Alternatives for Cleaning Your Firearms

Among his comments about the Fireclean "scandal," American Mercenary notes what he uses for cleaning and lubing his AR:

Want to know what I think you should absolutely have for your AR-15?

Motor oil, automatic transmission fluid, and lithium grease. All available at pretty much any store with an automotive section.

The motor oil cleans the bolt and bolt carrier group. Honestly nothing I've ever used pulls off carbon better than plain motor oil. I use standard multi-weight but if you are in a marine environment you should buy non-detergent oil. It won't clean as good (not that you'd notice), but it will protect much better against corrosion.

The ATF is used to clean the barrel. If it's really bad, cut open a plastic bottel, fill it halfway with ATF and use a bronze brush and piercing jag to make long even strokes. You'll be really happy with what's left at the bottom of the bottle when you are done.

If you have a barrel that collects copper easily, you might want to get a copper removing agent as well. Foaming bore cleansers are pretty user friendly. If you use a powder with decoppering agents, or exposed lead bases on the bullet, you are probably good to go with just the ATF. If you don't want to buy a commercial product you can search for ammonia/dish soap recipes.

When you reassemble the bolt into the bolt carrier group, I like to dab a small amount of grease around the bolt and cam pin area.

Make sure you run a dry patch down the bore that comes out dry before ending your cleaning session.