Easiest to Clean

[ghost squire]

Upon reading the M16/M4 in Desert thread I realized that alot of what has to do with a gun's reliability is how easy it is to clean. The easier it is, the more likely it is to recieve proper maintenance.

So list what you think the top easiest to clean semi automatic rifles are, in order and as many as you want, then a separate category for bolt actions.

Of course there are the freak rifles that almost don't need cleaning at all, such as the AK and FAL: http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=68486&perpage=30&pagenumber=1

But even they sometimes need cleaning. BTW that FAL now has like 10 or 15 thousand rounds through it with no cleaning.

 

[Chris Rhines]

I don't know of any common semi-auto rifles that are hard to clean. Once you have them apart, the procedure for cleaning is all the same - swap out bore, scrub dirt off major moving parts, lubricate, reassemble.

The AR is a cinch. AK similar. It's worth noting that when detail-stripped, the AR and AK have a similar number of small parts...

The FAL is easy to field-strip and a nightmare to detail strip. The M1/M14-pattern guns always struck me as being fairly involved. The CETME/G3 is pretty easy to take down, but not as nice as the AR or AK.

Dunno. I don't think any of them really stand out.

- Chris

 

[swingset]

AR-18/180 is about the easiest gun to clean I've shot or used. Very few parts, easy to get to all the areas, lots of room in the action to work around.

 

[SnakeEater]

AR, AK, HK-9x, FAL, M14, Garand, milsurps. Every single one is easy to field strip, easy to clean. The only difference is the intervals at which they must be cleaned. IMO the AR is gonna have the shortest intervals, the others are probably all pretty close.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I have always found the M1 Carbine bolt very difficult to reassemble. It is much harder than reassembling the bolt of an AR or M1A. There is a special tool that helps a lot, but you probably would not have it under field conditions.

 

[Medusa]

G36 is easy to clean, similar action to AR18, just barrel and gas system once in a while (like after a couple of thousands shots).
G3 wasn't hard too, just more pins. Detail stripping the bolt, though, is something I wouldn't do on the field.
Have shot M14 but not stripped that, it's supposed to be easy.

 

[Onmilo]

If by easiest to clean you mean field strip the weapon, clean it and reassemble it, then my order of preference would be,
1. M16/AR15
2.FN/FAL
3.G3/HK91/PTR91/Cetme
4.British L85A1
5..AK varients
5.M1/M14 type rifles

This short list just includes the very most often encountered combat weapons.
I'm not going to list Swiss, Swedish, Belgian,or German weapons that just aren't that common on the battlefields and though they made the bottom of my list I still lean towards the M1/M14 rifles as my favorite rifle designs.

 

[Ivy Mike]

My vote for a field strip and cleaning would be the AK and its variants.
Really easy to take down and plenty of room to work. Goes back together in a heartbeat.

 

[rbernie]

I don't know of any common semi-auto rifles that are hard to clean.

Commercial rifles that suck - Remington 7400, with the BAR not too far behind. (Disclaimer - I don't own a BAR but helped a friend clean one a while back.)

On the military-style side of things, I only have experience with the AR and AK rifles. Of those two, I vote for the AR as the easiest to field clean, especially if not disassembling the bolt. Even if doing it by the FM, it's still quite trivial. I've never seen a need to clean the gas system in the field, and frankly the forward locking lugs aren't much of an issue either unless you get mud/silt in 'em (which is true of any forward locking lug design). Our 'field expedient' cleaning was usually nothing more than a non-regulation pullthru down the bore, a wipedown and lube of the bolt, and a wipedown of the magazine insides when they got too crappy. Took less than five minutes from start to finish. Add another two minutes, and you could do a complete strip, clean, and reassembly of the bolt. Keeping the magazines and the bolt moving freely were the big reliability issues for us....

Dunno why anyone would think that the AK was difficult for a field-strip. To me, it's really quite simple and obvious how to pull the reciprocating bits out and give 'em a once-over. The only reason that I'd say that it's harder than the AR is because I find removing and replacing the bolt to be a bit easier in the AR.

 

[MechAg94]

I only have experience with the AR, AK, and M1/M1A platforms. Personally, I think the AR/AK platforms are about equal for the normal field strip and clean operation. Both come apart easily and go back together easily. I think I might say the AK edges out the AR simply because the AR bolt carrier assembly is slight more complicated and you have to take more care to remove any deposits.

The only complaint about the M1 I have is getting the Op rod off and on seems to be a trick I haven't mastered yet. I can do it, but it takes longer. Other than that, it is pretty easy also.

 

[ghost squire]

Interesting results here. I should have been more clear, I did mean a simple field strip, clean, reassemble.

What I'm seeing is that most people think that no gun is very much harder then another to field strip and clean, when in fact the exact opposite has been stated on this forum and many others uncountable times.