Cleaning and Maintenance of the AR-15

Tips and tricks for living with Ar-15 patterned rifles. By no means complete or final.

Start by making the area safe for working with your firearm. No mags, verify the chamber is empty, remove all live rounds form the immediate area. Remove slings or other accessories.

Step 1 Gather Your Tools

Most important item not shown: wear eye protection.

Minimum requirements are eyepro, rod, patches, and solvent.

Shown: nylon coated one-piece .22 caliber rod (Dewey), rod stop, rod guide, cleaning link, cleaning cradle (made from scrap wood), .22 caliber patch jag (Parker-Hale), .22 caliber bronze brush, .22 caliber nylon brush, chamber brush for AR-15, short cleaning rods (non-rotating), .45-70 nylon brush, Q-tips, large patches, .22 caliber patches, brushes, dummy round, small screwdriver, punch, LED Maglite with fibre-optic attachment, gloves, Ed's Red, Hoppes Elite/Mpro-7, FP-10.

Comments

[psyoper22]

very indepth cleaning, much kudos!...btw, is that an ACOG Trijicon you have on there?

[cowboy404]

i think the h&k mp5 is a much better choice it is light weight, it is easy to maintain and, it is easy to use in a close quarters and most importantly it is the weapon of choice for the united states navy seals HOOYA baby

[ak49er]

No. Just, No.

[brandon borick]

do you know any thang  about firearms becides what you see in the moves

[vestie]

Lol. To bad it isn't chambered in 5.56x45mm but rather the anemic 9mmx19mm. Less velocity at the muzzle and isn't a very ballistic efficient round. It is a HANDGUN round vs. a RIFLE round.

M4 carbine. (a Military variant of the AR-15) are used by special forces around the world (including the Navy Seals). And along with the bust fired M16 is fielded by most of the united states military branches, And the AR is a light gun aswell weighing in at 7-9 without ammo and other crap.

The MP5 has a distinct advantage in close quarters in that you can hold more ammunition but that being said. AR-15's have been modified to work with 9mm rounds.

Amen

[Tool Using Animal]

The firearm aficionados on this site might enjoy this, I found it laugh out loud funny.

Humorous comparison of the AK47, AR 15 & Mosin Nagant

Mosins Rock!

[psyoper22]

LOL, awesome!

[recyclebin]

no wonder i had to use a 2 by 4 not a 6 by 8

[scafool]

Damn right, but Lee Enfields are better!

[stg.badass]

I.....i dont think so i perfer a AR-15 eagle 5.56x45

[bounty1012]

that was funny, anyway I go for the Ar.

[joebob8]

The only other thing I would liked to have seen was pictures of the disassembly and reassembly of the bolt carrier group. I like how thorough you are in cleaning your weapon.

[cdousley]

ive been wanting an AR 15 (hopefully ill get one for christmas :D) it looks like there's a lot to maintaining these i thought it would be just like cleaning a normal gun.

[aj01-01]

I'm almost finished with an AR-15 I made out of paper...it's not all that accurate but it was a lot of guess work
It's no where near done in this pic

[fantacmet]

I didn't find it funny. I found it to be true enough though. If i didn't know my way around an AR15 I'd of found it informative, but it was all review. As for comments on the gas system, it's not really needed. Some of the worlds top comp shooters have NEVER cleaned their gas system. Of course if you have a cheap AR then hey. I run a Bushmaster M4A3 AR-15. Stock for now, but I've got my eye on some mods. First I need a coupleof lower recievers (Ceramic Metal Matrix) and the finishing kit and the upper reciever block and maybe even the barrel block. I need to build one for the wife in pink and purple.

[chalky]

you certainly know your stuff.

[oakleygear]

If my AR gets too dirty I just send it out to the dry cleaners... who has time for all that gun oil! I kid I kid! Great job dude... thanks for posting and being one of the ONLY firearm guides on the site... you did an excellent job.

[rectifiedbuzz]

If my AR gets too dirty I just send it out to the dry cleaners

Yeah, I guess it is too big to throw it in the dishwasher next to the GLOCK.

[oakleygear]

I wasn't even sure you HAD to clean GLOCKs!

[thematthatter]

I don't consider this clean enough. Anybody that has been in the military is going to cringe when they see this weapon. You failed to remove the buffer/buffer spring, mud and carbon can end up back there. You never cleaned out the lower receiver, mud and carbon can interfere with the firing mechanism, (i was low crawling through mud and my weapon would not switch from safe to semi because of mud) Also show how to preform functions check.

[mr.smashy]

I didn't clean the gas tube either, but then I haven't been swimming in mud or using my rifle as a tomato stake. I'm not a Drill Instructor, and I don't have hours to while away; this weapon is ready to be fired reliably with a competent man behind the sights and quality ammo. This is my requirement, yours may differ. Again, "By no means complete or final."

Also show how to preform functions check.

Get your rifle and a camera and post an Instructable. or look here.

[thematthatter]

my weapon is locked up in a bunker somewhere. but i clean mine good (when i have the opportunity) so my weapon doesn't pull a Jessica Lynch on me. ill post an instructable once i get a good sit down with my weapon. she is a plain Jane M16A2, nothing fancy or high speed with her but I know she can drop Fast Freddies at 300m.

[Kiteman]

Not being a gun-owner, I can only say that this seems very comprehensive.

However, It certainly shows that, for some gun-owners, half the fun is in the maintenance.

[thewoodcarver]

Kite ..Good cleaning and working on improving function or making a lighter trigger pull on ones firearms is always to me at least a big part of owning guns ...Yes hitting a empty shotgun shell at 25 yards double action with a revolver made in 1966 is always fun..If you ever come to Calif let me know I will take you and the family to the range ...oh and teach you to clean the guns after I teach you to shoot ....Since my first AR type was full auto I use more oil other then that some minor add ons to the instructions and I could rate 5 but I was that DI you are talking about Smash .. with this cleaning it will shoot when needed and that is all that matters ...MIne is a safe sitter since I am in Calif and hate to carry the paper work needed for a AR type firearm

[rectifiedbuzz]

Love your instructable mr smashy. Thank you for posting it. It's exactly the type of guide that I've been looking for, expecially for a rifle that I plan on shooting Fri-Sun where I don't necessarily want to clean it like it's a safe queen. Please post more AR stuff if you have them.

[Deltaforce2555]

Nice AR, may I ask what company it is?

[mr.smashy]

Thanks, it's a CMMG upper (1:7 5.56 NATO, chrome lined barrel) and STAG lower. Rail is a KAC M5 RAS and has a TangoDown VFG. Beauty shot here.

[firemanfu]

certainly shows you take good care of your AR-15 all i've ever cleaned is a .22

[masterochicken]

I love it.