Brian Sain, the founder of Americansnipers.org, has a new cleaning kit intended for use by long range trigger pullers. SAIN Defense not only represents the owner’s last name but stands for “Sniper And INfantry”.
One of the daily duties of a working sniper is keeping his rifle clean. I do not clean the majority of my firearms until they stop working, but I make an exception when it comes to my long range shooting sticks.
Most of the time this is accomplished via a nylon coated one piece 26″ to 36″ cleaning rod that conveniently stores in a Pelican case or in the drag bag. Unfortunately a military sniper may not have one of these in his load out and carrying one by itself can be problematic and susceptible to breakage or loss. Additionally the one-piece rods can have a tendency to flex and can damage the precious lands and grooves if not handled properly or used with a bore guide.
Segmented cleaning rods are typically avoided as the edges of the sections can damage the lands and grooves of the barrel and affect long range accuracy. At least that was always our impression until we saw it done correctly by SAIN Defense.
SAIN Defense Cleaning Kit
The SAIN Defense Cleaning Kit solution is based on Sain’s experience as a police sniper and feedback from the military and police sniping communities — feedback he is in an unparalleled position to obtain.
SAIN Defense’s cleaning kit is compartmentalized and stored in a modular “book” as Brian calls it. This is a segmented rod system that differs from the others on the market as the connecting ends are made of brass that will not damage the hardened steel of a rifle bore with the cable being a smaller diameter. The Swiss military designed similar tool decades ago; Sain’s is an improvement.
Interestingly enough a vertical fore grip can serve as the handle for the tool. Otherwise it acts like a typical T-handle cleaning rod.
The “book” is made by TAB Gear and is available in coyote brown or multi-cam with horizontal and vertical MOLLE attachment points. It is modular and “pages” can be added or taken out of it to support all cleaning needs. The whole deal can be stowed in a cargo pocket or pouch.
If I have to tell you to not put it in the cargo pocket of your trousers, you’re a pogue who probably can’t use one anyway.
Construction of the rod segments is 174PH stainless steel and they expand with a total length of 40″ from front to rear. The connectors are simple screw-in affairs that require no tools for assembly or disassembly. These “bore rider” are built from 360 brass to keep the stainless sections off the bore and are designed to keep the rod perfectly centered. One page is available for 5.56 cleaning and the other is 7.62. Other pages can be added to store data books and dry erase markers as well as a large version that doubles as a map case. Internal loops hold bottles of cleaning solvent and oil.
A self-contained Velcro cleaning mat with a high visibility orange panel rounds out the kit.
This is a true purpose built cleaning kit designed for the working sniper or serious long range shooter. MSRP is slated to be close to $250 — this will, no doubt, draw the ire of many a person looking for an excuse to mock the idea. To those people we say…1) do the math on the materials on a Made in the USA product, 2) consider the fact that it’s already selling fast, 3) don’t buy one if you don’t want one, why so mad bro and lastly 4) shut up.