Run it wet, how wet?

[Chiquita]

AR bolts, how wet (oily) does it have to be?

Wet in a sense that looks shiny, and when you leave it standing up it will have a nice oil ring.

How much wet is too much?

 

[Twdmar]

It depends
Editing now that I have a minute. I use a lot more oil if I am shooting a match or at the range so the boot cleans up easier. I put a film on everything so the carbon comes off easier.
For other stuff, put a drop of oil in by the gas key, in the holes on the right side and maybe in the ejector and extractor. The wipe a drop around the bolt logs.

 

[Buttstock-TX]

It is really hard to over-lubricate an AR bolt as it gets thrown off and runs down through the receiver trigger cutout (resulting in "AR finger" for the user; ;^)). The CLP seems to reduce how hard the carbon accumulation gets so, I kept everything shiny when shooting matches. I actually greased the contact rails on the carrier and the bolt lugs with a clear grease too.

 

[LVLAaron]

You ever cook a whole pound of bacon in a skillet?

That's how wet.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Not in the winter when it's 20 below, dry lube.

 

[jelenko]

If there's a puff of white smoke on the first shot, it's too much lube.

After cleaning the bolt/carrier/upper, I simply wipe everything with a cloth that has clp on it. Everything winds up with a light coat of clp - including the firing pin, cam pin. I clean the gas key with a qtip with clp on it and call it a day. Light coat of clp on BACK of locking lugs.

I use clp only because I also use it to clean the bolt/carrier/upper. Any good lubricant will work. My favorite alternative is Mobil 1.

 

[dcali]

Not at all. I don't know why guys feel the need to soak them. A light coat of grease is plenty.

 

[Chiquita]

Next time I will wet it or grease it and see if the cycling issue goes away.

Thanks all.

 

[jelenko]

If the BCG is clean and won't cycle, it won't cycle with lube.
No harm in trying; just sayin.

 

[Highpower-FClass]

AR bolts, how wet (oily) does it have to be?

Wet in a sense that looks shiny, and when you leave it standing up it will have a nice oil ring.

How much wet is too much?

The amount of lubrication can differ quite a lot from BCG to BCG.

I have 2 Rock River nickel boron BCGs and they require very little lubrication in addition to being very easy to clean.

I have seen phosphate BCGs that require being close to dripping wet to cycle reliably.

 

[jackieschmidt]

A little off topic, but along the same lines.

When I took my Army Basic Training back in the ‘60’s at Fort Bliss Texas, the night before we were heading to the Range to shoot our M-14’s for the first time, we were all stripping our rifles, cleaning, and oiling everything up. We wanted everything perfect.

The DI’s said nothing.

The next day, as we were were marching the last mile to the shooting area, there was considerable wind with a LOT of that desert dust blowing.

Well, every one of or Rifles were now caked with what amounted to valve grinding compound.

Of course, the DI’s knew this would happen, they figured we needed to learn the hard way.

We all spent the better part of that morning stripping and cleaning our rifles and putting them back together, sans oil.

 

[LVLAaron]

All that grit is good. Loosens up the parts so they run faster after you clean it out

 

[Forum Boss]

For semi-auto ARs that are used with normal match firing rates and are regularly cleaned, I strongly disagree with the need to run the bolt carrier group (and upper internals) very wet and/or oily.

Put a good durable lube on the contact surfaces on the bolt carrier. Have a thin protective lube on the rest of the bolt carrier such as Eezox spray.

I used to supervise tactical matches where we had many ARs. 80% of the failures IMHO were due to greasy excess lubrication combined with poor cleaning. The oily grease would combine with carbon residue and brass shavings to clog the ejector recess and the extractor area. That caused failures to cycle.

Our champ ran an AR that ran quite dry but was cleaned after every range day.

 

[jepp2]

AR bolts, how wet (oily) does it have to be?

A function of how many rounds you fire between cleanings. Provided I clean after 300 rounds, the bolt doesn't need to be that wet. But after 300 rounds more buildup on the BCG tends to slow things down, and extra lube added will get it moving better again.

I also use a different lube on the bolt lugs and tail (Phil Tenacious Oil which is a bike chain lube). It really stays on and lubes the lugs and tail nicely. I use LP on the remainder of the bolt needs. I also use the tenacious oil on the carrier contact surfaces.

When I first started shooting AR's much, I tried grease as mentioned. Maybe I did it wrong, but it was a mess to deal with during cleaning.

When I'm shooting prairie dogs, I clean the upper every night. Thorough cleaning and lubing as listed above. When I get a day shortened due to rain, and skip cleaning, I find the next cleaning is much harder. That is how I chose the 300 round point.

 

[Chiquita]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

[Jeff Porter]

If your glasses are coated with spray coming out the charging handle gap... it is too wet..

 

[30378]

If it slides, grease it. If it pivots, oil it. Very lightly for most applications works great.

 

[Rsadams]

I have switched from slip 2000ewl to clenzoil.... simply apply it to bolt where the contact points are and run... it stays wet and stays on the parts where it's put.... any contact points get a coating and it's off to the races... you can argue about how much but as long as it's oily it will run.... I have actually heard of one of the big names lubing an AR with vagisil and running the gun to prove that if its oily it will run.... look at the filthy 14 I think it was BCM ran to death... No cleaning just lube basically 31,000+ rounds , many bolts and the barrel wouldn't even be accurate at 50 yards..., the story is out there just search BCM filthy 14... proves a proper AR isn't a jamomatic...

Forum Boss: I can say that I have seen multiple rifles that wouldn't feed and eject reliably, but when the ejector recess and extractor recess were cleaned of thick, oily gunk/carbon, the guns worked again. So gunky bolt was "no go". I can't dispute the video findings, but I've seen ARs fail to function and gunk buildup was the issue.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

A little off topic, but along the same lines.

When I took my Army Basic Training back in the ‘60’s at Fort Bliss Texas, the night before we were heading to the Range to shoot our M-14’s for the first time, we were all stripping our rifles, cleaning, and oiling everything up. We wanted everything perfect.

The DI’s said nothing.

The next day, as we were were marching the last mile to the shooting area, there was considerable wind with a LOT of that desert dust blowing.

Well, every one of or Rifles were now caked with what amounted to valve grinding compound.

Of course, the DI’s knew this would happen, they figured we needed to learn the hard way.

We all spent the better part of that morning stripping and cleaning our rifles and putting them back together, sans oil.

I thought closing the dust cover was supposed to prevent that.

 

[alf]

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