AR Upkeep and Maintenance

I think I know how to clean my AR, but I want to hear from some others. How often do you completely break yours down and really clean it? What all do you do to it when you clean it? Tell me all about your maintenance regimen.

The tried and true "10" manuals are about as good as you can get. I have the 249 and newer 319 on PDF . Not sure how to post em but pm me an email addy and I will gladly send one of each your way. Always good to keep on file for a rainy day!

I'll look for an how to called "How to keep your Carbine Running." based on AR's. Can't put my hands on anything with the wife redoing the house.

If quality ammo is used along with quality mags. Upkeep and maintenance is at a minimum for the AR semi autos.

BreakFree CLP will keep cleaning easy.

Doing the above, all that will ever be needed is field strip and clean. Not a detail strip and clean.

I clean mine roughly ever 1500/2000 rounds. A boresnake down the tube is all they get after a shooting session.

I do clean the highpower rifle once a year after the last match.

Battle rifles do not need all the cleaning bestowed upon them by the average shooter. Good barrels can be ruined by agressive cleaning after every 50 round range trip.

+1 with BeauBeaux...many a good rifle has been ruined by improper and too frequent cleaning....

Battle rifles don't need that much for what most of us do with em...Every 3000 - 5000 rds

I finally bought some of the BreakFree CLP over the weekend. I thought it was a little high at 12.99 for the 12 oz. can. This was at Scruggs in Tupelo where most everything is high!

E-mails sent.

Got your e-mails, thanks Dirty!

BeauBeaux wrote: A boresnake down the tube is all they get after a shooting session.

I LOVE boresnakes. I put a little solvent around the embeded bristles and a little oil on the tail and 5 seconds later I'm done. Great suggestion, Beaux.

If i get bored i just break it down and wipe all the grit off and put it back together with a lil CLP on a terry cloth.

We ride 4wheelers alot on the creek and at night i usually take my Delton M4 with me for blasting beavers and those pesky snakes. Most of the time it rides pointed down with the muzzle on the floorboard of my 4wheeler. It gets submerged alot, with the tires churning up all the sand and silt on the bottom of the creek. Sand and grit works its way in.
Thats the only time i really break it down and scrub everything.

Besides that i dont really clean them it much at all.
Like said above, bore snake to get whats left of the powder residue out and a touch of oil on the tail keeps rust away.

The lower assembly probably needs a good spraying with Hornady's gun cleaner and solvent, especially if you have a good trigger. Just a small amount of fouling will mess up a good trigger in a heartbeat. Chrome lined bores don't need a lot of maintenance. You would need to know whether your gun shoots better dirty or clean. If it shoots better clean, then clean the bore often. If it shoots better dirty, then wait until your accuracy starts to drop off, then give it a good cleaning. My two AR's like "clean" and my trigger groups really like clean.