Do you baby your AR?

I wouldn't intentionally bounce it off the ground in the sand, but wouldn't think twice about picking it up and shooting it if it had a little dirt on it.

That's a really nice looking AR, I dig that alot.

I treat all of my guns nice, that way they treat me nice by working when I want them to. And I just do not like beat up and abused things including guns.

3C

Do I abuse my guns, no, do I baby them, no again. AR's will put up with a lot more than people give them credit for but I do baby my optics. Some of them can cost almost as much as the gun.

Ya, Im "that guy" that has a sharpie in the range bag because you never know when you'll notice a nick or scratch that needs touching-up.....

What AR?

I dont beat on my gear, but I do USE them, and nicks and dings happen.
When I do finally get my Cooper 52 WC....or what has taken its place in my wish list by the time i can afford something like that...Im probably going to scratch the hell out of it just like I have my other rifles....Unless I dont like them.

I absolutely do baby my ARs.
I clean them all the time.

Especially after I pick them up out of a snowy swamp, after falling on my face, into said swamp, and shooting many bunnies with it all day afterwards.

I needed cleaning and dry cloth before it did.

These are just machines. And very well thought out machines, made for hard use in No Man’s Land.

But, I take care of them and they take care of me and both of us like dirt.

(Your sand looks nice. Does it squeak like Lake Michigan sand?)

He'd really hate what I do on a typical winter coyote hunt! We don't have much beach sand here in the North where I'm at, and where we do they kind of frown on rifle fire, but if we did, I wouldn't be terribly frightened of it.

My AR is considered 100% expendable. While I don't deliberately abuse it, it's standard use often crosses that line. I've had to run a pull-through through it and field strip to remove packed in snow after a short roost to a coyote setup on the snowmobile. You never really get all the snow out in that process. It still ran fine when I dropped the hammer on a yodel dog. When I quit that spot, I shot the remainder of the 20 round magazine with clean function to fully clear the snow and test fucntion.

I'm a little nicer to my match AR, but various kinds of dirt, grit and dust are commonplace at a high power match. Since you spend most of the time laying on the ground trying not to break position, you can never keep it all off your shooting mat, glove, fingers, ammo box, and some invariably finds it's way into the action, especially if it's windy. I've only had that one jam once, and that was my fault due to a seating die working loose and producing some over-long rounds.

I don't deliberately abuse them, but I don't baby them in use either. The US Army taught me how to keep them running (Basic, though I had experience at it before that), and what to do when they don't. (Armorer school and 45B course.) Most of the 16's I worked on had the anodizing worn shiny, and all of them had been through a war, or worse, used by a generation of Basic trainees.

I try and keep my guns in the same or better shape than I acquired them in.

I used to buy and sell a lot of guns and wanted to keep the resale value up, but also learned to keep them in the best condition possible to make sure they work when I need them to.

Prefer guns that have nice aesthetics so careful not to scratch or ding them, not always possible while hunting, but I try.

I don't abuse my equipment but I don't baby it either.



Nothing's better than a tool that is ugly from honest wear, it stands tribute to the success and trials its user(s) have overcome.

No, I don't. Has this guy not been following the news for the last couple of decades? Lots of guns very similar to AR's have been in use in some of the dustiest sandiest environments on the globe. They gave good service and their was no epidemic of rifles grenading on people.

I am out hunting with my AR 2-4 times a week. That has in and out of the truck a couple of dozen times with it a week, going down countless gravel roads with the windows open, out in fog, light rain, down on the ground in muddy fields, over and under fences, etc. with mine. I maybe shoot 100-200 rounds a month through it. It is dirty, scratched, and overall just well used.

Do I baby it? It gets a hard cleaning at least once a year and that is when the barrel gets cleaned. The BCG gets wiped off (not disassembled) and relubed every two weeks and disassembled and cleaned every couple of months and that is when I am apt to clean the chamber as well.

I find that this regime keeps my gun running just fine, winter or summer, wet weather or dry.

As for not cleaning the barrel, I find that my groups are more consistent between cold and warm bore shots when the barrel is fully fouled.

Rshooter said:

Do I abuse my guns, no, do I baby them, no again. AR's will put up with a lot more than people give them credit for but I do baby my optics. Some of them can cost almost as much as the gun.

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That's my basic philosophy. A firearm like an AR is just a tool... I use it to do a job, but I don't intentionally abuse it... I feel the same way about my 1911's, which fill the same role. Yea, that first scratch hurts, but after that... meh. I do agree about optics, however. I only have 2 rifles with quality optics... they fill different 'tool' holes, so I treat them a bit differently.

I definitely don't baby mine. I try not to heat it up too much and don't really burn mags up like some guys do but I'm not afraid to get a scrape or a ding here and there and I know it's anathema to alot of people but I hardly ever even clean my AR. I wipe it down and stuff but rarely do a fine cleaning.

I baby mine for a year or so until I get that inevitable first scratch... once that happens, I stop caring. I run my guns hard, but never abused.

taliv said:

The only miracle is that you could hear him after firing that brake and short barrel. Holy crap…

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That was my initial thought as well. I bet that thing is blasty!

DustyGmt said:

I know it's anathema to alot of people but I hardly ever even clean my AR.

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Me either. That's not to say it isn't lubed or otherwise cared for... but I rarely break my AR's down to clean them. My lightweight carbine has about 3000 rounds on it right now since it's last breakdown and clean.

I baby my guns as in I always clean clean after shooting, and keep them in top shoe. But I don’t mind dust, dirt, rain getting on them in use.

What I DON’T do, and to this day don’t understand…., is intentionally sprinkling sand all over the gun for the sake of a “Look at Me” photo opp. The way you clearly did here. But that’s just me.

I don't intentionally abuse any of my firearms but honest scratches and dings have stories to tell. On my ARs I'll do a quick wipe-down and call it good for the most part.

I am very gentle with my carbines. I only hose them off after a day in the mud or when they get immersed, I don't pressure wash them.

David Hoback said:

I baby my guns as in I always clean clean after shooting, and keep them in top shoe. But I don’t mind dust, dirt, rain getting on them in use.

What I DON’T do, and to this day don’t understand…., is intentionally sprinkling sand all over the gun for the sake of a “Look at Me” photo opp. The way you clearly did here. But that’s just me.

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Beat me to the punch there, Dave. Had to wonder what the OP was doing to get all that sand all over his gun. Surely no one would do that on purpose......right?

Shoot it in the rain or prone in a dusty/muddy field…sure, that’s what they’re designed for.

Use it as a pry bar, hammer or club…only if my life depended on it.

Clean, oil & maintain after use