Now I have to clean guns.
Well, not really "have to", I guess, but I should. At least I feel like I should.
I mean, the Para gets cleaned every few months whether it needs it or not, but this makes probably 600+ rounds through the carbine (not counting rimfire) without anything more than squirting more lube on the bolt carrier group.
I should at least take them apart and wipe the excess cack off them.
"this makes probably 600+ rounds through the carbine (not counting rimfire) without anything more than squirting more lube on the bolt carrier group."
ReplyDeleteNo way. I read on the intertubes that if you don't thoroughly clean your AR every three rounds, it will fail to fire every time.
-SayUncle
I enjoy cleaning guns. Even big bore revolvers, which effectively have 6 times as much to clean.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing that last clean patch leave the muzzle. :)
One of the more respectable habits I retain from military service is an inability to leave a dirty weapon in that condition. It just bothers me until I do something about it.
ReplyDelete"Cack"
ReplyDelete(chuckle)
I'm as easily amused as I am irritated.
Have you tried Slipstream lube or some other Nano-tech lube?
ReplyDelete"I love the smell of Hoppe's #9 in the morning. It smells like...victory!"
ReplyDeleteUnc,
ReplyDelete"No way. I read on the intertubes that if you don't thoroughly clean your AR every three rounds, it will fail to fire every time."
I heard that if your AR isn't a six-zillion-dollar Noveske/LMT/LaRue/VTAC/HK/piston/BravoCompany superblaster, then it will choke if a butterfly farts in China.
I'm still waiting for mine to malf, even though it's got an upper from MGI, an unknown BCG and barrel, and an RRA lower stuffed full of a DPMS LRPK hammered in with an Estwing on a TV tray in the living room while watching Tales of the Gun on the History Channel. :D
Timmeehh, Slip products seem to be the "go to" lube of choice. Reading the MSDS sheets on some of the "wonder" lubes is shocking. Slip2000 and EWL, is non-toxic and non-hazardous.
ReplyDeleteThe "Greatest Secret In The World"(at least as far as lubing an AR).
ReplyDeleteGet everything good and clean, but dry. Brake cleaner works great, with the bonus of being able to put the skinny plastic straw on the brake cleaner can up the gas tube to give that a spritz too.
Get one of those 25 cent twist top lube thingies they used to put in the butt of every M-1 or M-14. Or break down and get the one pound can of M-100 from Brownells, which should keep an infantry company running for a year.
Put your pinky in the lube, and moisten the tail of the bolt. Just moisten it. Then lightly wipe the wear band around the center of the bolt.
Put your pinky back in the lube for another small dab. Or daub if you're British, but if you're British you wouldn't have an AR to clean anyway, so please disregard the above.
The inside of the reciever is 1.000 inch to 1.002 in diameter. The body of the bolt carrier is only .993 in diameter. The bolt carrier touches the reciever in only two small places, either side of the gas key on top, and the two skinny rails on the bottom that ride on either side of the mag well.
Use the second dab to moisten the short top rails and sides of the gas key, and to lightly wet the rails on the bottom. You're done.
Leave every other thing inside the upper reciever dry. If your reciever is MilSpec, there is a baked on dry film lube on the inside surface that is good for at least 10,000 rounds. And yes, I specified the dry film lube for the MGI switch barrel upper when we made it for Mack Qwinne.
Nothing else is touching, so if it's left dry it won't attract or hold dirt, dust, or powder residue, all of which will sooner or later get blown out the ejection port.
The purpose of a wet bolt carrier is to turn it into a honing lap, collecting grit and turning it into a cyclic grinding machine that destroys the innards of your reciever.
We had a bunch of upper recievers at S&W that were low limit on diameter and several thousanth out of straight. A new supplier, who didn't realize how much the upper "relaxed" when you milled those cross slots on the flattop, and not always in the vertical.
The only way we could get them through an extended 6,000 round magazine test was to lube and run them the "Colt" way.
Along with the addition of M4 ramps, the "dry" bolt assembly won the Montana State Police competition, an earlier version of which Smith had lost.
Just lube what works, and leave the rest alone. The weapon will run cleaner and cooler. It's amazing how much shinier the firing pin and inside of the carrier are when there's no oil to turn everything into black glue.
"I heard that if your AR isn't a six-zillion-dollar Noveske/LMT/LaRue/VTAC/HK/piston/BravoCompany superblaster, then it will choke if a butterfly farts in China."
ReplyDeleteYeah, cause one of the guys in class was using a Colt 6920 and his defective firing pin retaining pin malf'd his zero on his weapon. Good thing he wasn't using a Frankengun or it would have exploded in a burst of sharp pieces and bees.
As to the gun lube, it was Slip2000 EWL (applied every morning) because it is eXXXtreme, thus matching Tam's eXXXtreme tacticalness.
Shootin' Buddy
P.S., with the end of dab (daub) one or the beginning of dab two, wipe the cam pin. Other than that, lube as above and "reassemble in reverse order".
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to say that. I mean, for belaboring the obvious it is hard to beat, but it's boilerplate in every manual I've ever seen.
Vuurwapenblog had an interesting post on AR cleaning recently:
ReplyDeletehttp://vuurwapenblog.com/2010/08/27/cleaning-your-ar-15-is-pretty-much-a-waste-of-time/
Nothing like cleaning the weapons to remind you of the fun you had shooting them. The smell of cleaning fluid and lube is right up there with the smell of gunpowder.
ReplyDeleteKen
Drill Sergeant Daily admitted that he hardly ever cleaned his competition guns. ISTR that he actually said "guns", too, not "weapons." But he also made it clear that that didn't apply to the weapons loaned to us by Uncle Sam, even if he did imply that he felt we over-cleaned...
ReplyDeleteI just cleaned my front stuffer in prep for pre-season target shooting. Sadly, my schedule has prevented me from NEEDING to clean my other guns, something I hope to remedy this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAR have no problem running dirty as long as it is properly lube.
ReplyDeleteMr Foster -- I am not able to find anything called M-100 at Brownells. Your advice makes sense, a refreshing change from the folks who don't understand how things fit and work.
ReplyDeletelibertyman: Sorry about that. We used to call it that in the Green Machine. Try Lubriplate 130-A, and please feel free to call me Ed.
ReplyDeleteJohn Stephens - I have the same quirk picked up from a misspent youth. Even thinking about putting away a fired but not cleaned weapon makes me feel guilty and I start looking around for somebody to apologize to. Once I actually managed to put a rifle back into the safe, intending to clean it the next day.
ReplyDeleteWhich I did. Starting at about 0630 because I couldn't stay in bed nay longer thinking about it.
However, being a crusty old civilian has its benefits. Now I clean on my deck, with a glass of brown liquor at my side and music playing.
Thank you Ed!
ReplyDeleteSaturday night, and I just cleaned my Springfield 1911 after performing the "Magic Goop" treatment.
ReplyDeleteInspired by one of the pictures in "The Once And Future Pistol," I simply used the high-pressure shower head in my bath, gave it a thorough drying with a towel and compressed air (for those hard to reach places), and a coat of oil.
The other inspiration was pure laziness and cheapness. I no longer enjoy the ritual of cleaning guns the way I used to enjoy it, and am always looking for shortcuts to save time in my old age.