AR Sponsor
Posted: 8/5/2004 4:30:25 PM EDT
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ok, i went to the range for a full day of shooting, me, the son, wifey, and nephew, all is well i have been having a hard time getting my kid to clean his ar as good as i do, so i cleaned mine perfectly, dry as a bone, clean as a whistle, i bet you know where i am going with this i tell my kid to use mine as the standard, and that his 1000 dolllar bushy had better be at least as clean as mine, well, he did a wonderful job, i checked it out, not one microbe of grit, oil dirt ect, i told him to lube it up and get ready for the trip we had a fun day at the range, all went well when i got home i took apart my ole beater bushy to clean her and  i forgot to lube mine up, holy crap, it ran like a watch, no crap, at least 500 rds, no problems, and no damage, go figure.... |
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Maybe it just me, but most of the reason I oil up guns is to keep them from rusting when not in use. I am far more concerned with humidity - I learned the hard way with a very pitted Ruger single-six...out here in the mid-atlantic, humidity sucks...and the best defense against rusted internals is a nice helping of oil before putting your guns away until the next outing. Unless you are going full auto...or shooting 1000's of rounds per session...pretty much any modern made gun will function so long as its maintained (cleaned when neccesary), and not abused. I tend to be pretty anal about cleaning my AR and carry weapons...but its more of a habit than a need. I never oil anything before I head to the range...but I give a good cleaning and lube to everything when I get back. When stuff is put away, its ready to go again. I shoot with guys that go thousands of rounds without popping the pivot pin removing the bolt carrier...no TLC, and no problems. That not how I do things, but I feel pretty comfortable that my AR will go bang even if I "miss a spot" once in a while...however YMMV. |
| I am not posting this to be a troll or a loud mouth yayhoo. but, I have not cleaned or lubed my preban bushmaster carbine for over 3500 rounds. I am very lazy and since it has not been malfunctioning, I just thought I'd see how long it will go. I'll let you know. |
It should go a long time, fruitloops. If you're not getting it into dirt and grime and such, you'll be waiting a long time! |
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Enlighten me. WTF does that mean. Didn't his moma ever tell him if you can't say something nice then shut your fucking pie hole. Kris |
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What exactly are you suppose to lube? I'm still new, fired about 3-400 rounds through my BM so far. I just cleaned her the other day. Anyways, after cleaning it, I put lots of CLP on the bolt, a little bit on the bottom side of the carrier, some in the trigger area. The pins, on the face of the buffer, and a damp rag through the barrel. Oh yea, then i put some CLP all over the outside. A very light coat on a rag. Like around the barrel, upper and lower |
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Interesting comments. The dry film lubrication on the inside of the upper might be to protect the aluminum upper from the steel carrier sliding back and forth. It's a fail-safe, not a primary lubrication. Oil is intended. In some cases, say high dust environments, you might choose accelerated WEAR over possible malfunction so you could CHOOSE to run it dry. Doesn't mean that's the universal recommended situation. If you want to extend the life of your weapon, lubricate it as much as the situation allows. That means plenty of CLP here at CONUS ranges. If your life depends on reliable operation in dry and dusty conditions, you might choose differently. Don't mistake exceptional circumstances for everyday operations. |
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You cannot over-oil the AR15, excess will blow out in the first few shots. You don't want oil (or anything else) in the bore of any firearm. After cleaning run a wet patch through to oil a non-chromed bore for rust protection. Before heading to the range run a dry patch through the bore. It is a MACHINE like a car engine. You would not expect your car engine to run without oil, even if well broken in. Yes, oil can attract grit, and can be a problem in some environments, extreme cold, or the fine sandy dust in Iraq. However I am in neither of those places, and oil my AR15's liberally. I wonder how many malfunctioning AR15's are the result of lack of lubrication? [www.armalite.com] Click Library (on the left) Click Tech Notes Read #62 Lubrication "3. U.S. Forces have followed a long tradition of leaving firearms dry of lubricant during desert operations under the belief that less sand adheres to a dry surface more than to a lubricated one. This tradition has been proven incorrect. The need for good lubrication even in the desert has been well established during desert training and peace keeping operation, during the Gulf conflict, and by trials in a variety of climatic conditions. "The U.S. Army Infantry School recently concluded a series of tests that concluded that the best single product for maintaining most firearms is Cleaner, Lubricant, and Preservative (CLP). CLP has been developed to cover a wide range of climatic conditions and has been developed to act as a cleaner, a lubricant and a preservative. Using other oils may cause reduced reliability." |
i think so too, too much oil can gum up an action when dirty |
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There is one place on my ARs that I tend to hit with lube every single time it comes home from the range or before going to the range if it has been a long time. I like a drop or two of oil/CLP into the bolt cam pin area, this lubes the bearing surfaces of the bolt carrier and the cam pin as well as lubricating the bolt itself. Rarely do I even need to do this, I've run 3 of my ARs completely bone dry stripped of as much lubrication as I could manage to wipe off. Guns have run remarkably well sans lube, even my accurized JP Enterprises rifle managed to do around 400 rounds of various kinds of ammo while stripped of lube. One of the Bushmasters I use for action rifle got put through 600 rounds on a day before a match, stored over night and run for another 200-250 rounds the next day during the 4 stages of the match, completely dry. And I think I stopped wiping down the exterior of my rifles with CLP around the time I stopped caring about it's appearance enough that I took paint to my rifles, nor do I care if the paint chips/flakes off. |
 
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do they run em dry like that in afrabistan as a general rule, or just some of the guys? |
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I think the natural tendency of newbie is to over lube. I don't lube the upper at all anymore. After shooting I wipe it out with a rag. I lube the bolt and cam pin a little, and put a wipe of oil on the carrier rails and on the sides of the gas key. I never leave it drippy with oil. I sometimes put a drop on the sear surfaces. All my AR's run great this way, and I haven't seen any wear on the upper. |
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"I think the natural tendency of newbie is to over lube." I have seen people shooting them dry, assuming the factory lubed it correctly when it went out the door. Go figure. I have seen people do all sorts of questionable things. "I don't lube the upper at all anymore. After shooting I wipe it out with a rag." I use a rag that is dampened lightly with CLP that I wipe the inside and outside, bolt carrier, etc. "I lube the bolt and cam pin a little, and put a wipe of oil on the carrier rails and on the sides of the gas key. I never leave it drippy with oil." Yes. Also a drop where the bolt plugs into the bolt carrier. Tiny drop on the ejector pin, extractor pin. A drop or two in the "weep holes" on the side of the carrier. I put a good healthy drop on the cam pin, work that around. And bolt lugs. "I sometimes put a drop on the sear surfaces." I ALWAYS oil the sear surfaces, a tiny drop on the trigger and hammer pins where they go into the receiver, and where the disconnector pivots on the trigger pin. A drop on the buffer retainer, bolt catch, fwd asst every other cleaning. A drop on each end of the safety selector. I put a drop in the slots on the pivot and takedown pins, work them to get the oil into the detents. "All my AR's run great this way, and I haven't seen any wear on the upper." The bolt carrier does not have to be dripping oil, just a drop smeared along each "rail". Ditto, the inside of the upper should not be dripping, just wiped clean. After all this lubing, I wipe away excess, and wipe the whole firearm to prevent corrosion. A lot of the remaining CLP will evaporate, leaving the protective lubricant. After 300 rnds or so, it does not hurt to put a drop in each weephole on the bolt carrier and where the bolt enters the bolt carrier. This done though the ejection port without disassembly. As I said before, any excess will be blown out almost immediately, along with some of the accumulated grunge that is suspended in the excess oil. |
| Under sand blowing conditions I wipe the Bolt/Carrier/Upper as dry as i can gety them; Otherwise sand gets into & sticks on everything. One of my buddies started using some dry lube in a spray can (Spray it on & let it dry) That seems to work OK, Its not Perma Silk G but some generic stuff he bought a while back called E & L dry lube, It seems like some kind of graphite. |
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