Point of cleaning the entire bcg?

[SkepticalTiger]

This is just a curious question, but on ar15 rifles, DI specifically, if the bcg only rides on the upper along the 4 rails, the contact points on the key, camp pin, including the locking lugs. What's the point / focus cleaning the ENTIRE bcg save for inspecting wear patterns, looks, and I suppose precision too if you're using an upper for that purpose.

From what I understand we're not shooting corrosive ammo and most coatings protect from the elements with some saying the carbon acts as a protectant / lubricant in of itself. That and it's what most people were taught in the military. However, in a lot of videos comparing one finish to another I see a lot of focus on cleaning the entire BCG when only a small portions of the entire assembly actually contact the rest of the rifle.

 

[UpSideDown]

It takes almost no work to clean them, and the cleaner the BCG is the less dust it will hold onto during use. You don't want to have lube all over the BCG for that reason exactly, it attracts dust, and with how warm they can get and the way they're lubed, part of cleaning a BCG is just whiping off the excess oil or grease that's been spread around. It isn't a big deal to clean the whole thing but by the time you clean the important parts you've pretty much cleaned the whole thing anyways. One of the things that should be cleaned on the BCG's interior is the firing pin and it's bore, because you don't want lubricant and debris to build up and gum the firing pin or the gun could slam fire.

 

[LRRPF52]

At least in the military, the reason we did white glove cleaning on M16/M4 was so the armorers could get correct gauge readings. This was never explained to us, as I doubt hardly anyone in the chain of command knew or understood why themselves. It was extremely rare to see competent technical baseline familiarity at the Platoon and Company levels relative to small arms in a lot of units.

 

[n2ishun]

Always remove the bolt from the BCG and clean it well.
If you don't, the fore-mentioned firing pin sticking, extractor and ejector malfunctions, and a host of other issues will come to light real fast.
It's not that hard to do, man up and do it.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Because cleanliness is next to godliness.

 

[LRRPF52]

Always remove the bolt from the BCG and clean it well.
If you don't, the fore-mentioned firing pin sticking, extractor and ejector malfunctions, and a host of other issues will come to light real fast.
It's not that hard to do, man up and do it.

I rarely clean my bolts and BCGs, just mainly add oil unless we’re talking about a suppressed configuration.

 

[Snuby642]

Can't believe the lazy shits people have become.

While your at it don't forget to wipe your ass even though we can't see it.

I ran a carbine to failure to feed once. Slop would spatter my face and glasses.
My sons said I cleaned too much.

It ran from spring all through the fall (Texas temps).
Then a mid 20's day came up.

Had to bring it back in the cabin and clean it to get a round chambered.

Point is they are not reliable if that dirty.

 

[UpSideDown]

I only shoot suppresses and pretty much just add oil to the bearing locations after a range day. Occasionally I’ll while off the carbon. If you’re having failures to feed in an AR, you either have too little or too much lube. They don’t tend to fail from dirtiness. Other than a firing pin getting stuck I just don’t like getting excess oil in my face, and if it’s cold I like to make sure the chamber stays very clean or rounds can stick.

 

[LRRPF52]

Can't believe the lazy shits people have become.

While your at it don't forget to wipe your ass even though we can't see it.

I ran a carbine to failure to feed once. Slop would spatter my face and glasses.
My sons said I cleaned too much.

It ran from spring all through the fall (Texas temps).
Then a mid 20's day came up.

Had to bring it back in the cabin and clean it to get a round chambered.

Point is they are not reliable if that dirty.

I’ve been running so many different types of AR-15s, M-16s, and later M-4s and M4A1s since the late 1980s, across pretty much every known type of terrain and climate you can imagine, and in high volume day/night.

That includes high dust/sand, arctic, deciduous forrest from summer-winter, Pac NW for 2 years, Korea, Panama JOTC deployment, Northern Europe from 2005-2016, US Mountain West, and I can tell you that with a TDP gun at least, fed spec ammo from reliable mags, generous lubrication with thick lube that stays viscous across the temperature gradients of your region, is enormously-more important than cleaning the BCG.

In fact, I’ve seen cleaning the BCG contribute to more malfs with dry guns where soldiers didn’t lubricate them post-cleaning.

 

[Snuby642]

As a matter of fact not much dirt or grit from only a couple of crawls in the dirt.

The carbon and lube will eventually choke it in cold weather.

When I run suppressed they get cruded up quicker.

Cfe223 seems to reduce copper as advertised but still shoots dirty.

Says a lot about your dirty gun dirty ass generation.

 

[LRRPF52]

For when I clean, I like to toothbrush the bolt with the extractor removed, run a pipe cleaner through the firing pin channel, make sure nothing funky with caked-up carbon is etching the cam pin (common in vismod builds with fake parts), ensure not to scrape the bolt tail with any metallic tools as to not reduce the OD in any way (critical for bolt-carrier gas system efficiency in the Stoner expansion chamber), and apply a nice, thick lubricant to the articulating parts.

I also will run a chamber brush with solvent and clean the bore. For a blaster, I’m not as attentive to it as I am my DM and more precision-oriented rifles and carbines, but I don’t baby those either. My external surfaces are almost entirely Cerakoted.

 

[Snuby642]

You're not the only product of Uncle Sam to walk accross the earth.

But telling people to run dirty guns does put you in a special class.

 

[LRRPF52]

You're not the only product of Uncle Sam to walk accross the earth.

But telling people to run dirty guns does put you in a special class.

I never claimed either, only what I’ve experienced with enough sample sizes to see a trend.

Dry gun: Malfunction-prone
Lubed gun: Runs like raped ape
Whether you clean or don’t clean every shoot session is up to you.
Dry guns are especially more prone to corrosion though, especially in humid climates.

I fight corrosion on the outside with Cerakote as my standard coating on top of Mil-Std anodizing and treatments to the various parts.

I almost entirely eliminate the chances of corrosion on the inside by keeping oil in the operating parts.

Since I’m not having an armorer gauge my parts every quarter, there is zero reason for me personally to white-glove the innards.

 

[M4orturnate]

Recently wanted to see how many rounds i get out out if my 14.5 wiyhout cleaning. Gun is suppressed 100% of the time. At 6500 rounds the fde reciever looked black but it still ran like a sewing machine. Ive tried with other ars and pistols and it seems as long as its got lube it doesnt mind being dirty. One thing ive learned is more guns get ruined from improper cleaning techniques then being shot dirty

 

[Makinchips208]

That’s exactly right m4orturnate.
Wipe the whole bcg off and apply good lube to the shiny points. It is a machine that wants to just run.

 

[Milf Dots]

I prefer light synthetic grease over oil because it has a lower chance of migrating into the wrong places, eg: firing pin channels. But a drop of oil is ideal for pivot points.

I've reached the point where I favor the moderate reduction in lubing & cleaning requirements of piston guns- both AR based and non.

 

[SkepticalTiger]

So from what I got reading the posts above:
1. Excess lubrication and grime will find it's way into the non rubbing surfaces and in different conditions may / will cause malfunctions based on those zones creating friction
2. Gauging
3. General inspection of parts condition.

That answers my question enough. Again the main reason I asked was because of how nuts some people are about cleaning parts of the BCG spotless when they don't impact the function of the firearm.

 

[r.tenorio671]

...OP, it's really a moot point, IMHO. One is going to be handling the BCG anyway to clean out the area the bolt seats in and the bolt tail protrudes thru, areas where the carbon deposit builds up. Unless one is religious in wearing nitrile gloves during cleaning, the outer surface areas touched will be acquiring a transfer of one's body oils/acids that depending on the surface treatment (phosphate, chrome, nickel, nitride, TiN, etc.) will have some kind of absorption with an eventual degrading effect. The time taken to wipe it down after reassembly is miniscule and virtually unnoticed by the user. But your opening statement about inspecting the BCG for wear related issues will only be worthwhile if the BGC is "clean" and not obscured by accumulated deposits.

...but its all good, you do you...

 

[Makinchips208]

How often does anyone disassemble the bolt of a bolt action?

 

[Jigstick]

I like my BCGs like my women….sloppy wet and dirty.

 

[Jigstick]

How often does anyone disassemble the bolt of a bolt action?

After every session. Who the fuck doesnt

 

[MadDuner]

I thoroughly enjoy cleaning my weapons.
It's peaceful and calming..... or maybe the Hoppes #9 is intoxicating?

Every weapon gets completely cleaned after every range trip.
Mainly, because I like it.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

honestly, it really depends on the rifle. my "battle rifle" 5.56 hasn't been cleaned in like 2k rounds. My large frame 6.5 CM on the other hand gets cleaned after every outing because it runs dirty as fuck to the point after 200rds the bolt won't cycle easily. all the BCG parts take a bath in a sonic cleaner together to loosen up the carbon.

 

[whatsupdoc]

I never wash my car.
I never clean my house.
I never wipe my ass.
I never take a bath.
I never clean my gun.

And I am proud.


Cavemen.

 

[Makinchips208]

I never wash my car.
I never clean my house.
I never wipe my ass.
I never take a bath.
I never clean my gun.

And I am proud.


Cavemen.

You better not change the oil in yer truck either…

 

[TonyTheTiger]

I never wash my car.
I never clean my house.
I never wipe my ass.
I never take a bath.
I never clean my gun.

I'm not sure what half of that has to do with anything.

I have tools I buy where looks are a determining factor in the purchase and keeping the investment maintained and healthy is pretty important. Vehicles, lawn mowers, house, my butthole are in this category.
Then there are the tools that are ugly out of the box, meant to be used and abused and when they break I fix or replace them with an equally ugly tool. Cleaning is only done as much as is needed to keep them functioning. Shovels, hammers, your mom, and AR's fall into this category.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Wait…….y’all clean your AR’s??

 

[mark5pt56]

I like my BCGs like my women….sloppy wet and dirty.

and black