AR-15 Cleaning

hey Kai 45 these ar-fifteens are so much fun to shoot yes 223 whatever the caliber five five six 300 blackout you name it they're just fun to shoot but you do want to maintain them one take care of your firearm whatever kind of firearm it happens to be a lot of requests to do a cleaning video on an ar-15 all for about three years so I always get around to things sooner or later that's what we're gonna do today okay so let's move over here to the shooting table and do something besides shooting for a change huh hippie magazine we have an empty firearm we are clear we are definitely clear nothing in there I can see right in that chamber so what we're going to do is take a look at a couple of different things again I probably do this differently than you do and maybe some other folks do imagine that me doing something different but what I wanted to do was give you a couple of different levels of what we do and actually there's probably three or four different levels so the way I clean an ar-15 and any gun maybe though they are there's a couple of things you can do to keep them going they like to run wet you want to keep them oiled I know in the early days of mine a ar-15 I think I ran them to dry I confess I'm sorry but you know they I guess I kept them clean enough maybe it didn't matter but the ar-15 does like to be run wet it likes lubricant it likes some oil and I've gotten better about that over the years the last seven eight nine years I have an a2 I bought an 8 1984 it's always run just fine but I've tried to do better about that in recent recent years now you might be running shooting a fair amount and you don't really have time to clean for some reason there are some things you do to keep it oiled and everybody will disagree on how many so just take that with a grain of salt of course let's say I have fired I don't 1000 rounds or 2,000 rounds or something I don't have time to break it down whatever that might be I've never been in the military so I I can't address that but I know there's some things you can do for example you know you've got your gas port you can get oil in there put a drop in there a couple of drops you can pull that bolt back without this is without taking the gun down and get some oil and you can see there's plenty there but I'll put a drop on the on the bolt there unnecessarily on the face of it but on the lugs you can make sure those are lube you can even turn it over and get a little bit on the bottom of the bolt there drop or two just to keep it lubricated and it's better off even if it's dirty if its lewd and walas dirty okay so and you just have to be a judge how much you fired it how wet it was when you started and all that sort of thing putting you back into action you can just continue shooting you need to all right so that's one level one the police mention I don't really do that I don't know that I've ever done that much because I'm generally going to shoot some then I'm going to take it down I normally don't go to the range or anywhere and shoot a thousand 1,500 or 2,000 rounds you know I've had a single time justjust don't do that so what I do is to kind of the next level usually and what that involves is just taking taking down the takedown pin the rear one here and make sure we're taking the bolt out in the carrier is the charging handle I let out okay and I normally don't take the upper off and I'm doing this out here on the shooting table because there's more room and it's just the simpler Lighting's better normally I'm doing this in the you know reloading room we're in it but I brought all my stuff out here so I want to kind of show you what what I do so I take it down to this point right here and and I'm just going to show you what I do again it's worked for me for a long time and I've been and I'm gonna try to sell you a specific lube there's a lot of good lubes on them market this is not what this video is about I've used ballast all four since 1999 successfully but there's a lot of good stuff on the market now what I do is I will I'm finished shooting so okay I'm gonna get some blue down the board so I'll just spray down the board I'll hold down the floor I'll just spray in there I'll just soak that back I'll let it run I don't care okay I'll get it in the lodge there and everything I try to keep it out of the the gas tube out there I'll show you okay and you know the gas tube you see that comes Alan doors Oh where's a pointer there we go I think it probably I want the screwdriver you can see the the into the gas tube right right there not good to spray Lube in that try to keep that dry generally okay but those really matter anywhere else okay plus I'm not turning it upside down as much so I will what I will do is spray that down if I've been shooting it a great deal I might spray some in there you know around with a bowl tries and everything to and wipe a little bit fat off I'll just put that aside and I'll just let soak yeah I just put that aside and that's one of the characteristic is a balanced only doesn't necessarily eat everything away in two seconds a little time is good a time of your friend and then I will look at the bulb I'll work on it okay and I generally will go ahead and take it down now you could just spray it down make sure it's wet and you're okay now this is not gonna be a very dirty because I just shot a few times but I really didn't want to work on it was just filthy filthy ones you be able to see everything easier and now these are designed so you can take a bullet and get the little fine are pin retainer cotter pin out there like that put the ammo away keep it away from you on cleaning you pull out that little Cocker pin I usually put those in one place firing and falls out over there especially out here on a reloading table on one lose anything a little law camp in there both camp in and the bolt now I'll usually just brace all that stuff down let it be soaking okay now that doesn't mean I'm gonna leave it soaked like that put it back together necessarily okay and quite often if you've been shooting a lot this will be really dirty and of course the bolt will be of carbon buildup on it and everything we generally at this level of cleaning and this level would mean I might shoot the thing again in a few days okay and have to go through this again so I'm not gonna try to give it the white glove treatment necessarily all right you can see already just with the rounds fired there's a little bit of carbon right there even though it was fired fairly wet okay now and then you get your your gas rings there you know what I will do and same thing on this I go ahead and get the bowel stall on it again whatever Lube the cleaner you use and you got to think about what you use some of you use a cleaner and then you use a Lube and this this stuff that I use is both cleaner and lube it's all in one so I'm actually cleaning okay so I'll spray down I don't worry about letting it soak and if it's not bad it is it's really bad I've been known to just soak them in a jar that stuff okay because I wanted to start working on that carbon right away now a little tool I've got my hands on here recently is designed for that and I almost don't need it with this one cuz there's not much on it but that is designed to just slip over that little tube there and just get the carbon off and this would be a great thing I think they have in the field you know if you were a soldier I think maybe it was developed by soldiers I'm not sure I'm not that familiar with the company it's cat-cat and 4.com and I would recommend this little tool cuff will tell you that it is pretty cool cat m4 um I'll put it know in the description but this this end is design you see it just stays on everything that it's a machine perfectly to fit over that and then to clean the carbon off that okay now what I had done before is use something like this gunsmith over at guns and leather here in the Nashville area Jeff handed me some of that one day it's like a scotch-brite or something I'm not sure what grade that is actually but that works pretty well to find out how bad it is and you just clean it off if it's not really cake this thing is it's cool it really gets it off there and it also has see this little opening is for the firing pin he's letting down in there if you've got carbon buildup or some on that it's designed to scrape it off okay I already put some thinking and on that and then what we're talking about that you take a patch and you put it right in here this may not be the right size patches I use this sometimes sometimes I don't this part of it but you get a patch in there and it's designed the perfect size just stick it right in there and clean that out in camera with a bolt fit and I'm pushing right against that lip back there and see so it'll scrape off the carbon back there and also you got your passion again we're not too dirty today because I had hey it was clean before I fired a magazine okay so it's not hit a lot of firing through it I don't wanna be totally filthy and take 40 minute video just to get it halfway clean but that's what that's for and you could do that over and over now what I will do quite often is I will spray in there and let that soak - and if I feel like the carrier is pretty dirty I will also get down and I may walk away you know do something go eat I don't know we may come out here and do some more shooting do a video or something but I I have a place to do that and many of you do too where you just leave a gun soaking and I don't I don't worry about that so that's how I clean that now make sure I got the worst of out of there and it's looking pretty good especially if I think I'm going to shoot it again you know before too long alright so thought for example the way that is right now I'd be okay with that alright and I look at it check it out looks pretty clean don't worry about the oil it's like a 1911 it's designed to be run with some oil on it and it's not very dirty back there now one thing I do with this too is I have a multitude of things I've just dragged out here what I will use sometimes I mean you look at that that's a that's about what a 45 caliber hole there sometimes I'll just run a patch on this this is actually a Glock cleaning brush young one of those it comes with a Glock put a patch on it and just run it in there you know helped to help you know get all the dirt out maybe the other side maybe put another patch on it to make it you know bigger for that area yeah and so you just experiment most of you that have guns have a shotgun you might find a shotgun clean you got a 410 attachment that fits perfectly or something just whatever I find that to be true with an ak-47 you clean the gas tubes and you know different things like that they will I've got a 30 caliber gun here I'm cleaning I'm not sure what what cleaning tool to use and so you end up using whatever whatever fits yeah so main thing is to just just get it done all right so that's actually not bad right there and this is in pretty good shape because I didn't you know again it wasn't all that dirty now one thing I use on this just about every time is I just cannot resist going through there with a pipe cleaner even if I'm pretty sure it's pretty clean like to run a pipe cleaner through and that always does a good job makes make certain that there's no obstructions there of course the firing pin tells you that too so that looks good not a problem and you want to make sure your little gas rings air or space the little gap there they're not right you'll have gaps right together that's supposed to be important I don't always check it and I never have had a problem but it's something you're supposed to do so that looks pretty good then I'll just put it right back in there and just because he's ready to go make sure your distractors over there ought to be there and put your pin back in you're ready to go now one thing I didn't do what I will do is usually is also run a pipe cleaner down through the gas key here which is what that is okay sometimes a q-tip a q-tip I'll almost fit in there I'll make sure that's clear and in good shape I don't put oil down in that I don't think it matters but I normally don't put oil down in that I just make sure it's clean I'll leave an use alcohol to make sure it's good and clean lots of times okay because that's where those you don't know that's what slips onto the the gas tube and you know the old gas or the direct impingement type of operation that you have with the typical ar-15 is you know it it forces all the gas back through there and comes right down on the bolt and pinned use right on the bolt so as they say these things throw up on themselves every time you pull the trigger so you get all that gas and mess down in the bolt that's why they get a carbon buildup you're pretty easily okay but they still they tend to run even when they're a little dirty they crank on lawns or oil oil so you know they're really not as finicky as a lot of people like to think they are as far as I'm concerned and then I have of course these guys over here soaking and so I'll wipe them off a little bit I don't want all just hanging on but they should be breezy yeah if you use grease you'd bought it for a little grease on the campaign probably just get some oil on your fingers get back in and one goes in one way so a big problem then you have to spin it around get the firing pin through it and then the firing pin yeah some people oil the firing pin or grease if I don't I don't think it really has to be grease or oil put it back in slides up through there and then the little cotter pin back in you know and you're basically back in business it's not a not a difficult thing to take the bolt out is it it's pretty simple and then I will look at the charging handle and of course this one's pretty clean but I'll make sure it's really you want to put a little Lube on if this fingers move it it there's friction involved there they will they will we're definitely on the right side cuz you're pulling on the left side you know make sure that's Lube and then in terms of lubing all this because it's clean now let's say it's clean enough it's clean maybe it's perfectly clean well same old thing you want a little oil on the range which I normally will put that on there before I put it back in there I didn't do but I can get to it right here drop the shoe on that some oil on the bolt there and the lugs okay now a lot of people have a cute little can and they little drop and a little drop you know I just spray it okay little spray here and there then you don't have to just soak the whole carrier you have bearing surfaces here where it rubs on the receiver and yes you can just get some there I don't like a little bit on the bottom - I don't know oops and I don't worry about getting too much I just wipe off what I don't like same thing up here you know your bearing points right in here right here a little oil there okay and then you know I can just wipe off excess but it's just not a pure science but if anything probably had a little too much on there it's never heard anything in my book I've never had problems because I had too much oil on my bolt or too much oil on my carrier yeah I've never had oil fly back in my face or anything I don't do crazy and overdo it but that is that is pretty well lubed and I think it would operate just fine and then what I do now again I'm talking about what we do most of the time I just go ahead and use a snake I like these bore snakes and you could use if you don't have a bore snake or you don't like more snakes you could take a patch or several a 22 caliber patch put it on something like this and run it through there now it's recommended you don't pull them back through I don't know I tell you truth I do that most of the time myself but you can push patches through take them off until they're clean again depends on what you're doing if you're getting ready for the museum you know you might want to do that too you can't find any dirt on it what I do is typically I just use a bore snake run through there before I do that though I will quite often grab some q-tips and work on a little bit because I do have a fair amount of oil in there and I will just kind of clean up some of that in the brand the lugs there's not a lot of excess oil because remember now this oil that bounced all both cleans and loops so it's not like I have some high-powered cleaner in there that's gonna eat anything up it's all doing the same thing okay I go through a lot to you tips some people don't like to you tips for gun cleaning they're afraid some little speck of cotton might be left somewhere but again I've never any trouble with that maybe you have okay so I get that kind of clean all right now you can be pretty fastidious about all this and just obsessive but think about it if you go out and fire this thing four or five hundred times would you expect to have any trouble no you'd be able to expect to fire a few more hundred times but think about it use some common sense after you have fired the first three or four magazines you got some dirt in there there was carbon there was some buildup even from that one magazine I fired you would have some build-up but you're expecting to still run you know at some point al's and round or whatever fifty hundred you might need to put a little more oil in but you're expecting it to run with some dirt in there alright so you know so worrying about a molecule of cotton you know it might just be a little too obsessive you know we get right down to it the main thing is you don't want the what I always think about all my firearms is I don't want the thing to deteriorate there's never any rust on any of my firearms ever never has been I know uh I may have a black powder gun right now sitting somewhere it's not perfectly clean but it's soaked in ballast all there's no ballast all in that barrel doesn't matter you can sit there for fifty years and I could go clean it further if I wanted to but it's it's it's fine where it is you know because of that so alright that board looks like a mirror beautiful okay and there's still enough oil left around there's lugs and everything I would possibly at that point say that's alright pretty good shape I think we might shoot this next week we're gonna do a video in three days or whatever so I'm going to put it back I got the charging handle lube the bolt is Lu's been ready to go so I'm gonna stick him back in there he's ready to go that's pretty much the process that I use most of the time okay that's kind of a level two all right now that won't work that works for me it's well lubed and again you can always a little bit more right there not without any problem it's it's all accessible okay now let's say I don't know when I'll shoot this gun again let me take this thing apart and do a little bit better job maybe on it because I'm going to stow it away and I'm gonna be shooting old one my other ARS I know but I'm not sure when I'll be shooting this one again well I might take it all the way apart and I'm not gonna do that I'm just gonna kind of talk about what I would do a little bit take it up maybe a step further there's things you can do that you might want to do and mainly is this is kind of a basics video you don't want to be afraid of these guns you might be thinking about buying an ar-15 and I don't wanna go they're kind of complicated I don't think I want any part of that well they're not that complicated they're pretty simple yeah you see how easy even I can do it look at this I picked that bolt out this firing pin it's not a problem they got the cam pin there just aren't that many parts you can even pick the bolt apart where's my pod is a Glock punch I tend to use most of the time but the extractor is another thing you want to keep track of I've never really had much trouble with them but make sure the spring on the extractor it was in good shape and at the next level I will also if I it's a Saturday morning nothing going on I'm gonna get the AR out and make sure it's really clean put that pin out there's extractor and make sure your spring looks good and it also gives you access into your bolt if you want to clean it better you can do that you know it's just not a not a problem at all these these guns are pretty simple to work on they're designed that way imagine that so I will do that now I'll clean on the bolt tool aboard I'll make a little more make sure there's not a speck of carbon on and then I might even take out the the buffer - and spring I don't take that out very often it just generally doesn't need much cleaning play the truth with my tools but I don't put oil on this either I might get a rag and wipe it down just wipe the spring off you know I've done that a long time it needs it now you know but I don't put oil on that I don't know that anybody really does and then pop that back in yeah okay so I'm kind of talking about the next step here some things that that I might do also might look at the lower a little bit more carefully and see how it's looking and I would spend a little more time and an interest of you know the just the time here on the video I don't want to you know take an hour on it but I would I would just look down in there and I'd make sure I've got a drop of oil on the spring the hammer spring there and different things like that the safety pin you know maybe even these pins just make sure everything is oil I mean there's moving parts obviously so if you haven't put any oil on it and ten years you know hook for awhile just want to make sure everything is working okay and all the parts seen seems secure no problem with it okay so with that and then with the the upper like I said I would make sure the Volt's cleaner I might put a little more time in on the carrier just make sure it's perfectly clean okay kind of like I do with my Glock every now and then I break down the slide and just just there's nothing that when I finished with it it's perfectly clean same with you gasps - I might I don't I often neglect that I know but I have some long pipe cleaners somebody must have some long pipe right and you know they you can buy these for cleaning the gas tube I might run one up there and get in it yeah it's - there we go yeah and I might take the forearm off and you have access to everything a bit better so you know just some other steps there that you can take and you'll notice see that that's that's clean I don't I don't see anything on that any car or anything so that's usually not a problem but there's other steps that would be like the next step perhaps maybe step 3 and then maybe step forward to just taking every little piece off and you know going to that real obsessive level with it but they are 15 it's just not a problem to clean it's kind of fun kind of break is fun to break it apart clean it and get it back in shape or bolts back together so where's my carrier there it is now your carrier you wanna check your gas key to make sure that's not loose and generally won't be if it's take like this this is a cult and they stake them I think I brought a noble and ya brought one out here this is an extra carrier and bolt I actually have and you notice that was not staked I'm not sure we've made that one but it's not staked so you know it could loosen up on you because it gets really hot obviously and this something you want to check okay so let's put the bolt back in there we go camp in and again this only goes in one way so I mean if you just bought an AR you ain't had it apart yet you really can't mess it up like this is these pins gonna go in one way okay firing 10 I don't think you put the firing pin in backwards by mistake anything like that now again in this step you know I didn't really do it I just talked about it but I've actually I mean this think it look like it's brand new from the factory okay I spent a little time on it I had a Saturday morning with nothing to do and again I want to make sure everything is Lube just as it is before I put it back together a charging handle bolt carrier and gun back together and again a little attention to that make sure it's perfectly clean Lube Lube dwell and this is actually part of the fun of owning one of these because they're they're so simple to work on they're not a problem at all I always enjoy it's a true enjoy breaking down a firearm and cleaning it a little bit more thoroughly I in fact did that this past weekend a couple of Glocks I hadn't had to slide apart in a while and and just enjoyed breaking them down you know if I should do that every now and then and give it a really thorough cleaning and that of course one function tested sure everything feels right and in fired of course if you can I can say now these are the again before we wrap up here these bore snakes come in all calibers if you've never seen one of these they don't bite they well they might make a good weapon no they're really handy I avoided them for a long time but I really liked them and you can wash those and reuse them some of you may not like one one thing I didn't show you I meant to stick in there is a chamber brush this is design I was gonna put it in I tell you I don't really use that pretty much but some people do that's designed as you can tell by looking at for just cleaning the chamber and then the lugs so when you have it apart you just push that in there and it you know cleans out that part but I just don't trouble with that standard rods anything else here I'll show you that's not you can say some of the things I have and I don't worry about it being messy I don't worry about spring lube around this is non-toxic and it's it's not a problem the balance talk I've used this against us 1999 so whatever Lube you like that works for you that's what I recommend just make sure you use it and if you use it and you test it you've shot the gun you've cleaned it and you've gone through that repeatedly as I have you know whether it works or not right so so you know the lube wars are like the bullet Wars or the caliber Wars there's so many people they're caught up in lube religion bullet religion caliber religion all that kind of thing it gets weird gets you know you're tired of hearing it don't you so let's not get into that at all but just find something that works for you whatever it is there's a lot of good stuff on the market some people use motorized mobile one for a long time and I've used other kinds of lubes they all tend to work so I think I've mentioned everything I wanted to I wanted to keep it try to keep it basic but just mainly show you and tell you what I do and again that's what I do it has worked for me I've had an AR since 1984 and that has worked for me okay so hopefully that's of some benefit to you because this is one of the most popular guns types of rifles you know on the planet today and they must be selling I don't know thousands a day in this country at least so life is good

Channel: hickok45

Views: 2,480,712

Rating: 4.9230952 out of 5

Keywords: AR15, AR-15, 5.56, .223, Cleaning, maintenance, lube, Ballistol, rifle, semiautomatic, military, weapon

Id: kwK3j615734

Length: 28min 45sec (1725 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 18 2012