How many rounds do you guys shoot on average before you clean your ARs?  I have just gotten my first and have fired a total of 40 through it so far.  Thanks for the help.

I do a basic cleaning after everytime I shoot.

This includes taking out the bolt carrier group and wiping all surfaces clean, and relubing. Punching the bore with a decent solvent, etc.....

Things like cleaning and lubing the buffer tube, under the handguards, or messing with the extractor etc..... are things I only do every now and then, unless this rifle gets real dirty or wet.

If the circumstances warrant this rifle can go quite a while between cleanings if properly lubed.

The thing you have to remember is one has the luxury to keep the rifle clean and in tip top condition when only casually shooting and while breaking in especially(first few hundred rounds). This will give you a rifle that wont let you down when you don't have such a luxury.

What do you use to relube it?  CLP?  And also, will simply cleaning the barrel suffice for the first hundred or so rounds.  I plan on breaking it apart soon and doing what you described, but, this weekend, some buddies are coming over to shoot it and we will fire at leastt 80 - 100 rounds that day.  And up until then I will not have time to sit down and break it down and clean it.  Is my plan ok?  Thanks.

I always clean mine everytime I shoot it.  I usually don't shoot under 200 rounds when I go to the range.  

Even if I come home late from the range or am too tired to clean it right away I will wipe it down with CLP and break it down and give it a good cleaning the next day.

By "Wipe it Down" you mean the internals like the bolt carrier right?  

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Nope.

I wipe down just about everything either with a dry rag(outside receiver), or a slightly oily one.

I disassemble the bolt carrier and bolt and clean(toothbrush) or wipe the internals of visible carbon, and then lubricate with oil using a small paint or acid brush. I do the same thing to the inside of the upper receiver where the bolt rides(I'm currently breaking in a new rifle).

I leave the trigger group alone except for cleaning dust out with a c-tip, etc... Same with the buffer tube and handguards. I clean and lube these twice a year or so unless the rifle gets really dirty(this is a rare thing indeed). Canned air is good for blowing out dust, etc... from the trigger group.

Tip, the AR requires alot of q-tips and pipe cleaners.

And no, unlike my time in the Marines it's not squeaky clean, and will not pass the white glove test. Doesn't need to be.

I concentrate on the visible dirt and carbon, and keeping the weapon well lubricated, and inspected.

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Yeah that's fine.

I use Militec and have never had a malfunction. Many guys use other products. They are all good lubricants if used properly and within their limitations. CLP is fine.

You may find this link interesting, check it out;

[url]http://groups.msn.com/TheMarylandAR15ShootersSite/ar15reliability.msnw[/url]

Yes, it's ok to not clean it. If the barrels chrome lined, you needn't worry about cleaning it either except when you plan to store the rifle longer than a week or so. Although accuracy will not be quite as good, I doubt enough to notice.

It wont physically hurt the rifle to not clean it unless you're shooting corrosive ammo, or have dunked it in the water or mud. Remember this is a military weapon.

Just shoot a couple of drops of your favorite lubricant down the visible holes in the bolt and cycle the action before you go shoot. This will keep the bolt lubricated.

Just to find out, I've let one of my AR15s go for over 1k rounds without an actual cleaning over about 3 outtings in a 3-4 month span.    Ran just fine the entire time.    I've also done as much as 600 rounds in one day without any stops for cleaning/lubrication while preparing for an action rifle match I was shooting the next day.


So if your question is how many rounds before cleaning is mandatory to restore reliable functioning...   quite a few.


A person's mileage may vary though depending on the tolerances of the rifle, like if it's a little bit tighter spec'd varmint/target rifle or if it's something closer to mil-specs. designed for more reliability.    My rifle in question was a Bushmaster 20in A3 that I use.



Other factors that may determine how often you should clean are things like if you have a steel barrel, stainless barrel, or a chrome lined barrel.    My varmint AR15 that has a stainless bore needs a bit more care than that of my Bushmasters with a chrome lined bore, if not careful it is possible to get nasty effects of corrosion or rust in a stainless or other bare steel barrel.    But storage is as important as cleaning.

I clean my bore and the bolt carrier just about everytime I go out shooting my AR (not as often as I would like).   I try not to mindlessly blast ammo so I rarely shoot more then 30 rounds per outing.   I've put about 1,000 rounds through my rifle and though the external has a few scratchs the bore looks like its straight from the factory, squeaky clean.

Cle....

Clea....

Whats that term you're using?  Im not familiar with it.

Shoot 'er till she dont work, find out what her limits are.

[url]http://www.otisgun.com[/url]

Get one of these kits.  You can find them cheaper on ebay, etc...  With this kit and 3 or 4 papertowels you can do a field clean in 10 minutes.

Personally, I use a couple papertowels on the interior of the receiver and then I wet patch my barrel and dry patch it once or twice after everyshoot (no bore brush!)...  This gives you a chance to check your eqipment and it only takes two minutes or so...

Every 200 - 400 rounds I rip it down to the bones and clean it.  This takes about twenty minutes in front of the TV (idiot box).

I too have fired my weapon about 1000 rounds without cleaning (though I did squirt a bunch of CLP on her before and after each shoot).  No problems with the weapon.

Others have posted here indicating that our guys in the Middle East are purposely maintaining their weapons without lube (so the sand won't build-up...).  Currently, I am running my weapon dry (however, I am NOT cleaning it) to see the limitations of doing this...