Cleaning the S-12 / Piston rod question

[Flex_BT 0]

My S-12 is the first gun I've owned... please forgive me if this is very noob-ish.

 

I cleaned my s-12 the other day and the piston rod didn't look like I expected it to after seeing the Tromix and other replacement pistons. After further research it seems there is a separate part that is only removable by completely unscrewing the gas selector on the outside of the gun (also described as the gas piston). Is this the case? Should I be cleaning the area on the inside of the receiver where the poston tube sits, cleaning the piston piece behind the selector or what? Should either area be lubed? I've read here that the gas piston should not but at this point I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Here's what I'm talking about:

 

http://www.tapco.com./proddesc.aspx?id=A01...9F-B02ED1117AC9

 

Is described as the gas piston while this piece is as well:

 

http://www.mississippiautoarms.com/index.p...products_id=177

 

Thanks for the help!

[G O B 3,516]

Unscrew the blind plug (the part with 1 / 2 on it). There is a free piston inside there. Clean the piston with scotch bright, and the cylinder with a 12ga. bronze brush. The gas holes into the barell can be cleaned with a piece of wire or a pipe cleaner. Reassemble this part DRY.

[nalioth 405]

This part: http://www.tapco.com/proddesc.aspx?id=A01E...9F-B02ED1117AC9 is for Saiga rifles.

[Flex_BT 0]

This part: http://www.tapco.com/proddesc.aspx?id=A01E...9F-B02ED1117AC9 is for Saiga rifles.

 

But the identical part is in my s-12 attached to the bolt.

 

So the piece found by removing the selector in the front should be cleaned and reinstalled dry... should the rod and chamber that are on the bolt side be cleaned and lubed or just cleaned?

[tophatjones 0]

FYI, the gas piston sort of looks like a hockey puck. You should leave that and its chamber dry. I would also leave the rod part of the bolt carrier dry, but I think you can get away with some light oil.

[mscottrogers 56]

Leave the hockey puck dry, clean that chamber as referenced above. On the receiver end, where the piston rod becomes a block and has your bolt assembly, lube the rails, lube the bolt assembly, lube the recoil spring, you can lube the top of the hammer where the bolt slides across the top of it. Any moving parts in the receiver area could use a light lubing without hurting anything. The reason you don't lube the piston is that the hot gases will carbonize on the piston and you won't get the carbon off easily and it could all seize up.