You know? I have seen a few mentions of firearms in the forum and a section in "Gear/Equipment," and yet nowhere have I seen mention of a cleaning kit added to bags full of equipment. Especially when the weapon is part of a BOB, a cleaning kit would be of huge importance. <br><br>I am currently deployed in Bosnia and I have to carry an M16 with me everywhere I go. I clean mine more than most people seem to clean theirs and I still consider myself to be a little negligent. With the snow and sand and just daily carry, that sucker gets pretty nasty fast. <br><br>In a survival situation, odds are the reason you are breaking out all your survival gear did not begin with a clean start. A cleaning kit, even just a flexible bore brush, a couple of patches and a little tiny bit of lube, could go a long way towards keeping your weapon in good shape. <br><br>If your intended purpose is to be included in a BOB, you might want to consider a full cleaning kit as mandatory. A multi-purpose brush, bore brush, and chanber brush, not to mention a bunch of patches and lube are mandatory.<br><br>You can't depend on your weapon being there for you when you really need it, if the darn thing is so dirty, it doesn't operate correctly. If you are in a wet environment, your weapon will begin to rust. Water+steel=rust. Funny how that works. If your weapon is a semi-auto, it will be guarunteed to jam if not taken care of. Whenever we go to the range as a group, somebody always complains about there weapon jamming during the timed qualification. When their weapon is inspected, sand, dirt whatever is all over the inner workings. I always go to the range with a spotless weapon. I have yet to have my weapon jam on me. Hmmm.<br><br>If you are depending on a weapon to keep yourself alive, for whatever reason, and you don't have a way to keep it well maintained, your asking for an unfortunate end to your existance.<br><br>

good catch on the cleaning kit and kudos for handling a wepaon responsibly. I have spent my fair share of time is Bosnia and I can tell you some of the folks shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons much less worry about cleaning one. I have witnessed two "accidental discharges" one in the Tuzla chow hall and the other at the clearing barrel right in front of it. Stay safe<br><br>Brian

I just bought one of the Otis "compact" cleaning kits. Mainly because my range bag is way, way too heavy.<br><br>It seems to work OK. They have FSNs for some of their kits. Their M16 Kit fits in the butt stock and their M4 kit fits in a trap door pistol grip. Most of their other kits fit in a 3" x 1 1/2" (approx) pouch.<br><br>I rember reading that the WWII era Southeast Asia area gorilias had a dificult time mantaining their weapons (i.e., only had access to motor oil). A good CLP (cleaner/lubracant/protectant) would be good to have on hand.<br><br> larry<br>

Larry,<br><br>The cleaning kit in a buttstock or handle trap door is a good call. Especially for a "survival" situation. Where all you want is the essentials. However for a long term kit, ie with all the stuff you need to do a really good job, there is no way it would fit. <br><br>So it comes down to the type of weapon, assault/military or civilian. Most assault style rifles I've seen have a compartment for a cleaning kit. Most civilian weapons I've seen do not. <br><br>It also comes down to your plan for the weapon. Short term protection/hunting which means you need only the essentials, and the "buttstock" kit would be fine. Or a long term "end of the world" bag where you need a decent quality kit. <br><br>It's your choice which one works for you. I'm not specifically advocating either. My biggest point is related to the purpose of the website. To get somebody who doesn't know much about anything survival, and educate them. I've seen at least one example of somebody putting together a kit, with little or no information, setting up a kit with a firearm. That's all fine well and good, but no mention of a cleaning kit is on this site. Blows me away. The plane crash survival plan is another big piece of this site. What are the odds that the weapon will be clean after impact? And on a plane, where temperatures change a lot, condensation on the weapon might be an issue (I'm not a pilot, I don't know). Wouldn't it be worth while to include just a little bit in the right section relating to proper care and maintenance? The last thing you want when you really need it, is a rusted out, nasty weapon. That's just asking for trouble.<br><br><br>Brian,<br><br>Did you say IN the chowhall. Holy Sh*T. I've heard about a few accidentals here but haven't witnessed one yet. Which chow hall was it. I'm on Eagle Base, is that what your referring to as "Tuzla?" Commanche is also technically in the Tuzla area. Was anybody hurt or did it just blow a hole in the ceiling or something?<br><br>When were you over here?<br><br>

Having the equipment regardless of what it is is worthess if you don't know how to use. This applies to everything from first aid supplies to weapons. <br> Yes it was IN the Eagle base chow hall luckly no one was hurt other than a few elevated heart rates. I have been in and out of that area 2-4 weeks at a time since 96. I still have some guys that come in everyonce in a while but I have since transferred

Outstanding Point!!

Yea, well, er...<br><br>I guess that since I have been shooting for 40 years, the cleaning part just went unsaid. You certainly said it (and I say it in every basic NRA class I teach) -- care and maintainance of your equipment is vital to its functioning when you really need it. You can improvise some cleaning gear (i.e., patches, misc brushes), but some you can not. You should have a reasonable suppily of the stuff ya' jest gotta have.<br><br>My basic shooting bag kit would be perfectly OK for 6 months to a year (I use Miltec-1 -- a little goes a long way). If I were hitting the road, my main cleaning kit would go (it's in a medium sized tool box) and asside from patches would last many years.<br><br>Storage and especally long term storage is yet another issue. Depending on the term there are many solutions. Cosmoline seems to have a proven track record for long term storage, but you must clean, clean, clean before you use the weapon.<br><br> Larry<br><br><br>