I have been here a few months now since 9/11.  It was then that I decided I would better if I owned an AR15.  Xmas was good this year!  This past Saturday I fired my brand new Bushmaster at Knob Creek!  I am new to AR's but not to firearms in general.  My question is regarding disassembly of the BM M4 upper.  How do you remove the firing pin retaining pin?  The tech manuals just say to remove it from the one side and the firing pin itself can then be removed.  Is there an easy way to do this with a tool or something?  I apologize for the ignorance. I feel I have learned a great deal from this site.

Thanks, and God Bless America!

Just grap it with some needle nose pliers.  Pull it out.  When it is out, do not play with it (try to open it, bend it etc.)  The firing pin will fall right out.  Then, you need to twist the cam pin and pull it out, then the bolt will come out.  

Easy enough?

PS -- A dental scraper makes a great tool for cleaning an AR.  

I use a dental pick, one w/ a 90 degree bend at the end - pulls it right out.

Congrats on the Bushy by the way.

Since I usually never have dental tools or needle nose pliers at the range I use that trusty tool:

Cartridge, 5.56x45mm, M193

Yep  You can push on the end with the tip of the cartridge then pull the pin out from the other side.  Alternatively you can put the tip of the cardrige in the end 'loop' and use a bit of leverage.  

Quoted: I use a dental pick, one w/ a 90 degree bend at the end - pulls it right out. Congrats on the Bushy by the way.

Thank you all for the quick responses.  I was so pumped when I unwrapped it on Xmas day and all smiles at the range on Saturday!  I got the A3 detachable handle, so I will be looking at optics once I feel profficient with the hard sites.  I am going to try to use the USMC marksmanship program on my own where possible.

You'll be needing to zero that rifle.  Be sure to check out this procedure communities.msn.com/TheMarylandAR15ShootersSite/improvedbattlesightzero.msnw.

DESIGNED to be disassembled with a bullet point
cpermd

Quoted: DESIGNED to be disassembled with a bullet point cpermd

What he said. The rifle is designed to be able to use the tip of a bullet for most procedures if I recall correctly.

Quoted: Quoted: DESIGNED to be disassembled with a bullet point cpermd What he said. The rifle is designed to be able to use the tip of a bullet for most procedures if I recall correctly.

Yes a bullet tip will work, but having a small pair of needle nose pliers and or a small punch wouldn't hurt either.

having a leatherman close by just in case is all you need.