Swab, Small Arms Cleaning
Small Arms Cleaning Swabs
Natural single nap cotton flannel swabs in two sizes, for the M16 rifle and the M240 machine gun. Lions Industries has been the sole supplier since 1980.
What a cleaning swab has to do inside a bore
A weapon bore is a narrow steel tube, and a cleaning patch is the only thing that touches the whole length of it. A patch that sheds lint leaves fibre behind in the rifling, a patch that is too thin tears on the cleaning rod, and a patch that is the wrong size either rattles loose in the bore or jams in it. The swab is a small part, but it is used again and again, so the cloth it is cut from matters.
The Lions Industries swab is made from natural color single nap cotton flannel. Flannel is cotton with a raised, soft surface, and in a single nap cloth that surface is brushed up on one side only. That raised cotton is what holds solvent and lifts residue as the patch is pushed through.
Bagged and loose cotton flannel cleaning swabs with a barcoded shipping label
Two cut sizes: .223 cal and .30 cal
The swabs are cut square in two published sizes. The .223 cal swab, NSN 1005-00-912-4248, measures 1.375 by 1.375 inches and is for the M16 rifle, 5.56mm. The .30 cal swab, NSN 1005-00-288-3565, measures 2.5625 by 2.5625 inches and is for 7.62mm, including the M240 machine gun.
Both ship in a package of 1,000, which is the unit of issue on the spec table below. Because a swab is only useful if it is the size the bore expects, the spec table lists each NSN beside the weapon it fits, so a requisition is never matched on the cloth alone.
The plant is at 4126 Berkeley Ave in Kinston, North Carolina, and the people who work in the Textiles department there are blind or visually impaired. Handling a cloth by feel, nap, weight and edge, is part of the trade.
Sole supplier to DLA Land & Maritime since 1980
Small arms cleaning swabs are manufactured for DLA Land & Maritime in Columbus, Ohio, and Lions Industries for the Blind has been the sole supplier since 1980. That is longer than any other product on the floor, and it is a year that has been on the record for decades, not a figure for a brochure.
Like the rest of the plant's federal work, the swabs are sold under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act and made under an ISO 9001:2015 certificate, no. A-702. For a question about either NSN or a package count, call customer service at (252) 523-1019 between 7 AM and 5:30 PM, Monday to Thursday.
Sole supplier since 1980 · DLA Land & Maritime, Columbus, OH · ISO 9001:2015 certificate A-702
Spec sheet
- Nomenclature
- Swab, Small Arms Cleaning
- 1005-00-912-4248
- .223 cal, 1.375 x 1.375 in (M16 rifle, 5.56mm)
- 1005-00-288-3565
- .30 cal, 2.5625 x 2.5625 in (7.62mm, M240 machine gun)
- Agency
- DLA Land & Maritime, Columbus, OH
- Unit of issue
- Package of 1,000
- Supplier since
- 1980