Gary Conway's AR15 Website

MAINTENANCE
There are a number of theories about cleaning firearms. I like to break cleaning down into two categories: 1) Minimum cleaning after a day at the range 2) Major cleaning on a periodic basis. Mimimum cleaning after a day at the range Field strip the weapon. Remove and disassemble the bolt carrier group, separate the upper and lower receivers. Lower Receiver If the lower doesn't look very dirty (and it normally will not), then it will need no attention. If it has collected a lot of powder residue and/or other dirt, then perform a Major cleaning as outlined below. Upper Receiver Run several swabs through the barrel using Birchwood Casey's Bore Scrubber. This is a very aggressive cleaner and should not be left in the barrel as it will ultimately damage the barrel. It will, however, clean all debris from the barrel. Then run several swabs through the barrel using Hoppe's Number 9. This is a pretty mild cleaner and will not harm the barrel at all. Further, it will remove any traces of the Bore Scrubber. Once the patches are coming out pretty clean, then run a patch through that is lightly coated with BreakFree CLP. This will place a light coating inside the barrel that will further protect it from rust and corrosion. Clean the inside of the upper receiver with a mild soap detergent. There is no need to use the fancy cleaners here, the soap along with a brush will do an excellent job of cleaning, with no chance of harming anything. Simple Green also does an excellent job of cleaning. Be sure and recoat the interior of the receiver with CLP after the cleaning. Bolt Carrier Group Clean all of the bolt carrier group parts in a mild soap using a brush. Once all of the parts have been blow dried, coat them liberally with BreakFree CLP and wipe dry. The BreakFree CLP will microscopically bond with the parts, forming a dry coating that will both lubricate and protect. The dry aspect is probably the most important. Oils will form a wet coating, which will ultimately attract powder residue build-up along with other debris. Since the CLP forms a dry coating, debris build-up is substantially reduced. Major cleaning on a periodic basis Lower Receiver Completely disassemble the lower receiver. I used to use dish washing detergent which works very well, however, these days I have switched to Simple Green, which is truly an amazing cleaner. Place the parts in a pan and spray them with the Simple Green, wait a couple of minutes, then scrub them vigorously with a brush. Once cleaned, blow dry the parts and apply a liberal coating of BreakFree CLP and wipe dry. Upper Receiver Clean the upper receiver as described above. Bolt Carrier Group Clean the bolt carrier group as described above; only this time, completely disassemble the bolt. My Two Favorite Gun Maintenance Products BreakFree CLP BreakFree CLP is a truly amazing product AND it does EXACTLY what it claims to do, CLEANS, LUBRICATES and PRESERVES. I use it on my milling machine also to keep the bed polished and clean. I was participating in an M1 Garand match a number of years ago put on by the DCMP. I had brought my own Garand, but before I was allowed to shoot it in the match I had to submit it to a tech inspection, which I did. The inspector was an old hand at Garands and knows them inside and out. He informed me that I would have problems with my rifle that day "it was too dry inside" "there isn't enough lubrication in there, it will gall up in a hard day of shooting". He insisted that I needed to get the lubriplate out and splash some around in there like the manual directs. I pointed out to him that that manual, like the weapon and like lubriplate, were 50 years old and that we had made some progress in the last 50 years in our knowledge of lubricants. He reluctantly said, well, go ahead, but, I am telling you that you WILL have troubles today. I informed him that he may possibly be right, however, I really didn't expect any trouble with the several hundred rounds I was about to fire, since I hadn't had any trouble with the 3000 rounds that I had already fired through the weapon without a single jam. He was astonished to put it mildly. Throughout the day both he and a few of his likewise knowledgeable buddies kept creeping over to my lane, watching ... waiting. To their utter disbelief, my rifle was the ONLY rifle that day, that didn't experience some sort of problem. I think there were a few converts that day. Simple Green I first used Simple Green to clean a weapon that I had just cleaned using both dish washing detergent and several different gun cleaners. It was immediately obvious just how much dirt was actually left on the weapon by each and every one of the cleaners that I had JUST used when even more dirt came rolling off the parts when using the Simple Green. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the cleaner the parts, the more smoothly they will operate. This smoother operation at the micro level, will add years to the life expectancy of the parts, not to mention more trouble free operation.

MAINTENANCE

There are a number of theories about cleaning firearms. I like to break cleaning down into two categories:

1) Minimum cleaning after a day at the range
2) Major cleaning on a periodic basis.

Mimimum cleaning after a day at the range

Field strip the weapon. Remove and disassemble the bolt carrier group, separate the upper and lower receivers.

Lower Receiver

If the lower doesn't look very dirty (and it normally will not), then it will need no attention. If it has collected a lot of powder residue and/or other dirt, then perform a Major cleaning as outlined below.

Upper Receiver

Run several swabs through the barrel using Birchwood Casey's Bore Scrubber. This is a very aggressive cleaner and should not be left in the barrel as it will ultimately damage the barrel. It will, however, clean all debris from the barrel. Then run several swabs through the barrel using Hoppe's Number 9. This is a pretty mild cleaner and will not harm the barrel at all. Further, it will remove any traces of the Bore Scrubber. Once the patches are coming out pretty clean, then run a patch through that is lightly coated with BreakFree CLP. This will place a light coating inside the barrel that will further protect it from rust and corrosion.
Clean the inside of the upper receiver with a mild soap detergent. There is no need to use the fancy cleaners here, the soap along with a brush will do an excellent job of cleaning, with no chance of harming anything. Simple Green also does an excellent job of cleaning. Be sure and recoat the interior of the receiver with CLP after the cleaning.

Bolt Carrier Group

Clean all of the bolt carrier group parts in a mild soap using a brush. Once all of the parts have been blow dried, coat them liberally with BreakFree CLP and wipe dry. The BreakFree CLP will microscopically bond with the parts, forming a dry coating that will both lubricate and protect. The dry aspect is probably the most important. Oils will form a wet coating, which will ultimately attract powder residue build-up along with other debris. Since the CLP forms a dry coating, debris build-up is substantially reduced.

Major cleaning on a periodic basis

Lower Receiver

Completely disassemble the lower receiver. I used to use dish washing detergent which works very well, however, these days I have switched to Simple Green, which is truly an amazing cleaner. Place the parts in a pan and spray them with the Simple Green, wait a couple of minutes, then scrub them vigorously with a brush. Once cleaned, blow dry the parts and apply a liberal coating of BreakFree CLP and wipe dry.

Upper Receiver

Clean the upper receiver as described above.

Bolt Carrier Group

Clean the bolt carrier group as described above; only this time, completely disassemble the bolt.

My Two Favorite Gun Maintenance Products

BreakFree CLP

BreakFree CLP is a truly amazing product AND it does EXACTLY what it claims to do, CLEANS, LUBRICATES and PRESERVES. I use it on my milling machine also to keep the bed polished and clean. I was participating in an M1 Garand match a number of years ago put on by the DCMP. I had brought my own Garand, but before I was allowed to shoot it in the match I had to submit it to a tech inspection, which I did. The inspector was an old hand at Garands and knows them inside and out. He informed me that I would have problems with my rifle that day "it was too dry inside" "there isn't enough lubrication in there, it will gall up in a hard day of shooting". He insisted that I needed to get the lubriplate out and splash some around in there like the manual directs. I pointed out to him that that manual, like the weapon and like lubriplate, were 50 years old and that we had made some progress in the last 50 years in our knowledge of lubricants. He reluctantly said, well, go ahead, but, I am telling you that you WILL have troubles today. I informed him that he may possibly be right, however, I really didn't expect any trouble with the several hundred rounds I was about to fire, since I hadn't had any trouble with the 3000 rounds that I had already fired through the weapon without a single jam. He was astonished to put it mildly. Throughout the day both he and a few of his likewise knowledgeable buddies kept creeping over to my lane, watching ... waiting. To their utter disbelief, my rifle was the ONLY rifle that day, that didn't experience some sort of problem. I think there were a few converts that day.

Simple Green

I first used Simple Green to clean a weapon that I had just cleaned using both dish washing detergent and several different gun cleaners. It was immediately obvious just how much dirt was actually left on the weapon by each and every one of the cleaners that I had JUST used when even more dirt came rolling off the parts when using the Simple Green. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the cleaner the parts, the more smoothly they will operate. This smoother operation at the micro level, will add years to the life expectancy of the parts, not to mention more trouble free operation.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]