I recently purchased a new Bushmaster M4 rifle. I am not very familiar with the AR15 design. Are there any recommended do's and don’ts I should follow? One thing I was told was, never dry fire the rifle. Any additional tips would be great!

PS: Also purchased several 30-rd mil-spec Okay magazines with black followers. Good or bad decision?

Thanks :)

I never dry fire, I use snap caps. You will get a bunch of opinions though.

The Okay mags are good. Black followers are fine until they start to mess up. Then replace them with green followers.

Keep your rifle clean and use good ammunition and you will be very happy. Most new rifles need a break in period to let everything loosen up a bit. Read the manual, then read it again!

Do NOT use steel cased ammunition. Thats the general consensus around here, but opinions vary. Some think it's fine. I've never used it in my ARs'.

Dry firing will not hurt it at all.  If it does hurt anything it will be the firing pin.  You should have spare parts kit, available from bushmaster, that has a spare pin in with the kit.  The Okay's should be fine, if they are in good condition, if they work fine use them.  If not you can try green followers.  Give it a good cleaning before you shoot it, to get out any dirt from shipping and factory test firing.  Other than that get a lot of ammo and shoot the heck out of it.  IM sure others will give you some other good tips.  Congratulations, good luck and welcome to the board.  



Store it with the hammer dropped to relieve a bit of extra tension of the spring.  Ditto on the steel cased ammo.

New Bushy M4: did good.

Okay mags: did good.

Dry firing: if you're worried about it you can get a dry firing device from Brownells or Sinclair. They don't work with Jewell triggers, but in your case you should be cool.

Have fun!

1.  dry firing is fine

2.  the Okay magazines are good ones.  Stick with USGI, Thermold or Orlites.  Some Orlites require a little modification to fit Bushmasters.

3.  Clean and lube the gun per the book first.

4.  Run 200~300 rounds through the barrel WITHOUT cleaning to break it in.  This is a chrome lined barrel and this is the proper break-in procedure.

5.  Steel cased ammo can be shot, but could prematurely wearout the extractor (cheap and easy to replace).  Also, if hot, lacquer from the cases can cause extraction problems.  YMMV  Personally, I buy South African battle packs for plinking, and Winchester Q3131A for SHTF ammo.

6.  Don't drop the hammer when the gun is opened up.  You need to let it down by hand to avoid damage to the lower receiver.

7.  Shoot it a lot and [blue]welcome to the club!

Good choice on purchasing a bushmaster.. I have a couple...

Not Bad on making a good choice on the getting Mil spec Mags..

Now ..It's ready to take to the range and enjoy shooting lots! of ammo...

Just gotta make sure you take plenty 0f ammo to the range with U.