AR Cleaning

[Chris]

Not to Threadjack the "easiest and hardest" thread.

At the car shoot, I fired 18 30 round mags. That night, I spent almost an hour cleaning the upper. Barrel was actually pretty good. But the bolt was gross. Pulled the firing pin and the rest of the bolt assembly apart and cleaned it as well as I could.

I assume the gas tube also gets dirty, but I didn't know how to clean that, so I didn't.

I do like to keep things clean for 2 reasons. 1) I prefer my guns that way and 2) I tend to use my favorite guns in class, and you don't want students to get dirty handling them.

So.. Here is what I did:

Dragged a saturated patch down the bore and left that to soak.
Used a wet patch to wipe out the lower and mag well
Used several dry patches to clean up the solvent.
Took apart the bolt.
Used a .38 brush with a patch over it to clean out the bolt carrier
Used many patches to clean the carrier, bolt, pin, etc.
Lubed with Weapon Shield (it's a CLP style)
Used several wet and dry patches to clean the upper's insides.
carefully cleaned around the gas tube
Used chamber brush to clean chamber
Used a plastic pick and patches to scrub around the locking lugs in the chamber.
Pulled several dry patches up the bore (Otis kit) and one with WS on it.
Lubed the bolt (Weapon Shield again) and reinstalled
Dropped a few drops into the trigger area
Assembled rifle.
Used .22 patches to clean flash hider (PIA)
Removed handguards and cleaned some powder off the barrel near the front sight.
Wiped down the whole gun with silicone cloth.

So, what do the rest of you do?

Also, I thought ARs had pins holding the upper and lower. Mine has a bolt on the barrel side (its a Colt if that helps) Was wondering if I could replace this with something a lot easier to remove.

 

[second]

I do pretty much the same thing, when I take mine apart i put the bolt and carrier in a plastic pan with hoppes #9 and let it soak for a while, go watch some tv and then come back and have at it.

The bolt and carrier sure do get nasty!!

 

[1903Collector]

Pipe cleaners for the gas tube..

 

[rwl1955]

AR-15

Pipe cleaners for the gas tube..

Cleaning the chamber is a total PIA.

 

[Admin]

It's funny when I used to have to clean my M16 daily at the end of a 10-12 hour shooting day it never bothered me. Maybe it was because I was able to shoot the shit with the other team members while cleaning.

But now I absolutely hate cleaning my AR. I don't know what has changed, maybe it's just because I'm getting old?

 

[LoginName]

Pipe cleaners for the gas tube..

There's no need to clean the gas tube.

Cleaning the chamber is a total PIA.

One simple tool I use is a small curved dental pick and the end of a Q-Tip. Cut just the tip end off and stick it on the end of the dental pick and it gets inside and behind the locking lug grooves. By luck, I found a box of 500 Q-tips with plastic shafts at a Dollar Store. The shaft is actually hollow and the Q-Tip end fits on the dental pick snuggly.

 

[Wildweasel]

I use brake cleaner on the chamber and then clean with Pick/Qtips as needed. Get yourself a chamber brush asap. it is a dual stage brush. (small for the chamber and a larger hoop for the locking lugs.

The gas tube needs no maint. just clean the outside of what sticks into the upper.
Once you learn how to do it you can GI it in no time.

(I am one of those guys who could get the weapon clean and handed in and usally ended up cleaning some NCO or Officer weapon for something to do.)

 

[MassMark]

Colt National Match HBAR:

Bought: 1997
Sold: 2006
Round Count: 15,000+
Gas Tube Cleaned: Never Ever
Failures: 3 that I remember - all early Wolf Laquered

As for cleaning - I was no expert, but the gun always worked and looked good doing it. I used some Hoppes on the bolt and down the barrel, a toothbrush for everything else. As for the upper, I'd use a piece of bedsheet soaked in solvent first, use the toothbrush handlle to manipulate it in the upper, then dry it and use CLP. Despite their detractors, I found my Colt to be very robust and trouble free. I often went many many hundreds of rounds between cleanings and it never missed a beat....Perhaps it was just good ammo? After my Wolf failure, (so bad it needed a gunsmith), I never shot anything but quality ammo through it....

 

[LoginName]

Clean the chamber with chamber brush and solvent. follow-up with patches and Q-tips or rag. Clean the bore with solvent and bore brush, run a few dry patches down it, bore brush and solvent again, a few dry patches followed by a few patches soaked with CLP then maybe a dry patch.

Disassemble bolt carrier and bolt, scrub with toothbrush, clean bolt face, locking lugs, firing pin, cam and inside of bolt carrier where bolt travels. Wipe down parts with CLP. Remove buffer spring and buffer, wipe down with CLP. Rest of firearm I just wipe down with a rag. Trigger assembly I leave dry.

 

[PatMcD]

For those of you who have heard this already, skip this post.


I clean my AR once a year at the end of the Highpower season. Nothing down the bore, no bolt scraping, nothing. Probably about 1000rds or so. No function problems. No accuracy problems.

My theory is this: the bore is going to get fouled, but only to a certain degree, then it's as bad as it will get. In a Highpower match, the rounds you are most concerned about, as far as accuracy goes, are the final 20 at 600yds. You've just shot 66rds fresh rounds out of it and you're not concerned about it then, so why should I be worried about it at the next match? It's not any more fouled than it was last time I used it.
I heard this first from Derrick Martin and it made sense to me, so I bought into it hook, line, and sinker.

I shoot moly bullets, so that may be a factor.

 

[icyclefar]

The only part I keep an eye on is the chamber area, I always try to keep that clean.

The rest of it, I get to when I get to.

 

[codenamepaul]

After disassembly-

Douche the whole works down with Simple Green. It works great and I have had no ill effects on any of 3 AR's I've owned in 20 years. This despite advice to the contrary. Remove the crud on the back end of the bolt. Get a chamber brush. Scrub the crap out of the chamber. Don't sweat the tube-all the shit is in the bolt and the carrier. The carbon will absolutely run out of it. Inspect with Q-tips (old habits die hard eh Derek?) Douche a second time with water to rise-HOT water. Use compressed air to dry and oil very lightly for corrosion protection. Light grease to the bolt carrier on the rails and in the upper reciever where the handle slides in. Lower reciever can be ignored. Once a year remove the buffer and spring and wipe them off.

 

[Gammon]

My bolt and carrier are hard chromed; much easier to clean. I do most of my practice with a DPMS 22 LR upper and that gets real dirty but the crud wipes out pretty easily.

 

[Joe R.]

1) Very long pipe cleaners are available for the gas tube. My advise - leave it alone. There will be someone at Marlboro gun show that will have them if you just have to muck around in there. Carbon will build up on the back of the bolt. Scrape it off if you want to but the gun will only build up so much carbon there before it blows the excess off.

2) Your Colt rifle has a large hole upper/lower on it and uses what looks like a bolt to secure the front pivot area. This is particular to civilian Colt's and there isn't a way around that short of replacing the rifle. Daniel Defense or one of the tactical upper people make a large hole upper if you ever want to swapout the original profile for something shorter.

3) AR's like to be lubed. They don't need to be drowning in oil but some is required to maintain a functioning weapon. Most of this lube needs to go where the bolt, bolt carrier, and the charging handle meet. Where the metal is rubbing together and removing finish is where the lube needs to be. Pat Rogers has a good article in SWAT mag on lubrication for the AR's. You might be able to find it online.

Joe R.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Pat Rogers has a good article in SWAT mag on lubrication for the AR's. You might be able to find it online.

Joe R.

Here it is:

http://www.ar15.com/content/swat/keepitrunning.pdf

 

[Joe R.]

1 add-on to my post above. There are pins available to mount small uppers to Colt large-hole lowers. It's a pain that you should avoid if possible.


Jim,

Your cookie is in the mail!

Joe R>