ar-15, cleaningI have been shooting my AR-15 for about 6 months now and haven’t cleaned it. I haven’t noticed any problems, but I definitely don’t want to experience any. What parts do I need to clean? Do I need to break it down entirely? How often should I actually be cleaning it?
This post assumes you have a basic knowledge of assembly and disassembly. Every rifle should explain this process in its manual. Read your manual.
There are two levels to which AR-pattern rifles can be cleaned. In the military, you will do what is affectionately known as “Armory Clean” or “Inspection Clean” every time you turn in a weapon. This level of clean can actually damage a rifle if done perpetually, but institutional inertia — “that’s the way we’ve always done it so that’s the way we’ll always do it” — keeps this the norm. The other level of clean is functionally clean. This is much more common and will provide you with a reliable and smooth running rifle.
The notion that ARs must be constantly clean to function properly is a myth. They must simply be well-lubricated and maintain a certain level of functional cleanliness. Lubrication is definitely the more important of the two. EAG Tactical, a provider of training classes to many difference agencies and civilians, has a Bravo Company carbine known as “Filthy 14”. This is a loaner gun that people can use when they come to class should they need to borrow one. As an experiment, or maybe more likely as proof, Pat Rogers has kept this gun properly lubricated and VERY minimally cleaned for over 30,000 rounds and it runs very well (most malfunctions it experiences being user, ammo, or magazine related).
#AR Cleaning Wisdom It is important that you run cleaning rods through the barrel rod-first-patch-last, with the brush or eyelet at the far end following the entire rod through. This is not because, as precision shooters like to say, you will ruin your barrel in some way if you don’t run your rods the same direction as the bullet. It’s just because the rods were designed to run that way. If you try to push them through patch-first, the patch turns back toward the rod and wraps it up, making it too big around to fit through the barrel. You WILL bend or break something, probably hurt yourself, and make this job extremely difficult. I’ve seen Marines, one holding an upper and one holding a rod with a patch stuck halfway down his barrel, pushing with all they’re worth trying to get the rod out the wrong way. (Unsuccessfully.) Drop the empty end of the rod through from the chamber end, grab it when it comes out the muzzle, and pull the patch or bore brush through from the chamber toward the muzzle. It’s seriously a one-man job.
When cleaning the bolt, after you remove it from the bolt carrier you’ll make your life a lot easier if you soak the whole thing in some sort of carbon-removing agent. As I answered in the question regarding cleaning solvents, Slip2000 Carbon Killer is amazing for this. 15 minutes soaking in this stuff and the bolt basically cleans itself with just a wipe down. This stuff is awesome. It’s also reusable, so you can get 5 or 6 soaks of the bolt out of a single little bolt-sized container. This stuff is not required; you can get it clean with just regular cleaner and a lot of work, but seriously it saves so much time.
You will use q-tips to clean the rifle no matter how clean you want it. Functionally clean will require far fewer of them. Get the kind with a tightly wrapped swab on one end and a long sturdy stick handle. The tighter the swab on the end, the less likely it is to rip off and leave pieces in impossible-to-reach places. It’s also smaller and will fit better in places like the firing pin channel.
You must understand that getting a rifle “Inspection Clean” will cover nearly every surface with cleaner. “Functionally Clean” will cover most of them with cleaner. When the pores of the metal are left to rest overnight they will “bleed” cleaner and filth and your rifle will be “dirty” again tomorrow. Marine Corps doctrine states that you will clean your rifles every day for three days after you return them to the armory, and this is why. When you pick up your rifle the next day, or the next week, and your hand gets covered in a gray slime of lube and cleaner, just wipe it down, lube the insides, and be assured everything is okay. You don’t need to clean your rifle for three days in a row.
#Inspecting Your Rifle’s Serviceability Before, during, and after cleaning is a great time to inspect your rifle for worn, damaged, or broken parts. It’s also a great time to replace parts that need regular replacing like extractor springs, buffer springs, firing pin retaining pin, and gas rings.
To check your gas rings, set the assembled and extended bolt and bolt carrier vertically on the bolt face. It should not fall closed under its own weight. If it does not fall closed, bump the table or whatever it’s sitting on, and it should fall part way but not completely closed. If it does fall closed, you need new gas rings. You do not need all three gas rings for the gun to run. You do not need to make sure the gas ring gaps are not lined up. I’ve run thousands of rounds through an M4 on a range with 1 gas ring. But if you’re missing gas rings, there’s no reason you shouldn’t replace them with a fresh set if you have the chance.
Things I inspect:
Only use your barrel cleaning patches once. Do not re-use patches for the same reason you don’t re-use toilet paper.
#Functionally Clean The level to which I clean my rifles on a regular basis. This level of clean will never pass an inspection but is perfectly fine to keep your rifle running. With this level and proper lubrication you will not have any problems that more cleaning could have fixed.
Optional: at this pint I soak the entire bolt in Slip2000 Carbon Killer.
Wipe down all of these parts. If carbon is heavily caked on the neck of the bolt, scrape it off (removing it all is not necessary, don’t obsess over it). Clean the firing pin channel, about half of which will be easier to access from the side since you’ve removed the extractor3.
Wipe down the interior of the upper receiver, including the charging handle channel.
At this point you can run a bore snake through your barrel.
Using your cleaning rods, run the bore brush (the bristly copper brush that screws into the rods) through a few times to loosen the filth inside the barrel. After three or four runs from the bore brush, put the eyelet on, soak a patch with cleaner and run it through the barrel. Only run wet patches until you get a not-solid-black wet patch. This probably means only 1 or 2. As soon as you see gray, or less-dirty areas of patch, switch to dry. Run dry patches until they come out clean. Run one more wet patch. Run a dry patch. It’ll probably come out dirty. This is a battle you’ll never win. Run dry patches again until they come out clean. Hold the barrel up to a light and look through it, you’ll see if the walls of the barrel are clean or not. If they are, move along. If they are not, repeat this process with one wet patch and dry-until-clean until you see the walls of the barrel shine.4
Only use each patch once. Do not re-use patches for the same reason you don’t re-use toilet paper.
Reassemble, lube, and function check.
#Armory or Inspection Clean The only time I clean my personal rifles to this level is for long-term storage, or after a few thousand rounds and a few functional cleanings have accumulated. I try to get a couple hundred rounds per month through my rifle, so this is probably every six months or so. Long-term storage for me is very rare.
Same optional bit applies here about Slip2000 Carbon Killer. Make sure you scrape all of the carbon off the neck of the bolt.
Clean the bolt face (where the locking lugs are and the firing pin protrudes) now that the extractor is out of the way. Clean the extractor. Clean the notch where the extractor spring rests.
Clean the spring, clean the buffer, and try to shove as much of a rag as you can as far into the buffer tube as you can to clean that out too. Try to find something approximately buffer-tube-sized, wrap it in a rag, and shove it into the buffer tube. Eventually give up on cleaning the entire length of the buffer tube. Know that as soon as you put the spring and buffer back into the buffer tube, they will be slightly dirty again.
Using the cleaner of your choice, completely wipe down every exterior surface of your rifle. Wipe down the interior of the upper receiver, and as much of the lower as you can reach with your fingers.
Using q-tips clean out every part of the rifle you can fir a q-tip into. Important ones include:
If you have a bore snake, run it through a few times with some cleaner on it to get any big chunks of stuff out.
Using your cleaning rods, run the bore brush through a few times, put the eyelet on, soak a patch with cleaner and run it through the barrel. Only run wet patches until you get a not-solid-black wet patch. This probably means only 1 or 2. As soon as you see gray, or less-dirty areas of patch, switch to dry. Run dry patches until they come out clean. Run one more wet patch. Run a dry patch. It’ll probably come out dirty. This is a battle you’ll never win. Run dry patches again until they come out clean. Hold the barrel up to a light and look through it, you’ll see if the walls of the barrel are clean or not. If they are, move along. If they are not, repeat this process with one wet patch and dry-until-clean until you see the walls of the barrel shine.4
##Footnotes
1: collapsible stocks can be removed by simply pulling down on the pin that allows you to select the length setting. There is a channel on the bottom of the buffer tube with notches set deeper at specific lengths (usually 4 or 6 of them from start to end). Grab the lever that disengages this pin from the notches and pull it down farther than would be done if you used the lever. This will raise the pin higher than the rear wall of the channel and allow you to pull the stock completely off.
2: DO NOT LOSE THIS PIN.
3: Having the extractor removed will also help you to get the swab part of your cotton swabs out of the bolt when they rip off while you try to pull them out of the firing pin channel.
4: This is my system for running wet and dry patches. Everybody has a different one. You will never win the battle of the barrel. It will never be completely clean. Do not stress over this.
To clean, you first need to field strip it.
To field strip:
Bolt must be in the forward position, hammer cocked
Pop the takedown pin (the one to the rear, near the pistol grip) and allow the upper and lower receivers to hinge open.
Draw back the charing handle and remove the bolt carrier.
Remove the charging handle (pull it as far to the rear as it will go, then down).
On the bolt carrier, pull out the firing pin retaining pin (the small cotter pin accessible on the left side of the carrier).
Pull the firing pin to the rear to remove it.
Push the bolt as far into the bolt carrier as it will go.
Turn the cam pin 90 degrees.
Pull the cam pin out.
Pull the bolt out (it will come out easier if you twist back and forth as you do so.
The following parts need cleaning:
Bolt: both the bolt face and the stem back to the gas rings. The tail of the bolt (to the rear of the gas rings) does not need cleaning (carbon will collect here, but this surface has nothing to do with the operation of the rifle).
Bolt carrier: Particularly inside, where the bolt stem goes
Chamber and locking lugs: use a chamber brush for this, it’s much easier than trying to get in there with a toothbrush.
The interior of the barrel.
After cleaning, you MUST lubricate the rifle. Contrary to what many people seem to think, an AR will run dirty, but it will not run dry. Important lubrication points include:
Bolt stem and gas rings
Bolt locking lugs
The bolt carrier, particularly where it runs on the rails inside the upper receiver.
The cam pin
The charging handle
An AR does not need to be dripping wet to run, but excess lubrication will not hurt anything (the rifle will, however, blow excess lube out and onto your clothes the first time you shoot it).
Finally, reassemble the rifle. It’s basically the disassembly in reverse order. One thing to watch out for is to make sure the bolt is oriented properly. The ejector (the pin sticking slightly out of the bolt face) should be on the left side of the bolt carrier and the extractor should be on the right. If you have the bolt backwards the cam pin will not go back in.
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