Many people seem to believe that certain tools can't wear or change the dimensions of the bolt because the tools people used may be softer than the bolt material or the coating. Fouling is abrasive. As fouling is removed, it will lap the bolt material when used between the bolt and a tool. Fouling can wear the tail when a bronze brush or piece of brass is used to "clean". Fouling can wear the inside of the carrier when a tool is used. Ever look at a crowning lap? They are brass. An abrasive with the crowning lap will remove barrel material. A cleaning rod with fouling can remove barrel material as it moves. A bore snake used the wrong way can remove crown material. The difference between efficient and non efficient of most bolt tails is .0006. Thank about how little that is before changing the dimensions by "cleaning".
This was about to be my question. Happy to see you answer it before I even had to ask! Still seems like it would take a crap ton of cleaning to actually change dimensions but I guess I'm just not as OCD as other people haha.
Ohh Smedley, I’m sure we can buy more. Think of the industry they might go out of business if we don’t keep buying parts, then in the next war there will be no industry to support the next war.
One of the things I couldn't stand about the army was that in garrison weapons had to be turned in 100% clean. As a result guys gouged the hell out of their weapons trying to get that last grain of dust.
Yeah, making guys do that is a form of disciplining, but it's pretty counterproductive because it teaches a lot of people that their rifle needs to be babied, that it can't be trusted if it's not, or incentivizes them to abuse the weapon in ways like this to get it over with faster.
Reminded me of a day in basic training after the rifle range many decades ago with M16. Drill Sergeant told us that when the armorer accepted our rifles individually we could go to the PX. Well, we scrubbed those rifle clean enough to eat off of. Of course the armorer was in on the ruse, so no rifles were being accepted. A couple of buddies and myself found a good place to sleep after being rejected. Some of the others scrubbed, submitted, rejected, scrubbed, and resubmitted for 4 hours. When we heard the armorer was accepting rifles at the end of the day we dutifully turned in our once cleaned rifles. All those poor rifles had the finishes scrubbed off them over the non-sense.
In the Service,, overseas, we broke the rifle in two, dropped the top ( minus hand guards) in half a 55 gallon barrel of solvent while we cleaned the lower, then did a bore scrub and rag clean on bolt & carrier. Never had a problem or inordinate wear.
Our armorer in the Corps had a rifle on display in the arms room ... one of the Marines, it seems, had seen to it to spray Easy Off oven cleaner on his weapon and left it on most of the day... when he went to wipe it off, it took the coating completely off. It was literally shiny metal.
The Marines I hung around with in 70's had several tours in Vietnam, they used carb cleaner and would ship cases to friends in far east, pop rear pin pull bolt and spray tube, barrel and bolt, they said just needed to clear fouling.
I learned those exact practices at a young age (guess where?) and with your help here and by following a rigorous 12 step program I am overcoming my addiction to over cleaning or incorrectly cleaning my weapons. Thank you again sir!
I am the polar opposite because it's been at least a few hundred rounds since the last cleaning on all my guns. I'll give my carry gun a dry patch down the barrel every few weeks if I don't make it to the range to get the lint out, but that's about it. I wait until the action gets gritty to give em a good clean. Probably not the best practice.
I served for 5 years, and I could go on about how the arms room wanted the pew pews spotless...But instead, I will tell a story from the end of my basic training cycle. For roughly two weeks we spent countless hours cleaning our weapons. Even after they were clean if a drill sgt walked in and we weren't cleaning them we were wrong. So, these weapons were beyond spotless about two days in...We didnt stop going at them for at least another 10 days. Found out after weapon turn in all of those weapons had to be deadlined. A little carbon isn't a bad thing guys
I know ppl that only lube and never clean and are 5000+ rounds in with cheap dirty ammo without issue. They convinced me to quit cleaning with a cleaning agent, now just halfass wipe with lube oil and then oil simple as that
I'm laughing too.. I have one I haven't done pretty much dick too since 2017 and it still functions. I know a guy who cleans his bcg every time he shoots. Like why??
@@carsonhunt4642 I wouldn't recommend that unless you live in a really humid environment. Anywhere dry will have lots of silt getting into the chamber and rubbing everything down over that period of time. I'm pretty convinced that's what actually happened to the rifles he's discussing in this video, but I could be wrong.
About the only thing I use for cleaning is ballistol and I lube with Lucas gun oil!!! It stays put pretty well doesn't gunk up and resista burn off pretty good as well.@@carsonhunt4642
I was in the Marines and we always cleaned them "white glove inspection ready" always after a range day. Then I went on to shoot competition and using my same rifle, didn't clean it but lubed the hell out of it. This was in 29 palms so its a desert environment, my rifle was gunky af but I never had any malfunctions for almost a whole month straight of shooting and if I did it was some magazines from old green followers on GI mags. I always hated cleaning my personal guns so thank you very much for this!
As a young private in the Army, you were smoked if you had any carbon on the rifle. We probably ruined more rifles by scrubbing and chucking chamber brushes in drills than god knows what. You could eat off our rifles in the Army lol.
That's because cleaning the rifles is used as a form of discipline and punishment in the army. I've heard people coming away from military service thinking the AR15 rifle MUST be whiteglove clean to not risk malfunctions, just because their drill was a real hardass on them, so I think this might give some people the wrong idea. Might be some carryover from the M249s, where the old tired things will tend to want to be detail cleaned before going out in the field, or they don't wanna run much.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine spot on, all the malfunctions we had during BRM were typed as “clean your shit pri!” A decade later as I get into civilian ARs, I realize they were really all from clapped out magazines no one is brave enough to 86.
@@509Gman Mags are another thing, of course. Surefires are good aluminum ones, but they don't last forever. Really, a good armorer should take sketchy mags and just dent the hell out of them when nobody's looking, then claim that he has no idea when or how that happened, so people don't go out with bad ones.
@@chipsterb4946 It's a lot like a simple lawn mower engine, really. Imagine the bolt as the piston. The gas block & gas key are like your carburetor & intake plumbing as well as exhaust, may get a bit confusing there. But it's really a piston w/ rings, with a dislocated combustion chamber, and unified intake/exhaust cyclic return. The cutaway is awesome for letting folks see the piston-like operation. And for seeing it all work together.
I agree with these comments. We all learned the “right” way to clean our weapon at a young g and impressionable age, and carry that with us for years and years. I have found myself cleaning my personal rifle well enough for rack ready inspection even after just 40 rounds for quals. It’s an extremely difficult mentality to get past, but with proper counseling and videos like yours we can get past this. Thank you for the great info!
I always wondered if the scrapers were safe to use. I've watched other channels where they used the bone scraper and really screwed it in the bolt. Wasn't sure that that was the best way to clean a bolt carrier. And the guy doing it was from a big well known company. The way that i look at it is if i think that it may scratch the surface of what I'm cleaning , i won't use it. Some good cleaning chemicals will do the job. Thanks for the information. I don't want to go scraping on my $300 bolt carrier.
There are some Armorer's & Instructors that I respect deeply, who say maintenance should involve scraping tools. Their advice comes from the right place, but I don't think they know what the tools are capable of doing.
I think the ‘manual of arms’ FOR cleaning with say..the ‘cleaning kit’, yeah..the mil spec one with the STEEL cleaning rod (!) has more to do with FIELD cleaning..not in barracks or garrison. And certainly not on a HIGH-end BCG or bore. Soldiers generally were/are cleaning WHEN they had time and not under fire. Thinking Iraq and Afghanistan..
@@manictiger Same. My forgotten purchase was probably somewhat intentional as I've seen other videos from this gentleman cautioning on the treatment of these strong yet delicate areas. To me he comes across as the Jeff Cavaliere/Athlean-X of the gun community. There are sooo many experts and authorities in this genre and I appreciate them all, but none carry the authoritative weight of this one well spoken knowledgeable and experienced source. I really appreciate you sir! @InstructorChad
Thanks Chad! I do have one of those multi-scraper-doohickies, but I've never used it. Usually some Clenzoil on a patch or two gets everything off. I do like to hit the lugs with a brass brush though, and my Dewey cleaning kit comes with a chamber brush and mop that works really well. Used gently of course. That cut in half BCG demo makes it perfectly clear why you don't want to go grinding on the bolt tail or inside diameter of the BCG.
An old guy taught me that sometime in a pinch, you can use wood like an ice cream stick and other appropriately shaped little pieces of wood without harm after soaking parts. Also taught me I could use hot soapy water for cleaning as well which I've done countless times with zero rust issues. Just got to make sure you rinse clean with hot water and make sure the metal is hot when you shake it off so any residual moisture evaporates quickly and completely and then just oil her up.
Spot on, once you remove metal, it cannot be put back on! Always use the least aggressive measures first. Excellent suggestions with CLR and Berrymans carb cleaner.
@@MRTEE-sy7sb 100% correct. You'd only pay that price once :D But I'd probably watch a RUclips video of it being done by a professional machinist/gunsmith repairman.
Brass isn't mechanically capable of abrading steel. This is just a video of some old wives tales brought to you by a guy who doesn't understand material science.
I received the SOTAR patch and sticker I ordered today. The texture of the gears and skull is awesome. By far the best patch I own. Super cool. Thank you!
I have had very good results by using MPRO 7 to lube after I clean. I notice you said a "wet lube" early in the video. Usually if it "looks" wet it is probably pretty good. The MPro makes cleaning easier for me. Slip 2000 is also good. The crud wipes off with a blue shop towel. My only issues with them are the containers they come in. I transfer the product to a bottle with a needle oiler. Partially for precision but mostly to save some money. Both products are expensive. I am sort of frugal (read cheap). Have a good day. Thanks for the great videos. So informative.
Found your channel about a year ago and I've been impressed with every video I've ever seen you put up. There's nobody else out there sharing this much detail and help with the community. Incredible work, thank you!
Sooo many people just don’t understand this. Thank you for this information & “as always” look forward to your videos! Very thankful you’re back & look forward to learning more,Thank you sir!
My old firearms instructor was a combat vet, Vietnam he was a Marine Corps colonel , super strict, but I learned a lot from him. In my training we used pistols,rifles,shotguns. Our weapons would be filthy after an intensive round of training. (1980s) he had us spray everything with gum-out carb. & choke cleaner and swab cotton nibs, and a nylon brush just like you show. Then we were to oil it up with CLR ( I used Ballistol-still do) but we were to wipe of excess. I never had one malfunction, even with over 1,000 rounds ( each class, with pistol,rifle required 1,000 rnds.) I rarely use the gum-out these days. Thank you for this excellent information. The only thing I'd like to add is on the bolt pin ( t shaped not the cotter pin) I add just a little bit of gun grease to those pins it helps keep them from getting gaulded. Thanks for the great information.
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle ..hmm. Hadn’t looked at it like that. HIGHER pressure ammo could mitigate some ‘less-than-the-best’ worn BCG’s or loose tolerances. Makes perfect sense..
I stopped using the otis bone tool years ago thanks to you! You actually answered my post and told me that you preferred chemically removed carbon over picks or tools and I have been following that ever since. Thanks again!
I pretty much exclusively use Q-tips, shop towels, and a toothbrush to clean my BCG and FCG. On the rare chance I have had to scrape something I use a wooden dowel. Really the most cleaning I do is usually just a boresnake and some CLP.
Glad I've found your channel. I just got my first AR and there's a ton of different information out there. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and explaining why things need to be done a certain way.
There are a number of products on the market designed to emulsify carbon in two-strokes and small engines. A couple are made by outboard engine manufacturers (I use Engine Tuner, which is from BRP) and work well to soften even heavy buildups of carbon.
Very helpful, I got a new BCG recently and have wondered about this. It wasn’t u till I started watching your videos that I understood & appreciated just how important BCG’s role in the gas system is to proper function. Thank you for all the info!
Excellent video, you hit home runs with all your videos. One of the best videos is a 1960 or 61 Army m-16 cleaning video, it just explains what parts need oiling and what parts do not. keep up your awesome educational channel. Thanks Les.
I have been an AR15 Shooter for over 10 years, and wish I would have found this School Of The American Rifle back then. I have been doing some of the things mentioned in this video as far as cleaning fouling off my bolt tail and generally it I has been with a bronze brush. I will no longer use that for cleaning, and stick with the nylon Brush and Lube. I do lube the bolt tail and gas rings well, but will stop cleaning the bolt tail with a bronze brush. Love this channel and keep posting your great educational content. Thanks a bunch!!!
Maybe I’m lazy, but after a trip to the range I just disassemble the BCG, wipe the BCG and internals with a clean cloth, add a layer of oil and reassemble. It’s not a hardcore cleaning, but enough to remove most of the fine abrasive dirt and to freshen the lube with synthetic motor oil. (I’m sure someone will lambaste me for using motor oil, but it’s what Dad used and I still have and use his 90-year old guns). Once in a while, I will run the disassembled BCG and parts through an ultrasonic cleaner with RCBS Weapons Cleaner and distilled water, hit parts with a toothbrush or, at worst case, a brass brush. Relube, reassemble. I keep a can of Ballistol in my range bag and if anything looks dry, I’ll give it a quick spray. Other than that, it’s clean enough.
If it works...it works. I'd question whether motor oil might be less effective though, at a molecular level. Gasoline burns around 2000ºF, while gun powder can be double that. Even if the direct impingement bleeds off some of that excess heat before it hits your gas key & bolt carrier, it might be enough to burn off the motor oil sooner than a tried-and-true gun lube would. I personally use CLP in one form or another for ARs, and Shooters Choice for guns which prefer grease. Neither has ever caused me issues.
Thank you! My son and I have learned so much from your videos! We've built two AR's and have diagnosed and repaired a new one that we bought that wasn't working properly. Much love from Arizona! ❤🇺🇲❤🇺🇲
My cleaning setup includes a bamboo skewer, as well as a nylon brush, q-tip, and a rag. The bamboo skewer usually does good work on built up carbon and won’t scratch the metal. Also, having a chrome DD bolt carrier group helps (wish they still made them, I’d buy more). Just wipe with a CLP soaked rag and you’re done. 😁 Sadly I only have one, so the others get the bamboo/nylon brush treatment.
I learned all my AR cleaning and care from SOTAR. I WISH I LIVED NEAR BY TO GO TO HIS SCHOOL. BUT IVE WATCHED ALL HIS VIDEOS AND IMO HES BEST AT BOTH WORLDS FIXING TO SPECS AND FINDING A SOLUTION TO MAKE IT FUNCTION. Lol I made my own paper clip tool like him. Little skills like that make a huge difference.
I was taught this way and only recently learned how the scraping tool (like the one on your worktable) was lathing away the inside of the bcg. That having been said, would you do a video on gas rings (replacement, tolerances, etc) for those of us that damaged them with that pesky wire brush?
Thank you. I just had this discussion with a friend of mine who was suggesting these scraping tools. Just his assertion about scraping these components that have such close tolerances sounded wrong to me. I’m gonna show him your video. Thanks again!
As an old machinist but a new AR shooter, this was excellent! And terrific visual aids to show what's going on in there. Thanks for stopping a bad habit before it starts. BTW, what are the diameters ***and tolerances*** you think we should stay within for those critical surfaces? I've got the tools to measure them (although I don't have your cool Go/NO-GO gauges I might invest in some), so of course I'm curious what they should measure. Again thanks -- and looking forward to the next vid!
As far as I can tell, it looks like the "no-go" says .248, and the "go" is .2486. The pinned comment at the top of the comments also states there is only .0006 difference. If I remember, I'll try to check a bolt blueprint to confirm.
I can't speak to specific tolerances, but one of the first things to wear out is those three little gas rings on the bolt. A quick way to determine if they're still good is to take a freshly clean/lubed bolt carrier assembly with the bolt in the retracted position. A quick snap of the wrist should cause the bolt to extend out fully from the bolt carrier. And then if you stand up the bolt carrier assembly on the bolt, and it stays extended, the gas rings are still good. If the bolt carrier depresses down onto the bolt from its own weight, the gas rings are probably shot and need replacement.
Also-- Bronze brushes generally can't hurt steel in the HRC 36-40 range when used by hand, they are softer than steel by quite a bit. That said, even water can wear down rock, so any abrasive (regardless how soft) with enough cycles will wear parts.
It doesn’t matter the hardness of two materials, if you rub them together (even without any compound) they will wear on one another. I can show you where my dog left footprints in a wooden windowsill 😂
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle Only if you are scrubbing the bajesus out of it!! Meaning if you sit there for 15 min brushing the same damn spot. If brass/ bronze bushes were a real problem, we would never use them for cleaning the barrels
@arch3088 This is sort of what I do except I only use Clenzoil, Q-Tip and the occasional cotton patches for the ID areas of my Bolts/BCGs and then lightly (Sometime Heavily) lube all parts with CLP I have never had a problem with 1000s of rounds in various ARs yet. "YET" is the key word/thought in my mind as I will occasionally ask myself "Should I pay more attention to detail and use a scraper or solvent specifically made for loosening and/or removing carbon deposits from BCGs or even bolts/bolt faces of my bolt guns or other semiauto firearms?" with the instant reply to myself of "Nahhhh" I got away from cleaning the shit out of the barrels and bolt faces with my bolt guns as I started to notice that when I cleaned the bore/bolt face/chamber and channels on my favorite and best, well "Best" to me anyway rifle that I own This "Best/Favorite" and most accurate rifle that I own is a Parker-Hale that is chambered in 22-250. MY P-H is the most accurate rifle that I own and my "Mostest" favorite rifle to shoot at distance and for groundhogs and turning a crow into a satisfying cloud of black feather dust I say most accurate as this is the rifle that I went overboard when working up a load for it BUT I noticed that cleaning the barrel, chamber and channels with bore cleaner and/or a solvent made to remove copper fouling actually screwed the accuracy up for the first 1 to 3 rounds put through the rifle after my thorough cleaning and removal of copper/lead so I came to the conclusion to stop this extra attention to the bore. I will put very little spot, and I do mean a very little amount/spot of Clenzoil or CLP on a cotton patch, run it in the bore 2 to 3 passes, follow up with, usually 3 dry patches until the patches are a slight black/green color. I ONLY run the spotted Clenzoil/CLP patch through the bore after 3 or 4 "Outtings/Use" of this rifle. Ever since I started this practice, about 15 to 18 yeas ago I have yet to have a "Flyer" on my first to third rounds after cleaning and I have rolled with this type of cleaning on my bolt guns or other semiauto firearms I SHOULD include that my "Flyers" after bore cleaning were slightly detectable in this accurate rifle and at a distance of say 25 to 50 yds BUT these "Flyers" would result in a miss or bad POI at 200 to 400 yds which is my typical shot at groundhogs and crows as I will mostly use my heavy barreled Savage in 17 HMR out to 150 yds for groundhogs or 200 yds for crows I DO however keep watching videos such as this video that pertain to the thorough cleaning of the bore or the IDs and moving parts of a rifle, pistol or even shotgun as I have experienced this "Flyer" phenomenon with the first few shots out of my thoroughly cleaned shotgun bores using even birdshot. I also realize that all of these "Flyers" could also be a mental game that one side of my head will play on the other side of my head but either way I do what I do in order to avoid these actual or imagined "Flyers"
What! You’re supposed to clean an AR15? As an experiment, I went over 6000 rounds without cleaning, just putting some motor oil on the bolt. Zero malfunctions until I wore the barrel out.
If your going to get the rifle super hot sending rounds down range at a continuous stream, get one of those double chrome lined barrels. Shoots tracers too. How fun would that be?
Thank you for this. I'm new to rifling and I was thinking about purchasing a gun scraping tool; however, I've been watching your videos for information and I trust your skill and I will follow your instruction.
Way back in the day with my first AR and the first cleaning I tried scraping tools. It didn't feel right so ever since I just soak the entire bolt in cleaning solution then clean it. What comes off comes off, what doesn't stays on there. Never have issues with the functionality even with my cheaper ARs.
CLR is somewhat controversial. It does remove baked on carbon fouling, but it is very aggressive, and needs to be removed with alcohol, brake cleaner or lacquer thinner when you're finished with it. Probably best to not use it on any blued guns.
I pretty much stopped using abrasives. The only thing I use that's abrasive is the little bit of bristles built into a bore snake and that's very rare. I remember it mentioned in a video of yours from way back and made so much sense that it really stuck with me
Wow! Thank you. I wish someone had put this video out eight years ago when I first started shooting ARs privately. Between my active duty time and civil service time, I spent more than 43 years with the Army and from my first days as a recruit back in 1975 I was taught the dogma that “all” carbon had to be removed. I have all of those tools and more. This is the second video I have watched that taught me I was doing something wrong in the maintenance of my guns. Again, thank you.
A couple questions. 1. Would carbon build-up on the bolt tail not improve the seal between the tail and the carrier? 2. Is it bad to drop lube down into the gas key, instead of removing the bolt and lubing it directly? It would seem to me that the residual lubricant would absorb carbon, burn off, and make the interior of the gas key cake up at a faster rate than a dry one
This is a phenomenal video and everyone with AR's and any other weapons who do their own cleaning should watch. I teach this exact same thing in my AR Diagnostics and Maintenance Course. I was taught this 30+ years ago becoming a Colt Advanced Armorer. Use a nylon brush, what goes goes, what stays stays. Been doing that forever on AR's with ultra high round counts. Never have had to replace a carrier or bolt, none have unnecessary wear other than parts that will wear due to use like rings, springs, etc. Never had failures, malfunctions, etc due to it not being white glove inspection cleaned either (Lol United States Marine Corps). I have a friend who regardless how much I tell him, cleans his BCG Assembly using a bench grinder with a wire wheel lol. Man his bolt is beer can shiny around the tail and rings. Sometimes, you have to let a self correcting problem self correct. I use brake cleaner and Ed's Red to break them down if it is heavy carbon. No scrapers, no knives, seen guys scrape using a box cutter, etc and definitely no Dremel or wire wheels. Common sense, common chemicals and elbow grease. I make my own lube and the Ed's Red, all I really pay for continuously is the carb/brake cleaner. Walmart Super Tech is cheap and effective.
I always put a patch between the tool and the bolt tail when using my various cleaning tools, q-tip dowels work well along with other wooden implemnts to get off some of that stuborn carbon.
I used to use the bone tool and thought my colts, bcm needed to squeaky clean. Until I started training and running well over a thousand rounds in couple days. Nowadays I just lube and after 2500 rounds I’ll break it down but definitely not scraping and getting it squeaky clean like I once did. Thanks bud I feel a lot of folks needed to hear this.
I'll let you guys in on a bit of a not-so-well-known secret: soot/soft carbon is an effective dry film lubricant at high temperatures. When you "clean" the bolt tail, you are not only likely to wear a critical sealing surface, but you are increasing the overall wear rate of the gun while in service. Instead, just put a few drops if you favorite CLP down the gas key, hold the carrier boltface up and cycle the bolt within the carrier fore and aft. When you fire the gun, any excess lube will blow out the carrier ports. I recommend using only lubes that comply with MIL-PRF-63460F TY: A
CLP? You might as well be cleaning your gun with WD-40. Solvents are solvents, and lubricants are lubricants; and if you think the twain can meet, then have I got some snake oil to sell you. Just about every brand out there (Remington, Hoppes, Breakthrough Clean, Birchwood Casey, etc.) sells dedicated solvents and lubricants that are mutually exclusive. Use those instead.
@@SergeantExtreme Read the military standard I cited above. It's a single use CLP that has to pass tests on M249s. Solvent and lube are NOT mutually exclusive. They can be mixed in such a way that the solvent flashes off and leaves the lube behind. Which is precisely what most CLPs do.
Thanks for posting this. Haven't put enough rounds through mine yet to worry about fouling, but I did buy into the "gotta keep that BCG surgically clean" line. Nice to get an education *before* damaging something. Refreshing...
On people thinking the AR15 needing to be shiny clean to run, I've outright seen an AR15 which ran perfectly fine, and where the inside of the bolt carrier looked kind of like the ancient city of Pompeii. Any decently put together example can tolerate quite a lot of carbon, and it's generally pretty good at keeping a lot of foreign dirt out of most parts. Those InRange mudtests were far from scientific or even realistic, but they repeatedly show that anything from an old 1960s Colt SP-1 to a number of modern builds will more than tolerate some pretty obscene levels of filth.
Great things to know! I recently got into the “hobby” and starred shooting my AR so of course after a couple trips to the range, did my cleaning so far. Great things to learn here as I was already starting with the abrasive cleaning I’ve seen in videos. Thank you!
Thank you for a very informative video. I am admittidly OCD when it comes to cleaning. My previous thinking was cleanliness was next to godliness and that the AR wasn't a primitive AK, needing to stay clean to run properly. Time to lube it up and keep it a little wet and slippery. I was actually considering purchasing one of the BCG cleaning tools, unaware how it could damage it. Chemical and cotton swabs exclusively from now on.
Thank you for this video! I'm sometimes OCD about cleaning my guns and I hated trying to scrape this area on my bolt tail, I'd go at it with a brass brush like crazy trying to get it all off. Never knew that the fouling is important for the continued operation of the gun. Very very helpful video to me and I really appreciate it
So good to see Critical Chad (and I mean that as a compliment, "Critical") back on camera. Thank you Chad! I wonder if the obsessive carbon-chasers think they should take apart their car's engine, and make the combustion chamber, piston crown, valve heads, and intake & exhaust ports "hospital clean." How do they think their car engine runs without obsessive carbon removal?
I have a friend who used Break Cleaner on his bolt and it literally left a pool of carbon on the floor and the BCG looked brand new. Not sure if break cleaner is good for a BCG
Love the cutaway. Those tolerances are mind-boggling in accuracy. Nothing but nylon or cotton used in cleaning for me. Stroke Hold (Marine) is an amazing lubricant! Thanks for the warnings!
For context, the tolerance for the width of the bolt tail according to an old military blueprint I found, is 0.0002 inches. That's about the width of a human red blood cell. It doesn't take much polishing or scraping to take that dimension out of spec, so absolutely be careful!
The ar bcg was designed so you only needed to oil it, and wipe it down on the rare occasion if say sand or dirt actually got onto the bolt. If youre scraping any part on an AR youre doing it wrong.
Thank you. I've come to learn the same thing over the years. Yes, clean your gun, but it doesn't have to be squeaky clean. And then oil your gun, and I mean oil it liberally. For brushes, I use plastic brushes to clean my guns mostly. Good video.
Instructor Chad, The Army says I need to clean the BCG until it is 'white-glove' clean. I agree with you that it is not necessary and chemical cleaning of carbon is a better choice. Thanks for recording and posting this video.
Very educational. I was raised by a career Marine and taught firearm cleaning at home. We didn’t have an AR 15, so I learned that in the Army. The armorer NCO taught us bad OCD habits in basic training. Get rid of all the carbon or face the wrath! Thank you for setting me free from the pointless and destructive anxiety.
Appreciate the advice! Seems u have first hand knowledge of this and u seem to know what you're talking about when it comes to this. U saved me from scraping the bolt end with a wire brush to remove the fouling carbon that builds up. You beat my OCD with a hammer and won! Thank u! Now i know not to do it and that it's not a big deal
I submerge all the bcg parts in kerosene for about an hour then use a soft brush to remove what's left. I finally give a Hoppes light coat and I have been getting good results. In my experience, I have seen some shooters at the range with malfunctions and most of the time is because their bcgs are bone dry. Good comments and suggestion on this video as I continue to hear from some other AR shooters that they should be on the dry side. What they don't really is the friction the bolt endures is devastating without proper lubrication. Thanks you!
I am sincerely grateful to have found this site, never have used scraping tools but am guilty of using bronze brushes. Have used Carbon cutter and slip 2000, wonderful products. First time I ordered the Carbon cutter I called the company on the phone, yea old school, anyway the owner answered the phone! I was impressed, had a nice little chat with him and ordered a gallon of the Carbon cutter and tried it out, did everything that was advertised. He also included a bottle of the slip 2000 as a bonus. Recommended all my hunting buddy's his product and gave away some for them to try, everybody liked it.
My son bought the bolt cleaning tool for me made by an elevator company. It is still in my cabinet almost new. Thanks, son. Still Better than the ties your sister bought for me
Love your videos. Thank you for the tireless energy involved in sharing information with the rest of us. Your information is invaluable and helps potentially millions of people. Be proud of that.
Exactly correct on carbon solvents and proper lubrication after cleaning. CLR works but your warranty will be gone but how would they know. I use Freeall penetrating lube for a good soak in the barrel and spray the bolt and BCG after using hoppes to remove carbon first after taking those parts apart for deep cleaning once a year or every 3 to 5 hundred rounds. Running it wet on the BCG friction areas is fine, not in any gas ports.
This is why the M16 I used when I went through basic training in '89 was a POS... improper cleaning technique. I liked to never got qualified with it because of feed or eject issues. Lord knows how many times it had been cleaned or what kind of life it had seen before I got there. Needless to say, the DI's wanted them clean enough to eat off of before they would except them. I won't go into what was done to achieve this, but I feel sorry for anyone that used it after I turned it in.
Thanks for making this video. Just got myself a compact cleaning kit to keep in my range bag and it came with the BONE tool. I was excited to use it to get the built up carbon on the rear part of the bolt but after seeing the cutaway of the carrier, it doesn't seem like an issue. I'll stick to solvents and soft tools for cleaning like you recommended.
Thank you, Sir. I have those scraping tools. Never used them. Didn't know they could damage. I just have always preferred chemical cleaning. Keep up the vids Sir, love them.
Great information, I run Nickel Boron BCG in all my ArmaLite Style rifles and 2 stage Nickle Boron Trigger groups and i wipe and lube with CLP and I know now i am doing what's best. Thanks for putting this out very educational...
Can attest, I learned to use scraping tools in the Marine Corps. However in my life before and now after the Corps, I use chemicals to break the carbon down and wipe it away and use nylon brushes. I really appreciate your videos and explanations on these topics.
Out of shear curiosity I recently started using a product from amsoil that is a repellent for dirt and dust just to see it effectiveness and surprisingly it did cut down on the carbon build up on the BCG not 100 effective but any product that cuts down on the build up and won't damage it is a win win for me because it cuts down on the cleaning time .
I completely agree with you, i have a video of my Glock 17 with over 9,000 rounds without cleaning and it has run fine. I had a boat load of comments saying that always cleaning after every range session is taking care of your gun. It seemed like a lot of these people were way over "cleaning" their guns and definitely doing more damage "cleaning" theirnguns than just leaving the gun run dirty but oiled.
I have found the best way to clean the BCG (and other gun parts) is an occasional dip in the ultrasonic cleaner with some Purple Simple Green (don't use the Green Simple Green on gun parts). Then some CLP, and it runs like a champ.
Many people seem to believe that certain tools can't wear or change the dimensions of the bolt because the tools people used may be softer than the bolt material or the coating.
Fouling is abrasive. As fouling is removed, it will lap the bolt material when used between the bolt and a tool. Fouling can wear the tail when a bronze brush or piece of brass is used to "clean". Fouling can wear the inside of the carrier when a tool is used.
Ever look at a crowning lap? They are brass. An abrasive with the crowning lap will remove barrel material.
A cleaning rod with fouling can remove barrel material as it moves. A bore snake used the wrong way can remove crown material.
The difference between efficient and non efficient of most bolt tails is .0006. Thank about how little that is before changing the dimensions by "cleaning".
This was about to be my question. Happy to see you answer it before I even had to ask! Still seems like it would take a crap ton of cleaning to actually change dimensions but I guess I'm just not as OCD as other people haha.
By any chance, are u can AK Smith (or builder) also?
Or a guru of American Made Rifles only?
What do you mean by a bore snake used the wrong way? Like people dropping it through and pulling from muzzle to chamber?
Whats the proper way to use a bore snake??
I’ve had people argue with me about this same thing you’re talking about.
“Being abusive to you bolt carrier is not the conduct of a gentleman” is my new favorite quote for the month
I wish this video was mandatory for all Marine NCO’s and Officers.
Ohh Smedley, I’m sure we can buy more. Think of the industry they might go out of business if we don’t keep buying parts, then in the next war there will be no industry to support the next war.
@@robot4924 Smedley was well aware of the “Racket”
The idiocy has carried over from when they issued bolt action rifles.
@Robot everything isn't a grand conspiracy
@@czgunnertrue, but it dates back even further to muzzle loaders. Corrosive propellants demanded thorough cleaning.
One of the things I couldn't stand about the army was that in garrison weapons had to be turned in 100% clean. As a result guys gouged the hell out of their weapons trying to get that last grain of dust.
This is why I don't buy milsurp that is any more complicated than a backpack.
Yeah, making guys do that is a form of disciplining, but it's pretty counterproductive because it teaches a lot of people that their rifle needs to be babied, that it can't be trusted if it's not, or incentivizes them to abuse the weapon in ways like this to get it over with faster.
I never really scrapped mine clean but I guess that is why it always took me so long to clean it, but I was also a saw gunner most of my time in.
@@manictigerI picked up an M4 upper, not sure where it had been but it looked like tan moon dust. Yes the throat of the rifling was completely gone.
Drills made it a white glove competition
Reminded me of a day in basic training after the rifle range many decades ago with M16. Drill Sergeant told us that when the armorer accepted our rifles individually we could go to the PX. Well, we scrubbed those rifle clean enough to eat off of. Of course the armorer was in on the ruse, so no rifles were being accepted. A couple of buddies and myself found a good place to sleep after being rejected. Some of the others scrubbed, submitted, rejected, scrubbed, and resubmitted for 4 hours. When we heard the armorer was accepting rifles at the end of the day we dutifully turned in our once cleaned rifles. All those poor rifles had the finishes scrubbed off them over the non-sense.
Got that same memory !
In the Service,, overseas, we broke the rifle in two, dropped the top ( minus hand guards) in half a 55 gallon barrel of solvent while we cleaned the lower, then did a bore scrub and rag clean on bolt & carrier.
Never had a problem or inordinate wear.
Our armorer in the Corps had a rifle on display in the arms room ... one of the Marines, it seems, had seen to it to spray Easy Off oven cleaner on his weapon and left it on most of the day... when he went to wipe it off, it took the coating completely off. It was literally shiny metal.
Sounds like the soldier got a statement of charges for Christmas.
The Marines I hung around with in 70's had several tours in Vietnam, they used carb cleaner and would ship cases to friends in far east, pop rear pin pull bolt and spray tube, barrel and bolt, they said just needed to clear fouling.
I learned those exact practices at a young age (guess where?) and with your help here and by following a rigorous 12 step program I am overcoming my addiction to over cleaning or incorrectly cleaning my weapons. Thank you again sir!
I am the polar opposite because it's been at least a few hundred rounds since the last cleaning on all my guns. I'll give my carry gun a dry patch down the barrel every few weeks if I don't make it to the range to get the lint out, but that's about it. I wait until the action gets gritty to give em a good clean. Probably not the best practice.
For only 25 cents a day you can prevent over cleaning a firearm 😂
I served for 5 years, and I could go on about how the arms room wanted the pew pews spotless...But instead, I will tell a story from the end of my basic training cycle. For roughly two weeks we spent countless hours cleaning our weapons. Even after they were clean if a drill sgt walked in and we weren't cleaning them we were wrong. So, these weapons were beyond spotless about two days in...We didnt stop going at them for at least another 10 days. Found out after weapon turn in all of those weapons had to be deadlined. A little carbon isn't a bad thing guys
I know ppl that only lube and never clean and are 5000+ rounds in with cheap dirty ammo without issue. They convinced me to quit cleaning with a cleaning agent, now just halfass wipe with lube oil and then oil simple as that
I'm laughing too.. I have one I haven't done pretty much dick too since 2017 and it still functions. I know a guy who cleans his bcg every time he shoots. Like why??
Just waste of taxpayer money due to bad instructions, by the way thank you for your service.
@@carsonhunt4642 I wouldn't recommend that unless you live in a really humid environment. Anywhere dry will have lots of silt getting into the chamber and rubbing everything down over that period of time. I'm pretty convinced that's what actually happened to the rifles he's discussing in this video, but I could be wrong.
About the only thing I use for cleaning is ballistol and I lube with Lucas gun oil!!! It stays put pretty well doesn't gunk up and resista burn off pretty good as well.@@carsonhunt4642
*Drill instructors begin to froth and convulse with fury* 😂😂😂
I was in the Marines and we always cleaned them "white glove inspection ready" always after a range day. Then I went on to shoot competition and using my same rifle, didn't clean it but lubed the hell out of it. This was in 29 palms so its a desert environment, my rifle was gunky af but I never had any malfunctions for almost a whole month straight of shooting and if I did it was some magazines from old green followers on GI mags. I always hated cleaning my personal guns so thank you very much for this!
As a young private in the Army, you were smoked if you had any carbon on the rifle. We probably ruined more rifles by scrubbing and chucking chamber brushes in drills than god knows what. You could eat off our rifles in the Army lol.
Must be unit specific, we had to have a clean rifle also but we had nylon brushes, pipe cleaners, Q-tips, and solvents.
That's because cleaning the rifles is used as a form of discipline and punishment in the army. I've heard people coming away from military service thinking the AR15 rifle MUST be whiteglove clean to not risk malfunctions, just because their drill was a real hardass on them, so I think this might give some people the wrong idea.
Might be some carryover from the M249s, where the old tired things will tend to want to be detail cleaned before going out in the field, or they don't wanna run much.
Military is a PsyOp. Stay out!
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine spot on, all the malfunctions we had during BRM were typed as “clean your shit pri!”
A decade later as I get into civilian ARs, I realize they were really all from clapped out magazines no one is brave enough to 86.
@@509Gman Mags are another thing, of course. Surefires are good aluminum ones, but they don't last forever.
Really, a good armorer should take sketchy mags and just dent the hell out of them when nobody's looking, then claim that he has no idea when or how that happened, so people don't go out with bad ones.
Man I love that cutaway bcg
So do I! Finally understood the action of an AR-15 because of that little bewdy.
@@chipsterb4946 It's a lot like a simple lawn mower engine, really. Imagine the bolt as the piston. The gas block & gas key are like your carburetor & intake plumbing as well as exhaust, may get a bit confusing there. But it's really a piston w/ rings, with a dislocated combustion chamber, and unified intake/exhaust cyclic return. The cutaway is awesome for letting folks see the piston-like operation. And for seeing it all work together.
I agree with these comments. We all learned the “right” way to clean our weapon at a young g and impressionable age, and carry that with us for years and years. I have found myself cleaning my personal rifle well enough for rack ready inspection even after just 40 rounds for quals. It’s an extremely difficult mentality to get past, but with proper counseling and videos like yours we can get past this. Thank you for the great info!
I always wondered if the scrapers were safe to use. I've watched other channels where they used the bone scraper and really screwed it in the bolt. Wasn't sure that that was the best way to clean a bolt carrier. And the guy doing it was from a big well known company. The way that i look at it is if i think that it may scratch the surface of what I'm cleaning , i won't use it. Some good cleaning chemicals will do the job. Thanks for the information. I don't want to go scraping on my $300 bolt carrier.
There are some Armorer's & Instructors that I respect deeply, who say maintenance should involve scraping tools.
Their advice comes from the right place, but I don't think they know what the tools are capable of doing.
I think the ‘manual of arms’ FOR cleaning with say..the ‘cleaning kit’, yeah..the mil spec one with the STEEL cleaning rod (!) has more to do with FIELD cleaning..not in barracks or garrison. And certainly not on a HIGH-end BCG or bore. Soldiers generally were/are cleaning WHEN they had time and not under fire. Thinking Iraq and Afghanistan..
Glad I forgot to buy one, lol.
@@manictiger Same. My forgotten purchase was probably somewhat intentional as I've seen other videos from this gentleman cautioning on the treatment of these strong yet delicate areas. To me he comes across as the Jeff Cavaliere/Athlean-X of the gun community. There are sooo many experts and authorities in this genre and I appreciate them all, but none carry the authoritative weight of this one well spoken knowledgeable and experienced source. I really appreciate you sir! @InstructorChad
Thanks Chad! I do have one of those multi-scraper-doohickies, but I've never used it. Usually some Clenzoil on a patch or two gets everything off. I do like to hit the lugs with a brass brush though, and my Dewey cleaning kit comes with a chamber brush and mop that works really well. Used gently of course. That cut in half BCG demo makes it perfectly clear why you don't want to go grinding on the bolt tail or inside diameter of the BCG.
An old guy taught me that sometime in a pinch, you can use wood like an ice cream stick and other appropriately shaped little pieces of wood without harm after soaking parts. Also taught me I could use hot soapy water for cleaning as well which I've done countless times with zero rust issues. Just got to make sure you rinse clean with hot water and make sure the metal is hot when you shake it off so any residual moisture evaporates quickly and completely and then just oil her up.
Wood Chopsticks are great for scraping, if scraping must be done.
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle corn dog stick
A bamboo skewer works for me and can whittle the end into whatever shape you like.
Snap a wooden cotton swab in half, use the pointy aftermath for hard to reach shit
Rubbing alcohol is better. It's used to clean electronics, too.
Spot on, once you remove metal, it cannot be put back on! Always use the least aggressive measures first. Excellent suggestions with CLR and Berrymans carb cleaner.
@Peter labor to build up and then mill/lathe off to tolerance would cost more than a new BCG
@Peter Specifically, what is your point?
@Peter If you’re “glad” someone missed your point, it demonstrates you never had anything beneficial to add the conversation to begin with.
@@MRTEE-sy7sb 100% correct. You'd only pay that price once :D But I'd probably watch a RUclips video of it being done by a professional machinist/gunsmith repairman.
Brass isn't mechanically capable of abrading steel. This is just a video of some old wives tales brought to you by a guy who doesn't understand material science.
I received the SOTAR patch and sticker I ordered today. The texture of the gears and skull is awesome. By far the best patch I own. Super cool. Thank you!
I’ve always used motor oil as a lubricant for ARs. It’s good to know I can use motor carb cleaners too instead of scraping. Thanks much
I have had very good results by using MPRO 7 to lube after I clean. I notice you said a "wet lube" early in the video. Usually if it "looks" wet it is probably pretty good. The MPro makes cleaning easier for me. Slip 2000 is also good. The crud wipes off with a blue shop towel. My only issues with them are the containers they come in. I transfer the product to a bottle with a needle oiler. Partially for precision but mostly to save some money. Both products are expensive. I am sort of frugal (read cheap). Have a good day. Thanks for the great videos. So informative.
Found your channel about a year ago and I've been impressed with every video I've ever seen you put up. There's nobody else out there sharing this much detail and help with the community. Incredible work, thank you!
Sooo many people just don’t understand this. Thank you for this information & “as always” look forward to your videos! Very thankful you’re back & look forward to learning more,Thank you sir!
Every single person who owns an AR rifle needs to watch this video. Straight to the point, no bullshit and absolutely spot on. Very well done.
My old firearms instructor was a combat vet, Vietnam he was a Marine Corps colonel , super strict, but I learned a lot from him. In my training we used pistols,rifles,shotguns. Our weapons would be filthy after an intensive round of training. (1980s) he had us spray everything with gum-out carb. & choke cleaner and swab cotton nibs, and a nylon brush just like you show. Then we were to oil it up with CLR ( I used Ballistol-still do) but we were to wipe of excess. I never had one malfunction, even with over 1,000 rounds ( each class, with pistol,rifle required 1,000 rnds.) I rarely use the gum-out these days. Thank you for this excellent information. The only thing I'd like to add is on the bolt pin ( t shaped not the cotter pin) I add just a little bit of gun grease to those pins it helps keep them from getting gaulded. Thanks for the great information.
I hope you meant CLP. CLR would have been a terrible oil.
yes I meant to say CLP LOL ! I'm just getting old @@danlindgren4290
Came across a doc on Armalite's website over 12 years ago explaining this. Took it to heart.
Very helpful for a 'new' AR user. Thank you for sharing.
Man, the Army had us absolutely thrash our M16's.
Using 5.56 pressure ammo might push past the inefficiency that rough maintenance creates.
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle ..hmm. Hadn’t looked at it like that. HIGHER pressure ammo could mitigate some ‘less-than-the-best’ worn BCG’s or loose tolerances. Makes perfect sense..
Still do
Was there any decrease in functionality as a result of the "thrash[ing]"? Probably not.
I stopped using the otis bone tool years ago thanks to you! You actually answered my post and told me that you preferred chemically removed carbon over picks or tools and I have been following that ever since. Thanks again!
I pretty much exclusively use Q-tips, shop towels, and a toothbrush to clean my BCG and FCG. On the rare chance I have had to scrape something I use a wooden dowel. Really the most cleaning I do is usually just a boresnake and some CLP.
Glad I've found your channel. I just got my first AR and there's a ton of different information out there. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and explaining why things need to be done a certain way.
Man I can't express this enough but the knowledge that you give to us is invaluable! Thanks again for another good one!!!!
thanks for being so professional with your information. no need to disparage anyone. we're all here to use, enjoy, and take care of our equipment.
There are a number of products on the market designed to emulsify carbon in two-strokes and small engines. A couple are made by outboard engine manufacturers (I use Engine Tuner, which is from BRP) and work well to soften even heavy buildups of carbon.
Very helpful, I got a new BCG recently and have wondered about this.
It wasn’t u till I started watching your videos that I understood & appreciated just how important BCG’s role in the gas system is to proper function.
Thank you for all the info!
Thank you Chad for the educational videos. Good stuff to know. Save a guy some pain down the road.
Excellent video, you hit home runs with all your videos. One of the best videos is a 1960 or 61 Army m-16 cleaning video, it just explains what parts need oiling and what parts do not. keep up your awesome educational channel. Thanks Les.
Great content as always 👏
Glad to see you posting again, Thanks
I have been an AR15 Shooter for over 10 years, and wish I would have found this School Of The American Rifle back then. I have been doing some of the things mentioned in this video as far as cleaning fouling off my bolt tail and generally it I has been with a bronze brush. I will no longer use that for cleaning, and stick with the nylon Brush and Lube. I do lube the bolt tail and gas rings well, but will stop cleaning the bolt tail with a bronze brush. Love this channel and keep posting your great educational content. Thanks a bunch!!!
Maybe I’m lazy, but after a trip to the range I just disassemble the BCG, wipe the BCG and internals with a clean cloth, add a layer of oil and reassemble. It’s not a hardcore cleaning, but enough to remove most of the fine abrasive dirt and to freshen the lube with synthetic motor oil. (I’m sure someone will lambaste me for using motor oil, but it’s what Dad used and I still have and use his 90-year old guns).
Once in a while, I will run the disassembled BCG and parts through an ultrasonic cleaner with RCBS Weapons Cleaner and distilled water, hit parts with a toothbrush or, at worst case, a brass brush. Relube, reassemble.
I keep a can of Ballistol in my range bag and if anything looks dry, I’ll give it a quick spray. Other than that, it’s clean enough.
If it works...it works. I'd question whether motor oil might be less effective though, at a molecular level. Gasoline burns around 2000ºF, while gun powder can be double that. Even if the direct impingement bleeds off some of that excess heat before it hits your gas key & bolt carrier, it might be enough to burn off the motor oil sooner than a tried-and-true gun lube would.
I personally use CLP in one form or another for ARs, and Shooters Choice for guns which prefer grease. Neither has ever caused me issues.
Thank you! My son and I have learned so much from your videos! We've built two AR's and have diagnosed and repaired a new one that we bought that wasn't working properly. Much love from Arizona! ❤🇺🇲❤🇺🇲
Your videos are always a wealth of information. Thank you for making them!
I have an ar15 that has never been cleaned outside of clp and a rag wipedown. 30 years and going strong.
My cleaning setup includes a bamboo skewer, as well as a nylon brush, q-tip, and a rag. The bamboo skewer usually does good work on built up carbon and won’t scratch the metal.
Also, having a chrome DD bolt carrier group helps (wish they still made them, I’d buy more). Just wipe with a CLP soaked rag and you’re done. 😁 Sadly I only have one, so the others get the bamboo/nylon brush treatment.
I learned all my AR cleaning and care from SOTAR. I WISH I LIVED NEAR BY TO GO TO HIS SCHOOL. BUT IVE WATCHED ALL HIS VIDEOS AND IMO HES BEST AT BOTH WORLDS FIXING TO SPECS AND FINDING A SOLUTION TO MAKE IT FUNCTION.
Lol I made my own paper clip tool like him. Little skills like that make a huge difference.
I was taught this way and only recently learned how the scraping tool (like the one on your worktable) was lathing away the inside of the bcg. That having been said, would you do a video on gas rings (replacement, tolerances, etc) for those of us that damaged them with that pesky wire brush?
Thank you. I just had this discussion with a friend of mine who was suggesting these scraping tools. Just his assertion about scraping these components that have such close tolerances sounded wrong to me. I’m gonna show him your video. Thanks again!
As an old machinist but a new AR shooter, this was excellent! And terrific visual aids to show what's going on in there. Thanks for stopping a bad habit before it starts. BTW, what are the diameters ***and tolerances*** you think we should stay within for those critical surfaces? I've got the tools to measure them (although I don't have your cool Go/NO-GO gauges I might invest in some), so of course I'm curious what they should measure. Again thanks -- and looking forward to the next vid!
As far as I can tell, it looks like the "no-go" says .248, and the "go" is .2486. The pinned comment at the top of the comments also states there is only .0006 difference. If I remember, I'll try to check a bolt blueprint to confirm.
I can't speak to specific tolerances, but one of the first things to wear out is those three little gas rings on the bolt. A quick way to determine if they're still good is to take a freshly clean/lubed bolt carrier assembly with the bolt in the retracted position. A quick snap of the wrist should cause the bolt to extend out fully from the bolt carrier. And then if you stand up the bolt carrier assembly on the bolt, and it stays extended, the gas rings are still good. If the bolt carrier depresses down onto the bolt from its own weight, the gas rings are probably shot and need replacement.
Eight years in the infantry, including 2nd ITB. Issued many scraping tools without this information. Thanks!
Also-- Bronze brushes generally can't hurt steel in the HRC 36-40 range when used by hand, they are softer than steel by quite a bit. That said, even water can wear down rock, so any abrasive (regardless how soft) with enough cycles will wear parts.
The fouling itself is abrasive and paired with brass or bronze does wear down steel.
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle this is why I follow this channel. Learn something from the videos and comments every time. Thank you!
It doesn’t matter the hardness of two materials, if you rub them together (even without any compound) they will wear on one another. I can show you where my dog left footprints in a wooden windowsill 😂
@@SchooloftheAmericanRifle Only if you are scrubbing the bajesus out of it!! Meaning if you sit there for 15 min brushing the same damn spot. If brass/ bronze bushes were a real problem, we would never use them for cleaning the barrels
I never use anything other than good old Hoppe's and cotton patches. Lightly lube everything during reassembly.
@arch3088
This is sort of what I do except I only use Clenzoil, Q-Tip and the occasional cotton patches for the ID areas of my Bolts/BCGs and then lightly (Sometime Heavily) lube all parts with CLP
I have never had a problem with 1000s of rounds in various ARs yet. "YET" is the key word/thought in my mind as I will occasionally ask myself "Should I pay more attention to detail and use a scraper or solvent specifically made for loosening and/or removing carbon deposits from BCGs or even bolts/bolt faces of my bolt guns or other semiauto firearms?" with the instant reply to myself of "Nahhhh"
I got away from cleaning the shit out of the barrels and bolt faces with my bolt guns as I started to notice that when I cleaned the bore/bolt face/chamber and channels on my favorite and best, well "Best" to me anyway rifle that I own
This "Best/Favorite" and most accurate rifle that I own is a Parker-Hale that is chambered in 22-250. MY P-H is the most accurate rifle that I own and my "Mostest" favorite rifle to shoot at distance and for groundhogs and turning a crow into a satisfying cloud of black feather dust
I say most accurate as this is the rifle that I went overboard when working up a load for it BUT I noticed that cleaning the barrel, chamber and channels with bore cleaner and/or a solvent made to remove copper fouling actually screwed the accuracy up for the first 1 to 3 rounds put through the rifle after my thorough cleaning and removal of copper/lead so I came to the conclusion to stop this extra attention to the bore.
I will put very little spot, and I do mean a very little amount/spot of Clenzoil or CLP on a cotton patch, run it in the bore 2 to 3 passes, follow up with, usually 3 dry patches until the patches are a slight black/green color. I ONLY run the spotted Clenzoil/CLP patch through the bore after 3 or 4 "Outtings/Use" of this rifle. Ever since I started this practice, about 15 to 18 yeas ago I have yet to have a "Flyer" on my first to third rounds after cleaning and I have rolled with this type of cleaning on my bolt guns or other semiauto firearms
I SHOULD include that my "Flyers" after bore cleaning were slightly detectable in this accurate rifle and at a distance of say 25 to 50 yds BUT these "Flyers" would result in a miss or bad POI at 200 to 400 yds which is my typical shot at groundhogs and crows as I will mostly use my heavy barreled Savage in 17 HMR out to 150 yds for groundhogs or 200 yds for crows
I DO however keep watching videos such as this video that pertain to the thorough cleaning of the bore or the IDs and moving parts of a rifle, pistol or even shotgun as I have experienced this "Flyer" phenomenon with the first few shots out of my thoroughly cleaned shotgun bores using even birdshot. I also realize that all of these "Flyers" could also be a mental game that one side of my head will play on the other side of my head but either way I do what I do in order to avoid these actual or imagined "Flyers"
What! You’re supposed to clean an AR15? As an experiment, I went over 6000 rounds without cleaning, just putting some motor oil on the bolt. Zero malfunctions until I wore the barrel out.
If your going to get the rifle super hot sending rounds down range at a continuous stream, get one of those double chrome lined barrels. Shoots tracers too. How fun would that be?
Thank you for this. I'm new to rifling and I was thinking about purchasing a gun scraping tool; however, I've been watching your videos for information and I trust your skill and I will follow your instruction.
Way back in the day with my first AR and the first cleaning I tried scraping tools. It didn't feel right so ever since I just soak the entire bolt in cleaning solution then clean it. What comes off comes off, what doesn't stays on there. Never have issues with the functionality even with my cheaper ARs.
Brass is harmless. Nylon works too. No9 is a staple for solvent.
CLR is somewhat controversial. It does remove baked on carbon fouling, but it is very aggressive, and needs to be removed with alcohol, brake cleaner or lacquer thinner when you're finished with it. Probably best to not use it on any blued guns.
I learned the hard way. Purchasing gauges and being real with what I was seeing definitely turn me around great video
I pretty much stopped using abrasives. The only thing I use that's abrasive is the little bit of bristles built into a bore snake and that's very rare. I remember it mentioned in a video of yours from way back and made so much sense that it really stuck with me
He said bore snakes are bad?
@@LKaramazov not that I'm aware of
@NeglectfulSausage yeah I agree, I never feel the need to scrub with abrasives like that. I'm glad those ways are dying off
@@neglectfulsausage7689 interesting.
Wow! Thank you. I wish someone had put this video out eight years ago when I first started shooting ARs privately. Between my active duty time and civil service time, I spent more than 43 years with the Army and from my first days as a recruit back in 1975 I was taught the dogma that “all” carbon had to be removed. I have all of those tools and more. This is the second video I have watched that taught me I was doing something wrong in the maintenance of my guns. Again, thank you.
A couple questions.
1. Would carbon build-up on the bolt tail not improve the seal between the tail and the carrier?
2. Is it bad to drop lube down into the gas key, instead of removing the bolt and lubing it directly? It would seem to me that the residual lubricant would absorb carbon, burn off, and make the interior of the gas key cake up at a faster rate than a dry one
This is a phenomenal video and everyone with AR's and any other weapons who do their own cleaning should watch. I teach this exact same thing in my AR Diagnostics and Maintenance Course. I was taught this 30+ years ago becoming a Colt Advanced Armorer. Use a nylon brush, what goes goes, what stays stays. Been doing that forever on AR's with ultra high round counts. Never have had to replace a carrier or bolt, none have unnecessary wear other than parts that will wear due to use like rings, springs, etc. Never had failures, malfunctions, etc due to it not being white glove inspection cleaned either (Lol United States Marine Corps). I have a friend who regardless how much I tell him, cleans his BCG Assembly using a bench grinder with a wire wheel lol. Man his bolt is beer can shiny around the tail and rings. Sometimes, you have to let a self correcting problem self correct. I use brake cleaner and Ed's Red to break them down if it is heavy carbon. No scrapers, no knives, seen guys scrape using a box cutter, etc and definitely no Dremel or wire wheels. Common sense, common chemicals and elbow grease. I make my own lube and the Ed's Red, all I really pay for continuously is the carb/brake cleaner. Walmart Super Tech is cheap and effective.
I always put a patch between the tool and the bolt tail when using my various cleaning tools, q-tip dowels work well along with other wooden implemnts to get off some of that stuborn carbon.
I used to use the bone tool and thought my colts, bcm needed to squeaky clean. Until I started training and running well over a thousand rounds in couple days. Nowadays I just lube and after 2500 rounds I’ll break it down but definitely not scraping and getting it squeaky clean like I once did. Thanks bud I feel a lot of folks needed to hear this.
I'll let you guys in on a bit of a not-so-well-known secret: soot/soft carbon is an effective dry film lubricant at high temperatures. When you "clean" the bolt tail, you are not only likely to wear a critical sealing surface, but you are increasing the overall wear rate of the gun while in service. Instead, just put a few drops if you favorite CLP down the gas key, hold the carrier boltface up and cycle the bolt within the carrier fore and aft.
When you fire the gun, any excess lube will blow out the carrier ports. I recommend using only lubes that comply with MIL-PRF-63460F TY: A
CLP? You might as well be cleaning your gun with WD-40. Solvents are solvents, and lubricants are lubricants; and if you think the twain can meet, then have I got some snake oil to sell you. Just about every brand out there (Remington, Hoppes, Breakthrough Clean, Birchwood Casey, etc.) sells dedicated solvents and lubricants that are mutually exclusive. Use those instead.
@@SergeantExtreme Read the military standard I cited above. It's a single use CLP that has to pass tests on M249s. Solvent and lube are NOT mutually exclusive. They can be mixed in such a way that the solvent flashes off and leaves the lube behind. Which is precisely what most CLPs do.
@@G5Hohn , yeah!☝
Yeah, NO. I'll do me, you do you. Ed's Red does the same at 1/10th the mil contract price.
So how do you heat the gun up before shooting it?
Thanks for posting this. Haven't put enough rounds through mine yet to worry about fouling, but I did buy into the "gotta keep that BCG surgically clean" line. Nice to get an education *before* damaging something. Refreshing...
On people thinking the AR15 needing to be shiny clean to run, I've outright seen an AR15 which ran perfectly fine, and where the inside of the bolt carrier looked kind of like the ancient city of Pompeii.
Any decently put together example can tolerate quite a lot of carbon, and it's generally pretty good at keeping a lot of foreign dirt out of most parts.
Those InRange mudtests were far from scientific or even realistic, but they repeatedly show that anything from an old 1960s Colt SP-1 to a number of modern builds will more than tolerate some pretty obscene levels of filth.
Great things to know! I recently got into the “hobby” and starred shooting my AR so of course after a couple trips to the range, did my cleaning so far. Great things to learn here as I was already starting with the abrasive cleaning I’ve seen in videos. Thank you!
I've waiting for you to do a video on this for a long time. Thank you.
Thank you for a very informative video. I am admittidly OCD when it comes to cleaning. My previous thinking was cleanliness was next to godliness and that the AR wasn't a primitive AK, needing to stay clean to run properly. Time to lube it up and keep it a little wet and slippery. I was actually considering purchasing one of the BCG cleaning tools, unaware how it could damage it. Chemical and cotton swabs exclusively from now on.
Thank you for this video! I'm sometimes OCD about cleaning my guns and I hated trying to scrape this area on my bolt tail, I'd go at it with a brass brush like crazy trying to get it all off. Never knew that the fouling is important for the continued operation of the gun. Very very helpful video to me and I really appreciate it
So good to see Critical Chad (and I mean that as a compliment, "Critical") back on camera. Thank you Chad!
I wonder if the obsessive carbon-chasers think they should take apart their car's engine, and make the combustion chamber, piston crown, valve heads, and intake & exhaust ports "hospital clean." How do they think their car engine runs without obsessive carbon removal?
Guilty as charged. Thank you for the situational awareness. God's blessings.
So much great knowledge, thank you for sharing yet again 👍
Thanks. Always great info from you. Thankful that you're out there!
I have a friend who used Break Cleaner on his bolt and it literally left a pool of carbon on the floor and the BCG looked brand new. Not sure if break cleaner is good for a BCG
Brake cleaner will not harm the metal, but it will remove ALL the oil leaving the metal ripe for corrosion, oil immediately after drying
Love the cutaway. Those tolerances are mind-boggling in accuracy. Nothing but nylon or cotton used in cleaning for me. Stroke Hold (Marine) is an amazing lubricant! Thanks for the warnings!
For context, the tolerance for the width of the bolt tail according to an old military blueprint I found, is 0.0002 inches. That's about the width of a human red blood cell. It doesn't take much polishing or scraping to take that dimension out of spec, so absolutely be careful!
That's a load of shit.
I don't believe that claim for even a second. What a load of horseshit. That's way bigger than a human blood cell.
I think that tolerance is wrong.
100% for sure you're wrong.
The ar bcg was designed so you only needed to oil it, and wipe it down on the rare occasion if say sand or dirt actually got onto the bolt. If youre scraping any part on an AR youre doing it wrong.
What about non chlorinated brake parts cleaner?
Non chlorinated is gtg.
Thank you. I've come to learn the same thing over the years. Yes, clean your gun, but it doesn't have to be squeaky clean. And then oil your gun, and I mean oil it liberally. For brushes, I use plastic brushes to clean my guns mostly.
Good video.
First.
Instructor Chad, The Army says I need to clean the BCG until it is 'white-glove' clean. I agree with you that it is not necessary and chemical cleaning of carbon is a better choice. Thanks for recording and posting this video.
Very educational. I was raised by a career Marine and taught firearm cleaning at home. We didn’t have an AR 15, so I learned that in the Army. The armorer NCO taught us bad OCD habits in basic training. Get rid of all the carbon or face the wrath! Thank you for setting me free from the pointless and destructive anxiety.
Great advice and pointing out the facts will help me counter my OCD.
Thank you, sir, for helping folks not to damage their weapon.
Appreciate the advice! Seems u have first hand knowledge of this and u seem to know what you're talking about when it comes to this. U saved me from scraping the bolt end with a wire brush to remove the fouling carbon that builds up. You beat my OCD with a hammer and won! Thank u! Now i know not to do it and that it's not a big deal
I submerge all the bcg parts in kerosene for about an hour then use a soft brush to remove what's left. I finally give a Hoppes light coat and I have been getting good results. In my experience, I have seen some shooters at the range with malfunctions and most of the time is because their bcgs are bone dry. Good comments and suggestion on this video as I continue to hear from some other AR shooters that they should be on the dry side. What they don't really is the friction the bolt endures is devastating without proper lubrication. Thanks you!
To illustrate your point about abrasion, look at the wear and finish removal on the tool in the video.
I am sincerely grateful to have found this site, never have used scraping tools but am guilty of using bronze brushes. Have used Carbon cutter and slip 2000, wonderful products. First time I ordered the Carbon cutter I called the company on the phone, yea old school, anyway the owner answered the phone! I was impressed, had a nice little chat with him and ordered a gallon of the Carbon cutter and tried it out, did everything that was advertised. He also included a bottle of the slip 2000 as a bonus. Recommended all my hunting buddy's his product and gave away some for them to try, everybody liked it.
I wasn't impressed with the carbon cutter from Slip 2000 (although their lube it top quality). Check out Bore Tech for solvents. Amazing stuff.
@@elitetrader5468 Thank you, I will give it a shot.
My son bought the bolt cleaning tool for me made by an elevator company. It is still in my cabinet almost new. Thanks, son. Still Better than the ties your sister bought for me
Thats ungrateful
Love your videos. Thank you for the tireless energy involved in sharing information with the rest of us. Your information is invaluable and helps potentially millions of people. Be proud of that.
Exactly correct on carbon solvents and proper lubrication after cleaning. CLR works but your warranty will be gone but how would they know. I use Freeall penetrating lube for a good soak in the barrel and spray the bolt and BCG after using hoppes to remove carbon first after taking those parts apart for deep cleaning once a year or every 3 to 5 hundred rounds. Running it wet on the BCG friction areas is fine, not in any gas ports.
This is why the M16 I used when I went through basic training in '89 was a POS... improper cleaning technique. I liked to never got qualified with it because of feed or eject issues. Lord knows how many times it had been cleaned or what kind of life it had seen before I got there. Needless to say, the DI's wanted them clean enough to eat off of before they would except them. I won't go into what was done to achieve this, but I feel sorry for anyone that used it after I turned it in.
Thanks for making this video. Just got myself a compact cleaning kit to keep in my range bag and it came with the BONE tool. I was excited to use it to get the built up carbon on the rear part of the bolt but after seeing the cutaway of the carrier, it doesn't seem like an issue. I'll stick to solvents and soft tools for cleaning like you recommended.
Thank you, Sir.
I have those scraping tools. Never used them. Didn't know they could damage. I just have always preferred chemical cleaning. Keep up the vids Sir, love them.
Great information, I run Nickel Boron BCG in all my ArmaLite Style rifles and 2 stage Nickle Boron Trigger groups and i wipe and lube with CLP and I know now i am doing what's best. Thanks for putting this out very educational...
Great information. Nobody had ever mentioned this to me. Thank you for sharing this.
Can attest, I learned to use scraping tools in the Marine Corps. However in my life before and now after the Corps, I use chemicals to break the carbon down and wipe it away and use nylon brushes. I really appreciate your videos and explanations on these topics.
Friends don't let friends scrape.
Thank you for this info! Had no idea… this type of thing is part of why I prefer my AK. Just harder to screw up
Out of shear curiosity I recently started using a product from amsoil that is a repellent for dirt and dust just to see it effectiveness and surprisingly it did cut down on the carbon build up on the BCG not 100 effective but any product that cuts down on the build up and won't damage it is a win win for me because it cuts down on the cleaning time .
I completely agree with you, i have a video of my Glock 17 with over 9,000 rounds without cleaning and it has run fine. I had a boat load of comments saying that always cleaning after every range session is taking care of your gun. It seemed like a lot of these people were way over "cleaning" their guns and definitely doing more damage "cleaning" theirnguns than just leaving the gun run dirty but oiled.
If you gentle clean it after a range session would not hurt. Like some one said keep your tools clean.
I have found the best way to clean the BCG (and other gun parts) is an occasional dip in the ultrasonic cleaner with some Purple Simple Green (don't use the Green Simple Green on gun parts). Then some CLP, and it runs like a champ.
Same here, purple power and a after a cycle or 2 the BCG is spotless.