Review: MS Clean kit

This is one of those items that I really picked up for the show-factor alone, rather than for any real practical need. I saw it come up on my Kickstarter feed, as well as on Soldier Systems, where I find a number of cool pieces of tech and tools. So, first up, my admissions: I don't own any fire-arms, but I do a variety of costume and Live-action roleplay events, which is where my "for show only" interest lies.

This is the MS Clean kit.

Whilst I don't own or operate any myself, I appreciate the need to maintain and clean both firearms, and all the tools of the trade, so to speak. I also have a LOT of pouches, and have on occasion had small needfuls drop out and get lost as a result of being adventurous with them in a pouch designed to hold magazines.

I've regularly used my Platatac FUP and other mag pouches to carry my gear, and I saw the utility of a case that married with my existing pouches. The guys from MS Clean offer the cleaning kit to fill the gap they felt existed with the current issued cleaning kits in the US military, and wanted to take advantage of the prevalence of magazine pouches.

The case is curved like a 30 round STANAG or MagPul P-Mag and initial designs looked a little like the P-Mag, with surface ribbing for grip and structure. Made of an injection molded polymer, crush-proof cases prevents spillage of lubricant and bending of rods that they say current issued kits don't. The cases are long enough to old 3x sectioned steel rods, required to remove barrel obstructions like mud, stuck cases or squib rounds. They also include a couple of brush heads, and eyelet head, and a T- handle to drive the lot of it.

The production models include bore brushes for 5.56 as well as 7.62 and 9mm, as well as a dental pick, for all that carbon scoring. The polymer is chemical resistant so the case can be used as a miniature solvent tank, as well as acting as a container to place small parts of a firearm while cleaning.

They also offer them in a couple of different colours, black, tan, green and red. The internal dimensions are 1.8cm (0.72") x 5.3cm  (2.10") x 19.3cm (7.62") and externally 2.4cm (0.95") x
6.7cm (2.65")x  20.3cm (8").

I will be setting mine up as snack and tool carriers, perhaps using the red one as a dedicated boo-boo set, with alcohol wipes and small dressings, maybe even one of the Z-Medica quick clots. I can't comment on the quality of the cleaning tools myself, but I asked out one of my trooper friends to trial it out for me.

"The cleaning kit was a great bit of gear. First i would like to say that the case it comes in is a fantastic piece of gear. It fits in a spare mag pouch nicely and is easily accessible. The frogman lube is a great and does a good job. I found the wire brushes a bit too harsh though and the pull through rods rusted up very quickly. I was impressed with the extra brushes it came with. Its definitely a cleaning kit I carry in my webbing now." - K Taylor WA


The folks at MS Clean copped a lot of flack over the shape and design of the cases, being so close to "real" magazines. Here's what they had to say:

MS CLEAN may be mistaken for an actual magazine 
MS Clean is designed to utilize standard magazine pouches; however, these pouches are modular in nature and as such, the pouch selected to store MS Clean should be mounted in an area where it is not easily confused with an actual magazine.

What happens if I am in the dark and I go to change my magazine and try to put my cleaning kit in my rifle and get myself killed?
You won’t. You are a professional soldier or law enforcement officer, you have undergone months, if not years of training and you would never be so daft as to put your cleaning kit among your actual magazines. You would put it in somewhere else on your gear that wasn't on the front of your vest.

They are pretty prefect for my applications, and I look forward to kitting out my adventure gear (not to mention my kooky-costuming) with them.


To add to the mix, they now have a second Kickstarter underway for the DOUBLE sized kits. Twice the storage, twice the options, including a dedicated medic options, a trauma kit and super-deluxe cleaning options.