Need a good tutorial about

[l921428x]

the BCG on the AR. All that I see on uboob is like they are
talking to 11 yr olds. I understand the basics. How do the gas rings come off
or wear out or when should I replace. Should I use grease on some parts? I would
use white lithium if so but some say no. How "wet/dry" should my bolt be, do I oil
the gas rings and if so with what?

Hell these things are a pain in the ass to put together, run and maintain.
Love my AK's in the time I took on this thread I could have field stripped
and been firing.

[imanaknut]

When I clean the bolt of my ARs, I usually disassemble everything except the rings and extractor claw. I spray all parts with CLP, let sit for a while then wipe everything down thoroughly. I use a swab to clean inside the chamber that the bolt resides in the carrier, and swab the inside of the bolt where the firing pin resides.

In all my years of shooting, including one M-4gery that I built which not only did I put a zillion rounds through, but my not-yet-son-in-law used the rifle for practice before taking his M4 qualifier with AFSOC. He said he put "a few" rounds through it in training. (Don't ask why he didn't use Air Force weapons, something about special ops ego).

In all that I have never had to replace a gas ring, nor have I ever removed one. Spraying them down and then wiping off has always worked.

When I am done, I wipe every part before reassembly and usually leave just an absolute minimum coating of oil. Remember, with gas driving the works, it gets dirty back there, so you don't want any grease or large amounts of oil to attract and hold the grunge any more than normal. Unlike the rings, I have only once had a bolt issue, and that was an old Carbon 15 rifle that had a proprietary bolt which from what I was told was that breaking was not too uncommon with them. With the standard bolt/carrier configuration (mil-spec) I have never had a problem in tens of thousands of rounds. Hind-sight is nice to me, as I bought a ton of .223/5.56x45 before the prices went up, as in under $150 per case and many shows I worked I dragged many $120 cases to my car.

I will also say this, in all that range time, I have never cleaned the gas tube, which either I am very lucky or they are self cleaning as advertised.

I also spend a lot of time cleaning the lug area of the aft end of the barrel to make sure there is no carbon build up that would affect bolt lock up.

Pain in the tail, maybe but I enjoy taking care of my firearms almost as much as shooting them. Kind of that aircraft mechanic in me that is obsessed with proper maintenance.

[l921428x]

Thanks Nut. Straight forward and to the point.

[Helen Keller]

Never touch the gas rings unless they're broken.



under normal usage, you'll never wear them out- now if you were shooting 5000-6000 rounds a month yea maybe but I'd just buy a new bolt vs messing with those.

[l921428x]

Noted Helen, thanks. Now you have opened another q. You said "just buy another bolt" is it just a drop in item
or does it need fitting?

[Helen Keller]

just drop a new one in.




Only time things like headspace are in play is if you were to have an unfinished barrel IE: no barrel extension installed OR are using a variant with very tight specs.

theres things like throat erosion but if you can afford to shoot that much buying a whole new complete upper assembly wouldnt even be pocket change.

[NAPOTS]

the BCG on the AR. All that I see on uboob is like they are
talking to 11 yr olds. I understand the basics. How do the gas rings come off
or wear out or when should I replace. Should I use grease on some parts? I would
use white lithium if so but some say no. How "wet/dry" should my bolt be, do I oil
the gas rings and if so with what?

Hell these things are a pain in the ass to put together, run and maintain.
Love my AK's in the time I took on this thread I could have field stripped
and been firing.

You are over thinking it. Learn how do do a basic field strip and clean and start shooting the damn thing

[l921428x]

Well I am not trying to over think it just trying to learn. Yeah I would like to shoot it
but have absolutely no where to go. Had to drop the gun club and all the friends that
use to have land made their mint,in selling, have moved on. But someday.

[dfariswheel]

Many AR shooters us grease in some areas.
Specifically on the carrier cam and cam pin, on the rails on the bolt carrier, and on the rear of the bolt locking lugs.
Many apply grease to the trigger-sear-hammer assembly and the front face of the hammer.

Contrary to internet belief, grease does not "attract" dirt or grit.
With a little grease the action will still work smoother and with less wear.
One Match shooter wrote about shooting an entire season with grease in his AR. He never cleaned it out, just added more as needed.
He had zero stoppages over the season.
One weirdity the Match shooters sometime do is to coat the inside of the trigger well in the lower with a thick grease.
Any primers that pop out are usually caught in the grease and held instead of dropping down into the trigger assembly and fouling it.

I recommend the military standard CLP for most lubrication. CLP Breakfree is as good as anything.
Any GI manual shows where to lube.
Here's an online source for all the M16 manuals. Note the info at the top of the page on what username and password to use:

http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/

Gas rings seldom have any problems on a well built rifle.
The test is to pull the bolt forward and stand the carrier and bolt bolt end first on a table. If the bolt stays forward it's good. If the carriers collapses down the rings are bad.

Cleaning is not difficult.
Many of us buy one of the carbon removal tools to clean the bolt tail and bolt carrier recess. I personally like the C.A.T. tool from Brownell's.

NEVER put ANYTHING into the gas tube.
All that will happen is the super heated gas coming down the tube will burn it into a sticky mess that can plug the tube.
The only area of the tube to clean is the enlarged end that fits into the gas key.
If you ever have any issues with the tube, do what's the intended fix....simply replace the tube. The tube is cheap and easy to replace.
In the military if you get caught putting anything in the tube they'll stick something up your tube.

[l921428x]

In the military if you get caught putting anything in the tube they'll stick something up your tube.

Funny. Thanks.

[dfariswheel]

The full quote was:

"Get caught putting anything in the gas tube and your sarge will stick something up your gas tube".