Proper way to clean an AR???

[WCB]

I want to do this right so what do I need to do the job right? Pull from the chamber as opposed to pushing from the muzzle? Complete tear down? Recommend the right tools too.
Inquiring minds want (need) to know...

[Luck_of_the_Draw]

Send it to me and buy another one.......

[texag2010]

another inquiring mind...

[1369]

Pull from the chamber just as the round goes.

As for the tear down, it's not really all that hard. I only had to do it like a zillion times.

You even get to the point where you can do it blindfolded.

[garzanium]

I would consult the proper source for the proper answer..Armalite Rifles

http://www.armalite.com/images/Tech%20Notes%5CTech%20Note%2029,%20Rifle%20Cleaning,%2099.04.pdf

and this is the one I looked up when I was trying to figure it out

http://http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/maintenance/

[Cajun Blake]

mr mike

go to you2ube and search "AR cleaning"

there are dozens of videos as Brownells has some good ones


watch the vids and you'll be set

[Tommyh]

carb cleaner and synthetic oil

[CaptJack]

the way we used to "cheat" when we came in from a mission-
there was a fire station up the road a little from our rear area in DaNang
a couple of us knew they had a varsol tank for cleaning parts
we'd just flip open the upper and dunk the whole thing down in the varsol
shake it down and blow it off with the air hose
strip the bolt carrier & bolt - brush it down a little - a few drops of oil
a dry swab down the barrel - and turn it in before we hit town to the Steam&Cream - took about 5 minutes

in reality - we all kept a tooth brush in our pocket or stuck in the forearm and were forever keeping it clean - the old M-16 didn't have a forward bolt assist and the M-16A1 wasn't much better unless it was clean - they became jam-o-matics when they got in the mud !!!

(where's my M-14 !!)

and as said - you lived with your rifle night & day (missions were 30days) you could take it apart and put it together unconcious

[firewoody]

Send it to me and buy another one.......

X2

[Dave]

Are you turning it on to a cranky armorer or just keeping it clean for regular shooting?

Remember that you can polish carbon so it looks nice and shinny like bare metal. A couple of dental tools are really good for getting the carbon off. Run it wet, so wet that you get oil splattering the first couple of rounds and you will make that cleaning much easier and it will run a lot smoother.

[Froggy]

Just run them bird legs down the barrel. The knobby knees will act like wire bristles.

[KYhunter]

Just pay the grumpy armorer 20 bucks.

Seriously last time I used a foam bore cleaner from Cabelas.. I forget the name, but anything that breaks down carbon will work. Break the rifle down as far as you can, and spray the foam cleaner everywhere that is metal. Then spray it out with water. Keep applying and use a toothbrush and some elbow grease to get the tough areas. (make sure you use someone else's toothbrush) Of course its needs to dry out really well, maybe a hair dryer. Then lube it back up. Go easy on the lube on the bolt, charging handle, and near the gas tubes.. Back blast will get on the first few shots.

[Cottonfish]

Get a boresnake, does a good job of light cleaning. Remove the bolt to use a cleaning rod and patches for a more thorough job. Clean from the chamber end. Get the AR chamber cleaning tool to use on a short section of cleaning rod, or chuck it to a drill. Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber does an OK job of loosening crud, good old CLP is what I keep around for general cleaning/lubing/storing chores. There are many, many other good cleaning/lubing products out there.

Like Capt Jack, I've used Varsol and other solvents to clean, heck, you can use diesel fuel as a cleaner/lubricant. We used an unspecified "aircraft solvent" to clean some FN-manufactured M16A2's once, it turned the phosphate finish a pinkish color! Make sure the gas ring gaps are staggered when re-inserting the bolt into the carrier, and get all the carbon off of the bolt whenever you strip it.

It's never clean enough to turn into the armorer...............now drop and give me 20!

Stu

[grtwht]

i've built, inspected, repaired and cleaned 100's of thousand M16 style rifles. never had any problems caused by improper cleaning. everyone has the way of doing things and little tricks but this is what has worked on the guns I've done for the US Military, Police, Goverment agencies and civilan shooters for over 35 years. I am the armorer!
Seperate the upper and lower.
remove bolt carrier and charging handle set aside.
Using a non-metallic cleaning rod (Dewey makes a good one) and bore brush soaked in bore solvent (lot's out there so your choice but quality) brush bore from chamber end.
Patch till dry and white patches come out.
If possible remove the gas tube and clean the area in the upper where the tube extends. Lots of carbon there so if can't remove the tube use cotton swabs (Qtips) soaked in solvent and remove carbon there,
Run solvent soaked long pipe cleaners thru the gas tube. The dry it out.
chamber area needs cleaning with a chamber brush then dryed with chamber swabs.
next clean bolt carrier and bolt. Pay close attention to the extractor groove an extractor cavity in the bolt. Scrape carbon off behind gas rings and the face of the bolt.
clean all remaining parts with brush and wipe dry.
A normal lubing consits of a good gun oil on a few places. (1) Bolt gas rings (2) Bolt carrier key(3) The 2 holes in the dished out area of the bolt carrier (4) Bolt cam pin once installed into carrier(5) Extractor spring and pin.
those are the only areas really needing lube unless you are storing for a long time.
reassembly after dry wipe done on other parts and you should be good to go.

[TexasBob]

My cleaning choice is a stainless Dewey rod and a nylon brush for the bore. Some sort of gun scrubber aeresol (sp?), solvent, and a toothbrush for the other parts. Not sure on the AR lube. Have seen everything from gun oil, axle grease and 10-40 mobil 1 used. IMO, as long as you are cleaning and doing maintenance, your little tricks that are different than someone else's wont hurt.