These remarkable cleaning aids are lint-free and reusable and, for many handgun cleaning chores that I have applied them to, have taken the place of traditional cleaning patches, which really simplifies things. What I particularly like is that my hands stay cleaner when using them.
A few words about the reusable part. When we think of foam tools, we tend to think of foam paint brushes, which are dirt cheap and disposable. Some folks may take the time to clean them and reuse them, but I don’t. I prefer to pitch them in the trash. Swab-its aren’t like that.
While they are reasonably cheap (a four-count bag of Bore-Tips are $9.99), they aren’t as cheap as paint brushes. The foam used in them is designed for repeated, rugged use. All Swab-its products can be cleaned by using mineral spirits or liquid dish soap. Rather than have to clean them outside using mineral spirits, I’ve opted to clean them with Dawn dishwashing liquid and hot water, allowing them to soak in a disposable cup. While this method doesn’t tend to return them to their original white color, it does remove the surface dirt, which is the important part. Someday I might try mineral spirits, but so far that hasn’t seemed necessary.
The Swab-its I’ve really liked to use are the smaller Bore-Sticks. These have allowed me to get deep down into various handgun recesses — like those on an older Glock that I have — and have allowed me to get those recesses very clean (without having to do an armorers strip for areas that can’t be reached with a patch or rag). They have also been great for cleaning out folding knives.
Recently, Swab-its sent me a new swab, one specifically designed to assist in the onerous chore of cleaning an AR-15 rifle: the Star Chamber Cleaning Foam Swab.
The direct-impingement AR-15 rifle is not only the most popular rifle on the planet, it is also the dirtiest after shooting. Direct-impingement operation means that a portion of gas is siphoned off near the end of the barrel with each shot fired. Instead of blowing against a piston like in an M1 Carbine, M1 Garand or gas-piston AR-15, to cycle the action — which keeps the hot gases and carbon from the cartridge propellant from fouling the action — the gas IS in fact blown directly into the bolt carrier, which is the moving part of the action. This system was used by AR-15/M16 inventor Eugene Stoner to save weight on his ultra-modern rifle, which was initially intended to be used as a perimeter security rifle for Airmen guarding U.S. Air Force bases. Direct impingement saves about a pound of weight over AR-15s that use any one of a myriad of piston systems out there on the market. (It is also significantly less expensive than piston-driven ARs.) Short-barreled ARs like M4-type carbines and SBRs (Short-Barreled Rifles — ARs with 7- to 10-inch barrels) are particularly prone to fouling, because the path from the barrel port through the gas tube is shorter than on the 20-inch full-length rifle. The powder does not have the time to fully combust before it is blown into the action, leaving particulate inside. With a piston-driven AR, this isn’t an issue. Like everything else in life, the AR-15 operating system is a trade-off.
Perhaps the hardest place to clean easily is the AR-15’s chamber, also known as the “star” chamber. The chamber has a series of locking lug grooves all the way around it that mate up to the teeth on the rifle bolt itself. Although this is not the dirtiest part of the AR-15, it does get dirtier than the same area in a piston-driven AR-15.
The chamber area is a pain to get clean. I usually clean it by spraying some Gunslick Ultra-Klenz cleaner into it and wiping with patches or a clean rag. This tends to do a pretty good job, but doesn’t get all the fouling. Swab-its Star Chamber Cleaning Foam Swabs are specifically designed to work the grooves in the chamber to clear it.
The Star Chamber Cleaning Foam Swab is T-shaped rather than round like other Swab-its products. According to Swab-its, the T is designed to compress and pass behind the locking teeth into the lug recess of the chamber, providing 360-degree coverage of removing fouling from between and up under the teeth. Equipped with a plastic handle, the Star Chamber Cleaning Foam Swab seems to be a much cheaper and simpler solution than cleaning patches available from other companies.
I tested the Star Chamber Swab-its on a Century Arms C15 A1 rifle. Sadly, this model is no longer in production by Century. It had not been cleaned since its last firing. I sprayed a Star Chamber Foam Swab with Gunslick Ultra-Klenz. The flexible plastic handle allowed me to run the foam swab up through the magazine well to clean the chamber grooves out. As you see by the photo, the swab worked as advertised and picked up a goodly amount of fouling with just a few passes through all the grooves.
Swab-its is producing a large number of firearms cleaning aids tailored to specific tasks. A three-pack of reusable Swab-its Star Chamber Cleaning Foam Swabs is $14.99.
More info at: www.swab-its.com
