So I’m not a brand new gun owner, but this is my first AR. Previously I’ve only had shotguns and a 10/22. I was curious if there was anything I should do to the gun before taking it to the range.
With my shotguns and .22 I basically just made sure the barrel was free of obstruction and that all the parts were moving smoothly. A buddy of mine told me that almost all modern guns made here come from the factory ready to fire, and to just clean and oil after shooting. I was unsure if that carried over to my AR-10. Should I field strip it and do a whole cleaning and oiling before my first firing?
Use lube liberally. They like to be run wet. Some manufacturers recommend a barrel break in procedure. Fire 1 shot, clean with patch. Fire 2 shot, clean. Fire 5, clean. I personally dont worry about it.
But with any new AR, the one thing i do is single shot for 10 shots. I load 1 round in the mag. Load the gun, drop the mag, and shoot. Again, thats just me because i saw a guy kaboom his gun. Somefolks just load up a whole mag and go to town.
Ask 100 people and you’ll get 102 answers. You have the important stuff down already. Make sure everything can move like its supposed to and no barrel blockage. Beyond that, I’m one of those who just starts using it. Unless i take possession mid week. Then i have to take it apart to play with until the weekend. Cleanings are…they happen sometimes. I generally only worry about barrel break in for bolts and anything i plan to really reach out with.
I am definitely seeing that to be true.
If it wasn’t factory new, or was packed in grease I can see having to strip and clean/inspect. I’m gonna try it out tomorrow, wish me luck!
Not that I get many new ARs, but the ones I’ve see are not lubed very well out of the box. Only one of those was from PSA, and by that time I had already begun cleaning and lubing with my preferred before shooting (I won’t bring up which lube to use because that will start a holy war ).
A few things I do when I get a new toy either pistol or rifle.
Field strip and make sure all parts are as they should be.
Lube and or grease as required. Last uppers and complete AR’s from PSA and BCA lacked any lube or grease on anything.
I do run a bore snake through with CLP to make sure it’s clean.
Do functional check. Trigger reset, mag catch etc.
At range shoot to make sure everything works as it’s supposed to. I bore sight before going to range so at least I am close and spend the first mag sighting in with a couple of shots then make adjustments. I clean after the first trip to the range, after that is depends on the numbers of rounds ran through it.
Trust but verify what the manufacture has done and remember that humans assembled your you.
I would absolutely suggest at the very least, a quick field strip, and visually inspect that there is no issues with the BCG, changing handle, look everything over and make sure it all looks good to go for the first range trip out. This is more of a personal, safety check and inspection I always do myself. Whether it’s a brand new firearm, or something I’m picking up used. I’m far from an expert/gunsmith or anything else lol. But at least I’ve broke whatever firearm open, made sure to check and see if there are any concerning machine/tool markings, any kind of burrs or something looking uneven/unfinished coating wise. Just that’s just my process and feeling on the topic. I would bet that 99% of modern firearms can be picked up out of the box, loaded and mag dumped without issue. But maybe 1 out of 100,000 may have some simple or catastrophic issue and I sure don’t want range day and new gun day turning into an ER room visit hah.
The lube on guns when you get them is just manufacturing lube; it is not intended or designed for the function of the gun. Also, there can be shavings or other debris from the manufacturing process that you remove by cleaning.
So clean, lube, add sights/scopes, shoot to sight in, then have fun.
i concur this is what i do as well. besides i like to be familliar with disassembly before i fire incase i run into issues where i need to field disassemble. plus it doesnt hurt to lube everything nicely instead of relying on the manufacturing lube.
Clean and lube it like you plan on keeping forever and it will run forever. The basic problem with the original M-16’s was under-lubrication. Simple enough
I found this video from my fave gun channel specifically about that incident back around that time. If memory serves, he touches on the propellant in question. Highly recommend blowing some time on FW, so much cool history and technical info in there.
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