Question about cleaning AR-15, etc

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Dave, I can only relay my expirence and its this. In dusty environments under lubricating because a fear of attracting dust caused many more problems than actual dust attraction. I also don't live in a desert, thank god. I haven't ever seen routine cleaning cause a jam. I have seen psychotic cleaning and the use of caustic chemicals cause lots of problems. Thats just my opinion. I'm also not a tinkerer so I don't like to detail strip things. I have a good
Friend who shoots a lot and never served. He is a mechanical savant and the most detail oriented person I know, he doesn't clean guns either.

 

[dwr461]

That's fine. I've also seen AR15's that didn't want to run b/c they were dirty and needed lubricated. Once they were oiled up they ran fine. However if I were going to use my AR15 for home defense I would want to make sure that it was going to run. So I clean it and lubricate it after nearly every outing. If I only shoot 50 rounds and it looks OK. I might only wipe the bolt down and interior of the receiver out. Than I lubricate it. A couple of days later I'll wipe that lube off and re lubricate it. If I shoot a match I'll clean it more.

But when I'm dealing with a guy who might only know very little about an AR and might or might not know how to clear it in a jam. I personally in that situation would advise them to keep it clean and lubricated. I've rarely seen a fully functional AR15 fail b/c it was too clean and lubricated. But like I've said I've seen some dirty one's that needed a little help to get started running. That shooter with relatively limited AR15 knowledge should do everything they could do in order to prevent a jam from happening. Of course you guys would know just what to do in that situation.

I'm reluctant to continue this conversation with more than one moderator jumping in on me already.

Dave

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

That's fine. I've also seen AR15's that didn't want to run b/c they were dirty and needed lubricated. Once they were oiled up they ran fine. However if I were going to use my AR15 for home defense I would want to make sure that it was going to run. So I clean it and lubricate it after nearly every outing. If I only shoot 50 rounds and it looks OK. I might only wipe the bolt down and interior of the receiver out. Than I lubricate it. A couple of days later I'll wipe that lube off and re lubricate it. If I shoot a match I'll clean it more.

But when I'm dealing with a guy who might only know very little about an AR and might or might not know how to clear it in a jam. I personally in that situation would advise them to keep it clean and lubricated. I've rarely seen a fully functional AR15 fail b/c it was too clean and lubricated. But like I've said I've seen some dirty one's that needed a little help to get started running. That shooter with relatively limited AR15 knowledge should do everything they could do in order to prevent a jam from happening. Of course you guys would know just what to do in that situation.

I'm reluctant to continue this conversation with more than one moderator jumping in on me already.

Dave

If a guys knowledge of the system is so limited he shouldn't be using it for home defense, or taking it apart. Clearing a malfunction is far easier that field stripping much less detail stripping. I see what your saying but I don't think cleaning is better than learning.

 

[JNieman]

I don't see why lubricant/oil attracting dirt (if you actually believe that's true, anyways) would be a problem. I've had guns on both semi-auto and full-auto fun for a great amount of rounds when it had a crap load of dirt and dust and carbon fouling inside the receiver. So long as it's wet, it's been fine.

Helpful reference, though I think his "clean every 1,000 rounds" is low, and I don't think he even suggests that any more. It's a good reference for why you don't need to clean it, and when you lube it, how to do so. http://www.milcopptactical.com/troglodyte.htm

 

[SpeedRacer]

My personal cleaning regiment is something like...

After 100-200rd range day: add lube

After ~500rd range day (such as a class): break down BCG, wipe clean and relube, run boresnake through barrel

Every ~1k rounds: clean chamber area, clean inside upper receiver, and clean FCG adding grease at engagement points

It's more than enough and overzealous compared to a lot of guys I know that run their guns a lot harder than I do.

No, I don't think an AR can be too clean and certainly can't be overlubed. But I also don't think people should lose sleep over a dirty AR, because it just doesn't matter. As long as they are lubed they will function. If you enjoy cleaning, absolutely go for it you're not hurting anything as long as you properly lube after.

I also recommend using a lube that stays put, such as Froglube. If your lube dries out or runs away while it's sitting in the safe, it doesn't matter how clean it is you're gonna have problems.

 

[Jasarii]

You won't need to clean it all that often. Depends on the volume of rounds shot. But you can clean and lube as often as you wish.

 

[jasonj5313]

Does anyone else use synthetic high temp grease?
I dont use oil and am very lazy in regards to cleaning, so I just slap on some grease and call it a day.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[dwr461]

Yes I use grease on almost all my firearms. I also use it on my current AR15. It doesn't dry out, stays put, protects the metal from oxidation, and makes a great boundary layer during operation. I originally starting using it after talking to the Swiss collectors. The Swiss military uses grease for everything including bore cleaning. I figured if my over 100 year old Swiss G1896/11 still had a shiny bore then there must be something to it. On a slightly side note the couple of actual Swiss citizens on the board also felt that we (USA) over clean our weapons which leads to the bores wearing out faster. I'm just the messenger.

Dave

 

[swamper]

I just use Mobil 1 10W-30. Last cleaning was >3,000 rounds around April of 2012. I might need to do a little cleaning soon.