I’ve got around 16-17k rds through this. I have burned out one barrel and had it replaced for free by S&W on their dime (paid shipping both ways too!).
Many of you have seen me shoot this at classes from Larry Vickers and Kyle Defoor. It is not rusted out and is in used but perfect working order.
Other than the barrel, it’s all original factory parts.
Disassemble upper.
Disassemble bolt, removing the extractor.
Rinse all of the above with hot water. Be sure to get water through the gas
tube and barrel along with rinsing the entire outside of the barrel. No soap or anything in the water, just hot water.
Air dry. I usually sling the parts around in the air to speed drying.
punch bore with two patches of Montana Copper Killer to ensure any corrosive
salts are removed. Finish with one patch of lube to flush the Montana Copper
Killer and for storage.
generously lube outside of bolt, cam pin, and inside of bolt carrier group where
the bolt goes. Use tooth brush and lightly lube outside of BCG (bolt carrier
group). I have found Weaponshield to work better than Militec or Slip2000. I
am trying out FrogLube now. By “work better,” I mean no malfunctions and far less corrosion showing up if I don’t clean for a day or two after
shooting. I will be blogging about weapons lube in the near future.
Every thousand rounds or so, I hose out the entire weapon with non-chlorinated brake cleaner.
This is not a replacement for hot water rinse but rather to remove all of the carbon and old lube.
100 yard 10 shot group with Sov mil surp ammo at Defoor class. The fliers are not. They are left over from the last string after which, I clearly adjusted windage and let’er rip.
I have a couple of AK74’s and a couple of S&W 5.45 guns and I clean them all with hot water… no problems with corrosion etc. Why do you remove the extractor on your Smith? Did you find an issue with corrosion or fouling?
Littlelebowski , 16k rounds, thats pumping some rounds through a gun. Very nice. it really illustrates how basic maintenance keeps these DI guns running. For the sake of the thread, how long do you estimate you spend doing that clean job, post shoot.
I need to be better about running a patch, I have gotten so lazy I usually run a snake, chamber brush, and wipe off the BCG and inside upper with Rem lubricated towel, then stash it. I recently went through and thoroughly cleaned all my AR’s, much easier to do it as you go.
I typically did the same routine with my AK-74s, hot water followed by regular cleaning with MPro7. Recently however I saw this while on the MPro site, in their FAQ section…
I normally use corrosive ammo. Is M-Pro 7 Gun Cleaner effective in removing the corrosive salts?
M-Pro7 works very well on corrosive ammo and black powder. M-Pro7 Gun Cleaner instantly neutralizes the effects of corrosive ammo, black powder, ammonia and other corrosive salts.
Since then I’ve made two range trips, each 200-300rds and cleaned only with MPro7 after (no hot water). So far, so good but I’m going to keep a close eye out for rust. I’m a fan of anything that makes cleaning easier so hopefully this stuff lives up to their claim.
Corrosive ammo is corrosive due to potassium and / or sodium chlorates in the primer compound which form potassium and / or sodium chlorides when fired. These molecules are “polar” that is they have a negative end and a positive end. They are highly soluble in polar solvents such as water or some of the alcohols but are very insoluble in non-polar solvents such as petroleum distillates and the halogenated solvents like brake cleaner. While petroleum compounds act as corrosion inhibitors they definitely do not remove the source of the problem, the Na and K chlorides. Hence the water treatment.
I ordered a 5.45 mm Adams Arms upper last week along with 4K of ammo. Got a real good price on the upper. Too good. It is 5.56. Sent it back. I should have the correct upper next week. I am very excited about shooting centerfire at 15 cent a pop.
Hot water is how muzzle loaders have been cleaned for hundreds (plural) of years. The trick is HOT water. It dissolves the carbon/soot/salt, gets the metal hot which evaporates the water and makes oil applications more thorough because the hot metal thins the oil helping it creep in tight places.
When I was a kid, an uncle showed me how to use water to clean original Brown Bess’ after shooting black powder. Since then, I’ve starting spraying the gun down with “409”, let it soak a minute, with a hot water rinse.
I always cleaned with MPro7 after the water anyway, so for me all I’m doing is eliminating a step, and my least favorite one at that. And my wife gets her mop bucket back. Everybody wins.
I do still feel weird skipping the hot water step, and I’m not all-in with the new method yet which is why I’m still keeping a close eye on things. I did e-mail MPro to verify their claim and they were adamant it works as described. Also, considering the potential damage if it didn’t remove the salts, I can’t imagine them making that claim if it didn’t work as advertised. I guess we’ll see.
Try this little experiment. Take half a teaspoon of table salt, put it in a jar with a couple of ounces of your favorite bore cleaner, see what happens. Try the same thing with some hot water. To simplify the chemistry we all know oil and water don’t mix. The salts are water-like compounds and they do not mix with petroleum solvents normally found in bore cleaners.
