Firearm Maintanence

 

Hi gang.

 

I know, its almost spring planting time, so I am working on some of those.

I have also made contact with a fire fighter, and I am planning interview him and get some fire prevention and fire fighting tips, much like the 4 part series I did on plumbing.  But I have not done that yet.

 

Today, I am going to talk about firearm maintenance.

The information about the schedules is coming from a number of sources, the information about breakage is coming from BattleField Vegas (BFV). Battlefield Vegas is a range that rents machine guns in Las Vegas. They go through a LOT of guns and parts.

 

RIFLES

ARs have a very specific maintenance schedule, and if you keep it up, it may well last for near infinite time and rounds.

AKs have a limited lifespan, no matter what you do, but they can be fixed, its just much harder.

Most other platforms are closer to the AK than to the AR.

 

The AK is relatively simple. Lube it up, and change the recoil spring. When the frame rails break, either buy a new one or take it to a high end repair shop where they can TIG weld them back, but this is NOT a job for a duffer.  There is a recommendation for Century AKs. They recommend replacing the extractor spring, and recoil spring every 3,000 rounds. I think both will go much longer. Century also recommends replacing the hammer spring, sear spring, and mag catch spring, and working on the carbon residue in the gas port every 6,000 rounds. Clean the rifle at least once a year, even if you have not fired it. If you have fired it, clean every 500 rounds, or 3 months.

https://www.centuryarms.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/AK47_Service_Recommendations.pdf

 

The AR has a different set of maintenance schedules. 

The following is based on the experiences of BFV.

Gas rings, extractor, extractor spring, every 2,500 rounds.

Ejector, ejector spring, every 5,000, plus also start checking for cracks in the bolt lugs.  Most will make it to 20,000, but start checking now.

At 10,000 rounds, replace the recoil/buffer spring in addition to the regular maintenance.

At 20,000, replace the bolt carrier group (the whole thing, not just the bolt) and the barrel, as well as the recoil/buffer spring.

If you do lots of rapid fire (full auto or simulation) the charging handle will stretch, and start to move. Spares are cheap.

 

In either case, the MOST COMMON point of failure is the magazine. USGI AR mags are very well received, but they are a consumable. BFV uses Brownells, I use another brand, make sure you get one with the MagPul anti-tilt follower. The PMags are OK, but they tend to split at the back of the mag. MagPul will warranty them, but they do break.

Any part that is sold as “not needing lubrication” needs to be lubed, in fact, all of the moving parts need to be moved. There is a very good video on YouTube by School of The American Rifle on making your own lube as well as how to make sure your rifle has enough and where. Link is here.

The internal parts that break are the bolt cam pin, and bolt lugs. In full auto fire, the firing pin and the gas key get a lot of wear and break, but rarely in semi-auto fire.

Carbon will lock up the AR, so its kind of important to clean that, but its not like the rifle has to be eat off it clean every time you shoot.

If you buy spare parts, the parts to buy are cam pins, the small pins inside the BCG, including the firing pin retaining pin and extractor retaining pin (both of which are small and easily lost). Gas rings would not be a bad addition.

Interestingly, he said the EoTech scopes (including the new EXPS3) break a fair amount, and the warranty is relatively short. The AimPoint either does not break or the warranty is lifetime. The ACOG is similar to the AimPoint, they rarely break and when they do, the warranty is lifetime. In BOTH cases, I would not buy a Chineseum copy.

 

PISTOLS

Most pistols are relatively simple, and there is not much to think about.

BFV says most pistols last longer than most people will think about keeping them.

1911s break or have malfunctions at relatively high rates.

Glocks break the slide at the ejection port… somewhere around 100,000 rounds. Oddly, the GEN 4 glocks can break the slide around the recoil spring, but that is fairly rare. The Gen 1-2-3 and 5 do NOT have this problem.

SIGs break recoil springs.

Desert Eagles are fun, but useless. They break gas pistons.

Beretta 92s break the locking block under the barrel. Again, somewhere in the 100,000 round range.

They all are good other than that.

Replace the recoil spring and guid rod at about 5,000 rounds, and you should be good to go.

 

Now, I know that some of you are used to operating in different environments, including desert. BFV is in the desert. Their experience is that ALL guns work better and longer with lube.

That MAY be affected if you are some place that has “moon dust” type sand, but if you are not, then lube up an move on. Metal wears when it rubs on metal, so add a lube. 

 

Thats all for today.