One issue I’ve struggled with in the past is the buildup of carbon overtime on weapon lights. Whether it’s on a handgun or mounted on a rifle, sometimes gas and carbon residue collect on the light’s bezel. I’ve tried a number of different things to clean the glass faster but for years I didn’t have a great solution. Cleaning weapon lights can be a real pain but there are a couple of tricks to make it way easier.

With A Pencil

By far the most effective way to get carbon and gas residue off a weapon light in my experience is to use a pencil eraser. Slowly start to rub the eraser in a circular motion on the bezel and have a dry cloth ready to wipe away the rubber shavings. A pencil eraser takes off carbon much faster than spending time spraying cleaner on the glass and manually rubbing the carbon off of the bezel. It’ll typically only take a couple of minutes to get a majority of the glass cleared. Most times I can get 90% of the glass cleared with an eraser and then I wipe the entire bezel off with a dry towel.

The left side of the flashlight was rubbed with an eraser and the right side is untouched

Usually, the edges will still have carbon on them and there are a couple different things you can do. Probably the easiest way to clean the edges is to use lead and carbon wipes. These wipes clean off lead from the flashlight cleaning the lens. I will typically scrub the edges with a wipe and then clean the glass with a dry towel. I haven’t had as much luck with solvents as the lead cleaning wipes, but with a little elbow grease, it does work as well.

Overall Thoughts

Cleaning the carbon off of weapon lights can be a time-consuming pain in the butt task. Using a simple trick like the pencil eraser will make a rather tedious job way easier. A pencil eraser isn’t the perfect solution, but it will speed up the cleaning process. If you’re in a rush, it’ll get your weapon light back into fighting shape. Let me know if there are certain tricks you use to clean off carbon residue in the comments below. If you have questions feel free to contact me on my Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there!