The nice thing about a US GI Cleaning Kit is that it's always with you, stored right there, snug in the buttstock of your rifle. In addition to being useful for field emergencies, by adding 2/3 pound to the rifle's weight, it damps down the already-mild recoil of the M14/M1A even more.

The GI cleaning kit consists of the following:

    The combination tool/cleaning rod handle. This tool has a screwdriver, a nut wrench for the gas cylinder nut, and is designed to disassemble the bolt. It can also be used as a light hammer for various purposes. Very handy to deal with the common problem of a rear sight loosening up on you in the field, or the need to replace a firing pin or extractor (rare, but when it happens, it's nice you keep a spare with you - with the combo tool, it's a few minutes to get your rifle running again; no need to quit and go home for the day).

    A 4-piece sectional cleaning rod and patch holder tip. I wouldn't use this to clean the bore on a regular basis - a one-piece steel rod is best for that - but if you get a barrel obstruction issue in the field - a stuck bullet, or heaven forbid, snow or other debris lodged in the barrel - it will quickly take care of it for you. A section of the cleaning rod can also come in handy as a lever to pop up the trigger guard to take down the rifle.

    A .30 bore brush - this may be a new commercial copy, the only part of the cleaning kit which is not original US GI.

    A cloth pouch to keep the rod sections in. Keep in mind these are orginal, which means most are nearly 50 years old, and have become somewhat fragile. Even when new, careless GIs would rip the tab off, pulling the pouch out of the buttstock. I would NOT reccommend you use the tab for pulling the pouch out! And I would be careful sliding the rod sections back into the pouch! It's not eggshells, but they are not as strong as they used to be...

    A chamber brush. "Keeping your chamber clean and dry" is key to keeping your rifle from malfunctioning. GI barrels, being chrome-lined, do not require to be oiled at any time. Your chamber should always be clean and dry. The chamber brush is specifically designed for that purpose.

    A two-compartment oiler. Your choice, grease in one end, and bore cleaner (for emergency use) in the other; or grease in one end, and oil in the other.

WARNING: These are original items from the 1960's - 50 years ago! The cloth rod pouch was never all that strong in the first place, and 50 years of exposure to oil and grease haven't made it stronger.

DO NOT PULL THE CLEANING ROD POUCH OUT BY THE TAB. The cleaning rods and pouch typically fit tightly in the stock. The pouch is at least 50 years old and can be fragile. Pull the pouch out by the tab at your own risk! Judging by the # of pouches I see without a tab, even when they were new, they were always weak. Suggestion: Raise your rifle after opening the butttrap door, and gently tap the butt down on something wood to ease the pouch out.

WARNING:  THE CLEANING ROD POUCH is likely OVER 60 years old, and for most of that time has been exposed, maybe even soaked in oil and bore cleaner, weakening the cloth, regardless of how new it appears. I would treat the pouch as a “collectible” and be careful about putting it to any actual use. It's very easy to insert a rod section, and have it punch thru the bottom of the pouch! (You could simply wrap the rod sections, tip and bore brush in a piece of cloth if you want to carry the c/k stored in your rifle.)

The pouch, rods, tip and brush were just a triffle tight in fitting in the compartment. Get a little too rough in insertion or removal, and you can easily have a torn pouch!

Because of the age and potential fragility of the pouch, you use it at your own risk; it’s up to you to determine how strong the pouch is, and how much to use the pouch, and all sales involving c/k pouches are therefore final.

ADVICE: Do not use this kit to clean the barrel, except in the field, when there's a need to rod the bore (grass, leaves dirt, snow, etc - or a stuck bullet). For regular cleaning, you need a one-piece stainless steel rod and tip - and a bore guide which fits on the rod, and keeps it centered so it doesn't wear the muzzle.

CLEAN YOUR BARREL "THE CAMP PERRY WAY": I learned this at Camp Perry, and it works well. First, run two separate patches soaked in bore cleaner back and forth (each one once!) thru the barrel (I use cheap US GI surplus bore cleaner). Then a soaked brush back and forth ten complete times (warning: make sure the brush exits the barrel at the chamber end each time - never try to reverse the brush while it's in the barrel, unless you want to buy a new brush). Follow up with three separate soaked patches (each one back-and-forth, once), then three dry patches (again, each one back-and-forth, once). The third dry patch should come out clean...

                                                                                                 FRED