AR15 Lubrication

[Richard Bumpus]

What parts of an AR15 should be lubed with Slide Glide and which viscosity to use? I've used it for years on my 1911s and have all three types. I've searche this site and found hundreds of postings on using it for hand guns, but not ARs.

Thanks for your input.

R.B.

[splitime]

Curious about this also.

[mlmiller1]

Ive used the red but had occasional jams. I shoot a very tight custom firebird. I started using FP-10 & it has worked great for me. YMMV

I lube contact areas on bolt & receiver along with a light touch on recoil spring. Little bit on trigger & sear.

[gng4life]

Same here, I use the Lite version and put it lightly on the bolt/carrier, trigger area, and some on the charging handle. I use white lithium grease on the buffer spring. Everything seems very smooth and runs great. This is on a STAG 3G and STI AR.

[MarkCO]

I use slide glide on the cam pin, rails of the bcg, buffer spring, charging handle, always medium. The bolt gas rings, exterior, ejector and extractor get CLP or my own mix (30wt synthetic, synthetic trans fluid, and Zmax).

[Mbauer67]

I only use grease on the trigger, and use oil every where else.

[pjb45]

Nano 386 and very little of anything else.

Actually I did a really good job of cleaning, then use Dyna Tek Gun Care.

Then Nano 386 spray for daily range use.

[Ming the Merciless]

I use slide glide on the cam pin, rails of the bcg, buffer spring, charging handle, always medium. The bolt gas rings, exterior, ejector and extractor get CLP or my own mix (30wt synthetic, synthetic trans fluid, and Zmax).

Try using Motul 800, Maxima 927, or Torco 2 stroke oil for the gas rings. The 2 stroke oils produce very little carbon build up.

[benny hill]

Full syntec 5-25 castrol

[KentuckyBuddha]

Same here, I use the Lite version and put it lightly on the bolt/carrier, trigger area, and some on the charging handle. I use white lithium grease on the buffer spring. Everything seems very smooth and runs great. This is on a STAG 3G and STI AR.

That is what I do too, but I have only had that weapon since 1997 or so (lol) and it still has no noticeable wear. Lite is definitely the way to go on AR's in my opinion as well. It was a complete parts build from "model1sales".

Edited August 9, 2012 by KentuckyBuddha

[Croomrider]

Light coat of CLP on everything. Works fine and keeps fouling soft for easy clean up!

Mike

[GunBugBit]

Army had us use Breakfree CLP. I still use that stuff once in a while. I like its cleaning properties best. ATF is my favorite CLP and I use it primarily for cleaning, but I don't hesitate to leave a light coating of it on parts. My AR bolt carrier group parts always get some synthetic motor oil because of its superior lube properties.

[shooting for M]

I use slide glide on the hammer/sear interface and the bottom of the BCG where it slides over the hammer. Frog lube or Mobile 1 syn for everything else (really starting to like Frog Lube). Main thing is to keep it lubed, when they get dry they seem to cause the most problems, especially using light buffers and BCGs. You will know when you go too far, your glasses will be covered in oil .

Be careful using grease on moving parts when the temps start to drop, I can't use even slide glide light on my limited gun in the winter.

[usmc0326]

IMO CLP is not the way to go. My 2 favorite lubes for temps from 40-130* are Miltec 1 and the green oil from M pro 7, I also love their spray solvent leaves parts clean but doesn't attract dirt/dust like CLP does.

[GunBugBit]

To me, Breakfree CLP is best as a cleaner and that's the only role I give it. I have a couple of cans left. When they're gone, I'll probably stick with ATF for cleaning and motor oil for lube. ATF is a good CLP, with its weakest property being the cleaning in my opinion -- it doesn't really cut through the schmutz as fast as some other things, but with patience it does the job. Best property of it is probably the protection. I've run rifles on only ATF with no problems.

[BillD]

I gently touch some parts with a very expensive grease on a Qtip, lightly working special oil into the BCG.....just kidding.

I spray the crap out of it with CLP and wipe it off. It runs.

I attended a Pat Rogers carbine course where a SWAT operator was real picky about lube on his AR and didn't like it to be too lubed up. It jammed in fast and furious firing. Pat lubed it with Vagisil to make a point. And it ran.

The point was, it doesn't really matter what lube you use as long as you use enough of it.

YMMV....but I doubt it.

[goat68]

CLP dripping wet. I lube the bolt and dragon teeth prety much before each stage in dusty conditions such as we had at Ironman this year and didn't have to pogo stick like others did. Wind blew over outhouses and the dust was everywhere.

[Big Bore]

A little grease on the cam pin and Mobil 10/30 everywhere else.

[eastern_hunter]

A little grease on the cam pin and Mobil 10/30 everywhere else.

Big Bore's approach is very common in the AR community. Dust is the only issue. If you live or shoot in a place where that is a common problem you might want to go with something like Militec.

[Trivialis]

Mobil on the carrier/bolt, lithium on the recoil spring, Tetra Gun grease on the charging handle, and Geiselle trigger grease on the trigger

[wes777]

slide glide lite on everything, clean and reaply ever 500 rds of rapid fire.

[KennyWiz]

A light coat of CLP on everything.

[KentG]

I gently touch some parts with a very expensive grease on a Qtip, lightly working special oil into the BCG.....just kidding.

I spray the crap out of it with CLP and wipe it off. It runs.

I attended a Pat Rogers carbine course where a SWAT operator was real picky about lube on his AR and didn't like it to be too lubed up. It jammed in fast and furious firing. Pat lubed it with Vagisil to make a point. And it ran.

The point was, it doesn't really matter what lube you use as long as you use enough of it.

YMMV....but I doubt it.

THIS!! I think it mainly comes down to people mentally masterbate way to much over this. Heck go over to AR15 and you can read for hours about this. I have tried a few of the wonder lubes over the years and yup, they work. And I think using grease in any real quantity may be asking for trouble. I buy BreakFree out of habit and keep the gun fairly wet. IMO it comes down to keeping it fairly clean. I have a Colt that runs filthy dirty no matter what if its lubed. My JP with the low mass group and the gas turned down needs to be fairly clean. The tighter the gun be it rifle or pistol, the more it needs to be clean. A little comon sense goes a long way.

But I laugh my ass off when I read guys have solom, deep and even passionate debates why the latest molecularly, geneticly engineered unobtainium lube laced with fairy dust is the ONLY lube that will work under allien invasions and zombie attacks.

[dhill]

I use mobil 1 synthetic on everything that needs to be oiled. I've never had a problem. Everything we build at the shop (Triangle Shooting Sports) gets the same treatment.

[Bob DuBois]

Mobil 1 5w30 synthetic.