Shooting Voodoo

 

Practical Field Maintenance Kits

By Ian Kenney

 

 

Today, there is a wide range of products available to the civilian shooter in order to help them maintain their firearms and in some cases perform minor repairs themselves.  At the range, or in a field environment, cleaning and maintaining a firearm can be problematic but it’s not impossible.  Carrying a simple cleaning and maintenance kit provides some cheap insurance to ensure a planned range trip or hunt isn’t wasted by a simple problem. An adequate field maintenance kit should be able to removed debris from the bore, check the tightness or screws, and have some necessary spares, such as batteries, should something need to be replaced.  With so many resources available to the shooter it’s very easy to create kits from the simple to the comprehensive. 

 

 

First lets discuss some simple options to create an effective field maintenance kit that will take care of some common problems that often ruin a trip to the range or on a hunt.  The first example of a simple, yet effective kit, is for one of my Remington 700 rifles that fits into the Eagle Industries stock pack. The tools in this kit have been specifically selected for the caliber and optics set up so that everything from clearing the barrel to checking the torque on action screws and scope rings can be done.  There are even a couple of extra screws and a battery should something get lost or unexpectedly die.  A small bottle of bore cleaner or CLP can be easily added in the stock pack for lubricating the bolt or for the Bore Snake.

 

   

Despite the simple tools in this kit, it can still perform everything needed to perform basic cleaning and maintenance functions in the field.  For example, with the wrenches proper torque on the screws and mounts can be checked, in fact the scope can be removed from the rail and the action from the stock and then reassembled to the proper torque with little, to no, impact shift.  Additional items such as lens wipes, a lens pen, q-tips, or broken shell extractor can be added to make it even more useful.

 

 Another simple kit that I put together for my AR15 uses some components from an Otis Technologies cleaning kit as well as a few other items, all stored in the Vltor E-Mod stock and Ergo brand pistol grip. 

 

 

Pistol Grip		Stock
Component	Purpose	Component	Purpose
1/8” Wrench	Secure front BUIS	3/8” Wrench	Adjust LaRue mount
5/64” Wrench	Reset turrets	Otis Cable w/ obstruction remover and .223 bore brush	Clear obstruction from the barrel and remove major particles.
T-15 Wrench	Check ring cap screw torque	123 Batteries	Replacements for attached white light
8-40 Screws	Ring cap screws
CR2032 Battery	Scope illumination
Penny	Improvised screwdriver for BUIS and light

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though there are not many components to the kit, it can still ensure the barrel stays clear of obstructions, everything stays firmly attached, and moving parts stay moving.   Otis Technologies also makes a cleaning kit that can be housed inside of a standard A2 style pistol grip that contains a cable, obstruction remover, patch holder, a couple of patches, and a bore brush. It’s a handy kit that’s worth checking out. 

 

 Something a little more comprehensive than the above kits is a field maintenance kit that I based off of a newer model Otis Sniper Cleaning Kit.  I chose to use this kit based on my experience with it in the military and the fact that I wasn’t happy with the previous maintenance kits that I had previously used.  I knew that the components of the kit were very well made and could do a very good job at cleaning multiple calibers just as the kit was designed to do.  I retained all of the stock components of the kit and added some tools and spare parts to make it a more well rounded kit capable of doing quite a bit. Below is a picture of all of the components and as you’ll see I’ve added quite a few extras to the kit.

 

  

 

Item #	Description	Item #	Description
1	Bottle of CLP	18	Detail Brush
2	Otis Gun Multi-Caliber Patches	19	Pin Punch
3	Otis Short Cleaning Cable	20	½” Wrench
4	Otis Long Cleaning Cable	21	3/8” Wrench
5	T-Handle Set	22	T-30 Wrench
6	NATO Thread Adapter	23	5/32” Wrench
7	5.56, 9mm, 7.62, and .45cal bore brushes	24	5/64” Wrench
8	Small Slotted Tip	25	T-15 Wrench
9	Large Slotted Tip	26	7/64” Wrench
10	Large Obstruction Remover	27	3/32” Wrench
11	Small Obstruction Remover	28	.223 Broken Shell Extractor
12	Lens Pen Felt Tip	29	.308 Broken Shell Extractor
13	Lens Brush	30	1/16” Pin Punch
14	Accessory Rod Sections	31	AR-15 Spare Parts: Ejector, extractor, gas rings, firing pin retaining pin
15	Toothbrush	32	Remington 700 Spare Parts: Ejector, extractor, stock safety
16	Pick	33	Spare Screws: 8-40, 6-48, 10-32
17	Scraper	34	CR2032 Battery

 

All of it is easily contained in the stock pouch and weighs in at roughly 12 oz.

 

The additions to the kit mainly focused on the disassembly and the replacement, or repair, of broken/missing components of the firearms I typically shoot.   My criteria for the items that I added were that they shouldn’t require special tools that couldn’t be contained in the pouch or improvised by something else such as using a multi-tool instead of a hammer for the pin punches.  I chose the spare parts using the same basic criteria…they were parts that didn’t need special tools to replace or were parts that had failed me previously. Most of the spare parts are replacement parts for the Remington 700 and AR15 bolt assemblies such as spare ejectors and extractors as well as spare screws for the optics mounts and gas block.  The kit cannot only take care of rifles, it can also effectively clean pistols as well using the short cable and the 9mm or .45 caliber bore brushes.

 

Now some would ask, how do the L-wrenches allow the scopes to be reattached with the same amount of torque every time?  Well, the answer is incredibly easy, witness marks.  Simply attach everything to the rifle and torque it down to the manufacturer’s specifications. Now take a sharpie, paint pen, or similar marking instrument and make lines across it so that any movement or rotation can be detected.  With those marks in place when something is removed it can be reattached and the screws tightened until the marks line up and the proper torque is applied.  It’s a bit trickier for things like the ring cap screws and base screws however there is a method to ensure they have proper torque as well.  Hold the L-wrench by the little end and turn the screw until it cannot be turned anymore while holding the little end…this should provide plenty of torque for those screws.

 

Examples of witness marks on the action screws and ring cross bolts that can aid in getting the proper torque if no torque wrench is available.

 

As a sort of beta project I used my improved Otis kit as the basis for a “deployment kit” that contained specific tools for the job of disassembling and reassembling the rifles, while still leaving plenty of room for any additional items.  The pouch is an Eagle utility with plenty of home stitched elastic to hold the tools in place, while definitely not professional quality, it works.

 

 

  

Side 1:

This side contains the Leatherman Super-tool, Wheeler FAT Wrench, Torque Wrench Bits, and Remington Bolt Disassembly Tool.  Any good quality multi-tool will work fine in this type of kit but some useful tools for it to have are varying sized flat-headed screwdrivers, needle nose pliers, and a file.  The multi-tool can also be used as an impact device to help drive out trigger pins or roll pins.  I’m using the FAT wrench because it has a very useable torque range from 10-65 in/lbs which will take care of just about anything as far as reassembly goes.  While a bolt disassembly tool isn’t absolutely necessary it does help greatly.

 

Side 2:

This side contains the Otis kit and a LED Mini-Mag Light with additional space for other items. I’ve found that a white LED light is excellent for inspecting parts, chambers, bores, or whatever else I need well illuminated.

 

An added benefit to using a soft utility pouch, as opposed to a hard case, is that the utility pouch is MOLLE compatible, which enables it to be easily attached to a pack or drag bag.  It is also much less awkward to pack into a range bag than a hard case would be increasing the user friendliness.  While I won’t be taking a kit like this everywhere I go it is fun to see what can be done with the concept and having the piece of mind knowing I could have everything I need at my disposal while away from the workbench.

 

As nice as the above kit is to have, with great tools like the bolt disassembly tool and Wheeler FAT wrench, it can still be miniaturized and maintain an equal level of effectiveness.  This is done by substituting some of the items in the kit for smaller alternatives or by using field expedient methods.  For example, the torque wrench can be substituted with the wrenches in the kit and witness marks placed on all of the critical screws that have been torqued to specification.  The bolt disassembly tool can be substituted with a piece of 550 cord or boot lace, further reducing the size of the kit.  The Mini-Mag light can be replaced with a small LED thumb light, which can fit into the Otis pouch itself.  Essentially the entire contents of the bag can be substituted and made to fit within the Otis pouch itself, save for the Leatherman tool.  This greatly reduces the size and weight while still having the benefit of a comprehensive field cleaning kit.

 

 

It is important to ensure that your firearms are always in good working order not only to ensure they last a long time but also to ensure that will be safe for future generations.  The key to keeping them that way is good preventative maintenance and cleaning while at home so that there is less of a chance of something going wrong when it counts the most.  Using the examples above can provide the basis for your own kit and provide some cheap insurance should something unfortunate occur while away from the work bench.