Break in period?

What is the typical break in period for a PSA AR15? I’ve had mine for about 6 months now. No malfunctions and accuracy seems decent but the bolt starts to feel a little sticky after 100 rounds otherwise it’s a great rifle. I have roughly 500 rounds through it, shoot only about 100 rounds per range trip and clean it extensively after each trip.

Just curious because on my Ruger AR556, it runs butter smooth even 500+ rounds and several range trips between cleanings. I will add, the tolerances on the PSA AR feel nice and tight while the Ruger AR556 seems to be a little looser. I also have probably have close between 1500 and 2000 rounds through the Ruger but I never really felt it needed extensive cleaning to run well.

Are you lubing it up good? AR’s like to run wet.

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Extensive cleaning could be too much.
Make sure you leave her lubed up good.

@samuelwalton11

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If you clean it too much, you’ll go blind. That’s what I’ve heard anyway.

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Yeah its lubed pretty good. I clean everything with ballistol and coat the bolt with oil before putting it back in the BCG and then oil the BCG before it goes back into the AR. Its smooth as can be after cleaning, it just seems to get a little sticky after 100 rounds, its not too concerning just noticeable. I just figured it was needing to break in a little more. I should also mention its a nickel boron BCG.

Could be ammo related. What are you shooting?

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Sounds like you’re doing everything you need to. I’d also check the ammo. You could have a dirty batch that’s fouling things up.

Kinda process of elimination now.

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Admittedly, I usually buy the cheapest ammo thats being sold that day lol. So that could be the culprit. I bought a new brand I never tried before called “US Cartridge” from ammo depot. It seemed alright but definitely not the best. I do shoot a lot of winchester white box. This past weekend I shot some boxes of red army standard which I know is VERY dirty. Maybe I should stick to PMC or something. That seems to run a little cleaner.

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Dirty ammo will for sure do it. I don’t clean my guns except for every 1000rds. If something is going wrong, to me the ammo is the first place to look.

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i’ve always felt 500 rounds is a good round number to have it stated its broken in. that said, run that sucker wet as wet can be, and have fun!

I’ve been cleaning it until I just needed glasses.

So far on my second prescription for the year…

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I’m only a few years into the ar world so I am far from an expert. I started with the Winchester white box ammo. I feel it was dirtier than the aac and pmc I currently use. I also feel that the winchester was never consistent sounding round after round.