AR type advice needed

[Jst1mr]

Just joined the wonderful world of the AR (S&W M&P15T), though I have owned other semi autos. Seems that the old advice was to keep lube to a minimum to avoid collecting junk...now I hear something like this "AR's can/should be run wet". What exactly does that mean... should be wet (with what) and where?

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

Dry and clean they will run fine. Wet and clean they will run fine. Dry and dirty you may have issues. Wet and dirty it should run just fine.

 

[armed85]

If you take the bolt carrier group out of the rifle, you'll see four rails on the bolt carrier. These four rails need to be wet with lube.

Take the bolt out of the bolt carrier. Lubricate the whole bolt so its wet and put a drop of oil inbetween the three gas rings. Make sure the gas rings don't line up. In other words, each ring has a hole. Make sure those holes don't line up. Using your finger to wipe the oil around the bolt works well.

Put a light coating of oil on the T-handle and action spring (recoil spring).

When you clean your rifle, make sure you remove the extractor and clean it and under the extractor.

You can download the Army manual for the M16. It's pretty, well, "Army proof" and easy to read and understand.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[armed85]

As for the "what," I use Eezox for corrosion resistance and whatever is handy for a lube. Eezox is the best preservative around, but isn't a good lube.

As for a lube, I've used Mobil 1 automotive oil, RemOil, and Breakfree CLP. Of the three CLP works the worse.

 

[Organdonor]

Dry and clean they will run fine. Wet and clean they will run fine. Dry and dirty you may have issues. Wet and dirty it should run just fine.

+1

And if you're running it hard while it's dirty, every few hundred rounds or so keep it lubed by squirting a little lube into the holes you see on your BCG through the dust cover. That lube finds it way down into the bolt and the gas rings, amongst other places. It should keep you from breaking down in the middle of anything.

 

[mattw]

It all depends on how dirty the rifle is and what climate you are in. If you're in the middle east you'll want to run it as clean as possible and near bone dry to keep the sand from getting caught in the lube and gunking up your rifle.

If you're in the jungle or another sub-tropical to tropical type climate (Mississippi, Louisiana, Vietnam), you'll want to run it clean as possible and slathered with lube. This helps to cut down on corrosion and keeps the action running smooth.

If you're at the range just hit it with a couple drops of lube and you'll be fine, the paper doesn't shoot back.

Just make sure you keep lube out of the barrel, carrier key, and bolt face.

 

[Avenger29]

www.ar15.com/content/swat/keepitrunning.pdf

The AR series runs signiicantly better wet than dry, but there are those who approach this with such great trepidation that they steadfastly refuse to use only a tiny bit of lube on their carbines, causing them to cease functioning after a very short while. Hundreds of e-net posts speak of using little lube on the carbines, believing that too much lube is the cause of all problems.