AR15 Cleaning and Maintainence

AR-15 Cleaning and Maintenance - NSSF Shooting Sportscast

Good 30 minute primer.

Neat little tool for those who shoot AR's a lot.

It's called the B.O.N.E. I believe I got mine at Brownell's. It is useful for taking carbon off the bolt and BCG. Check it out. About $25.

http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2014/05/m-16ar-15-lubrication-guide.html

This looks like Marine Corps logic, which is cover everything with oil. I would take exception to some of that. I can accept a touch of oil on stuff like the extractor swivel pin, or even the inside of the extractor (?apply with a q-tip), but the firing pin doesn't need any oil and will only get gunky. There is enough crud floating around in a DI gun to keep sticky things to a minimum.

That said, the BCG should ride on LOTS of oil - but only those points that actually are surface contact with the upper. MOST of the BCG is not - and so will ALSO just gather crud. Especially if you don't clean your weapon constantly - and I have fallen into that group. Just see they are well oiled. Occasionally run a bore snake through them. Clean maybe once a year thoroughly. I have chrome lined barrels, so I can get away with that easily. I suspect SS may be a bit more of a pain.

Shot a grizzled Army MSGT's AR-15 A2. I'd almost swear he had dumped a quart of 40W into the rifle. "Learned that in Nam." I'm assuming the Sandbox would teach a completely different lesson.  

I'm in intrinsic agreement with most of the lube guidelines for here in SoCal. However, a drop in all those interface points like the trigger guard seems excessive, unless it is a very, very small drop. The light areas get a "film barely visible to the eye" ie: a wipe with an oily rag. More in humid areas, less in deserts, and one whole hell of a lot more for a salt-water beach.

Oh, the stuff in Nam was trash to begin with, so you used a LOT of LSA. Remember also that Nam was VERY humid AND we had some seriously corrosive ammo as they used a calcium product to help preserve the powder, but it corroded the barrels something fierce, especially since we didn't have chrome-lined barrels.

Indeed, I was rather non-pulsed not to be able to find any LSA in the civilian world as I had the impression then that it was THE BEST LUBE IN THE WORLD. Turns out not so much, but still good stuff.

I keep wandering back and forth between oil and grease. I find the grease seems to hold lube better. Brian Enos sells some really interesting grease called Slide Glide. It comes in a couple thicknesses, for different conditions. Being a sucker for new stuff, I have a bottle of each one. I have a friend who carries a Kahr and he swears by the stuff, which I introduced him to.

Just something to think about.