How To Clean Your AR-15 - OpticsPlanet How To

Hi I'm Chase Bending from Optics Planet and I'm going to give you a brief tutorial on how I properly maintain and clean my firearms. What I've got for this video is an Otis cleaning kit (an M4-M16 series cleaning kit) A hoppe's Elite Tune Up Kit which conists of gun oil gun cleaner copper cleaner and a foaming gun cleaner and then I've also got this Vanguard Steady-Aim gun which is perfect for moutning scopes any kind of gunsmithing, cleaning bolt guns (I'm not going to use it for this demo but it's perfect of for all those uses. first things first there are many different ways to actually clean your firearms. This is the way that that I do it from what i've learned as an infantryman in the army, as an armor and just as a casual shooter this is how i clean my rifle. First things first make sure you're cleared. Clear. And then you begin disassembling. OK first step is to disassemble the lower receiver from the upper receiver. First pull out these two takedown pins. And pull out the bolt assembly. Charging handle. Then pull out the cotter pin. Pull out the firing pin. Pull out the cam pin. Remove the bolt from the bolt carrier. This next step you don't always have to do but I usually like to pull the extractor out so you pop out the extractor pin with the firing pin. Then your bolt group is completely disassembled. The next part is going to pull the buffer and the spring out of the buffer tube. There is a little detent right here that you need too depress. I like to use the edge of the charging handle. So you just press down on that detent and the buffer will just shoot out then just pull the entire assembly out. An what you have is the spring and the buffer. Pretty much right there are all your pieces this is pretty much field striped. and then from here I'll go in and clean each individual piece. Now before I start doing everything I usually like to cleaning inside the trigger grouping sometimes I remove this but I'm not going to do that for this one. To do that just release the hammer and I'll take some of the foaming cleaner and I'll spray it into the well and let that sit and let the foam do the job while I clean these other parts. I'm going to let that sits to the side and then I'll start on the bolt all you really need for the bolt is a good cotton rag I just use old t-shirts. You can use patches if for some reason you don't want to dirty up your old shirt. spray a little bit of gun cleaner on the rag then start wiping down each piece. With the bolt carbon builds up inside the firing pin chamber here and on the face so make sure you wanna make sure that you clean those get all the brass carbon all that stuff after those pieces. You'll also get a lot of build-up on this surface here if it is excessive you can always use a brass brush lightly scrape on the side of the bolt. That'll help knock off all that carbon that's been building up on mine. Then just give it a good wipe down. On the face same thing you'll always have this little ring here a little bit of carbon is OK but you just want to get the majority of it off there. and cleaning in between uh... grooves on the face and sometimes you can put the edge in there and you can twist and that really helps. I caution you on using Q-tips because Q-tips are are fiberous uh... they they clean well but they also leave small cotton fibers everywhere uh... so if you use Q-tips be careful because you don't want that stuff gumming up your action. Next I'll clean the extractor pretty much the same thing I'll put a little bit of cleaner cleaning solvent on the rag and then wipe it down. When you're cleaning the extractor be careful that you don't displaced the extractor spring and the nylon bushing They're very small and easy to lose if you're not careful. That's good. Next is the cam pin. The cam pin gets pretty dirty but there's not a whole lot of parts on here so just give it a good wipe down with your cleaner. Next you can clean all the pins. This is the extractor... ...extractor pin. Now I have the cotter pin Then... ...next part is the bolt carrier. The bolt carrier has a lot more surface area takes a little bit longer but just pick a spot and start start cleaning. I ususally start on these grooves. Go down the length of the outside. Something that I wanna show you here this is the bolt carrier and this is the key make sure that the key is properly staked in there should be dents here on the side of each screw on the key sometimes those can come loose so make sure that those are staked in. I probably need a little bit more solvent. I'm using Hoppe's Elite so it's non corrosive and I mean you could drink this stuff...I don't recommend drinking this stuff but it doesn't have the the intoxicating smell of the Hoppes #9 solvent. To get inside where the the bolt chamber is just take an edge the cloth and start feeding it in and twisting. This actually works pretty well if you find that it's particularly thick and coated you can always use the brass bore brunch to help break up the carbon. A little bit of carbon Is not bad. So... same thing for the other side the firing pin try to get it in as best you can. It can be hard sometimes I use the firing pin and feed it into the chamber. That's the bolt carrier. And next you can clean the firing pin. The firing pin tends to accumulate carbon right here on this surface and on the backside where the hammer strikes So again just put a little solvent and I just twisted it kind of in the cleaning rag you can also use the bore brush to break up that break it up on the surface. Once you get most of the carbon off that surface go ahead and give it a good wipe down again because you're going to have all kinds of flakes. Next I'll clean the buffer spring. With the buffer spring all usually do is take an edge wrapped around one of the coils wrap it around part of the wire and just kindof twist it off and then start rotating the spring down the entire rotating the rag down the entire spring. Once you get to the end your spring is done next part... ...is the buffer. The buffer is pretty simple You just want to wipe down and get all the carbon off. Make sure you get the face sometimes some carbon will accumulate on there. The buffer system usually stays pretty clean. Doesn't take much to clean this. And that's the buffer. Now that I have all the individual parts clean I'm going to start on the upper receiver. First thing I need my rag and I'm just going to put some more cleaner on the rag and then I'll start from the inside wiping down all the surfaces. Where the cam pin pivots usually collects a lot of carbon right inside here right there make sure you get that. This is also a good time to use the brush. You can squirt a little bit of solvent inside this chamber and then just kind of work the brush on all the surfaces. you also want to get close to the chamber and the the edges of the chamber. Then once you give it a pretty good scrubbing you can go and start wiping down clean up all that's all that solvent that you sprayed in there. Then after a few minutes of doing that the upper receiver chamber and area is usually pretty clean. Next step is to clean the barrel and for cleaning the bail you going to need the thirty inch cable the slotted tip the t-handle and some patches. Now this is kind of an art the Otis patches come with three slots and you're going to want to put one of those slots through the slotted tip then you pinch part of the patch and you stick it back into the slot then that creates (then pull it through) then that creates a good patch that will get the entire circumference of the barrel. Then you'll want to put some solvent on the patch and the way you clean the barell you go from the chamber to the muzzle the bullet flies from the chamber to the muzzle that's the way you want to clean you don't want anything going back into the area that you've already cleaned so you take the t-handle stick it into the chamber feed it through the barrel once you get it into the chamber you are going to want to turn in a few times to make sure you get that chamber nice and clean and then you can pull it through then you see all the carbon on the patch I usually let that sit for a minute or two to let the solvents take and start the cleaning process. Then the next step will be to run the brass brush through the barrel I'm going to take off the slotted tip and replace it with the brass brush and then I'll run the handle through the chamber again then you just one this through one or two times nice thing about this cable is all these tips are made of brass which is of course softer than steel and the cable is rubber coated so you don't have to worry about marring up your barrel or anything like that. Then the next step I'll replace the brass brush with the slotted tip again and then run patches through until they're clean. Install it the same way... pinch the shortest part... put through... pull it back over... then run the handle though the chamber again to the barrel...then you can pull it through. See all the carbon that came out of there. Then i'll put a fresh patch on and do it again at this point you could put some more solvent on there it's not necessary you've already done all the breakdown and the scrubbing now you just mopping up everything that you put in there. Create another patch make sure it covers the tip There's a little bit less carbon on that one. Then I would run one more through the there. and that's pretty much it for cleaning the barrel and the upper receiver next I'm going to get to the lower receiver which has been sitting with the foaming cleaner and as you can see all the carbon is broken up inside there the easiest way to get all that out is just to go with your rag start cleaning his as may surfaces as you can get to you with just a rag i was important to make sure that the entire lower receiver is clean you gotta make sure that you get all of the gun cleaner out of here it takes a while you need to be patient make sure that you get in between the disconnectors, the hammer and all the little crevasses here this one's done so I'll move on to oiling and inspecting individual pieces. the next step is to put a light coat of oil on every piece and inspect all the pieces this is the bolt an area that you want to check is on the surface on the face you want to check for pitting scratching and kind of scrapes this one looks ok so I'm just going to put a little bit oil on here just put a little on the rag you only need a light coat You don't want to douse this thing just kind of wipe down the surfaces. Next I will do the extractor On here you want to check to make sure that the spring is intact and there is still a nylon bushing inside of the spring you also want to check for pitting on the claw here This one appears to be ok put another little bit oil on there Then this is the extractor pin. The pin is... just check for excessive wear these things last forever you probably will never have to replace this unless you lose it put a little bit of oil on there next is the cotter pin cotter pins bend of more than anything this one is actually getting a little out of specification I'm probably going to replace his cotter pin. If you can see it's kind of bent out of shape. Next is the cam pin. with the cam pin same thing check for pitting any spots with excessive wear these are all true surfaces so if if you see any pits or if it's warped in any way you'll have to replace the pin (the cam pin) again put a little oil on the cam pin just just a little bit you don't need to use much you don't want any standing oil any surfaces with a layer you just lightly put a little bit on there. Next is the firing pin with the firing pin you want to check for wear on the surface here uh... pitting same type of thing make sure that the there's no cracks anywhere this one looks ok you want to check on the back too just wipe it down with your oil rag. Next is the buffer now the buffer mostly what I see with the buffer where the buffer goes they are right here where this pin keeps all the pieces inside here sometimes you'll see a crack in here because this thing is sliding back and forth as your weapon cycles also just check to make sure that there's no cracks this surface will have marks like this from the bolt carrier that's normal just make sure all these surfaces are relatively flat this one looks ok but just a little bit of oil on here. Next will be the buffer spring I usually put a little bit more oil on here because as the buffer is going its loud so you don't wanr to douse it but put a little bit more oil on here and just kind of wipe it over the spring. And next I have charging handle and with this I usually just give it a good wipe down. It doesn't take much. Make sure you get in the groove there. and finally the bolt carrier and then with this it's prety much the same thing as the charging handle just put a light coat over the surfaces just lightly oil it you can put a little bit on the inside here alright now that I have all the pieces inspected and oiled I'm going to reassemble first I will put together the lower receiver that includes the buffer and the spring put that back together then you need the lower receiver put the spring and buffer back into the tube and you just need to push this back and the detent will catch right here then you can out your lower receiver aside and start assembling the bolt and the bolt carrier. I have the bolt. with the extractor make sure you put this spring back on this flat surface here put a little bit of pressure here and insert the pin make sure it's flush on both sides then you take bolt carrier put the bolt into the bolt career when you put the cam pin in you need to make sure that you have the part of the extractor in the upper right-hand view of the cam pin slot so once you have that oriented correctly the extractor will be kind of in this one o'clock position then you'll insert the cam pin and turn it 90 degrees insert the firing pin then you insert the firing pin retaining pin once you have the bot carrier assembly assembled just kind of pull up when you put this back into the upper receiver the bolt has to be all the way forward so just pull it out right now to the extended position then you take the upper receiver and you insert the charging handle into the slot make sure it is down and floating freely then take the bolt carrier and the bolt insert it into the groove and push it all together. Then your upper receiver is assembled. Now that I have the upper receiver assembled i'm going to attach the upper and lower receiver just mate it back up standing in one approach then push these pins back in and then you're assembled. Now the last thing I do before i put my gun back into the vault is give it a final inspection I'll check the muzzel brake to make sure that's on tight. Front sight post make sure the sight is not bent. There's a pin here that'll hold the gas tube in place make sure that pin is intact. Check the delta ring make sure it's got some flex to it check the body for any pitting or corrosion this is a collapsible or telescopic stock make sure this nut is on here tight if you have a fixed stock just kind of grab it on the back give a couple twist if something is loose tighten up the screw on the back. The pistol grip make sure pistol grip is tight if it is loose there's a screw inside here just give it a couple cranks and make sure that's tight and and that is pretty much the inspection. The last and most important step (this is true for any gun that you disassemble) is to do a function check and that's just to make sure that everything's working right sometimes you can put together something incorrectly and it's not going to work properly the safety might not work so how I do a functions check with my M4 is charge it one time make sure it's on "safe" try and pull the trigger nothing should happen. Switch it to "semi" or to "fire" pull the trigger and hold it down. You'll hear the firing pin drop then you charge it while holding you should hear a click and that click is the disconnector resetting the trigger and then pull the trigger again and it should fire if you pass the functions check 9 times out of 10 your weapon is good to go. All all the items that you've seen here are available on OpticsPlanet.com Thanks for watching!

Channel: OpticsPlanet

Views: 813,750

Rating: 4.8352799 out of 5

Keywords: How, To, Clean, AR-15, AR15, firearm, Cleaning, and, gun, Care, Vanguard, Steady-Aim, Bench, Rest, Otis, Technology, M-16, Soft, Pack, system, Hoppe's, Hoppes, Elite, Gun, Maintenance, Kit, optics, planet, OpticsPlanet.com

Id: ByzxfIMRmNo

Length: 26min 36sec (1596 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 17 2012