So I’m out here in the sandbox. Today I picked up a Corporal’s M16A4 and checked the chamber. Darn thing was bone dry. Racking the charging handle felt like nails scraping on concrete. Hurt me emotionally to see it parched like that. I say to him, “This thing is kinda dry.”
He says to me, “But sir, it runs better that way.”
“Nothing runs better without lubrication,” I tell him.
“If I put CLP on it the sand will stick and it will jam,” he tells me.
When I clean my M4, I make sure the bolt is well-lubed and I put some Slip2000 on the shiny surfaces of the carrier, plus on the hammer face and the bolt catch. When I don’t have a mag inserted, I stuff a cloth in the magazine well to keep dust out.
I want to make sure I have this right before I go making all the Marines in my platoon go and do it the same way I do. We’ve all been trained to apply minimal lube in a dry, dusty environment, but somehow this gets across as no lube at all. I’m adjusting by lubing the bolt and the surfaces that receive friction, instead of oiling up the whole darn thing like when I am back home.
Tell your boys to put their guns in the same condition they enjoy their women: dirty and wet. You have the right of it. No such thing as too much lube, from a functional standpoint.
They are the victims of institutional inertia.
If they argue, play a game of “Rock, Paper, Rank” (you automatically win). Then, “inspect what you expect,” since you may get some push-back in the form of Marines being stubborn and want to try to game your game by thinking you won’t look for it in your PCCs/PCIs.
the talc/sand is going to get into the weapon, no matter how much or how little you loob it- i’m not sure where this theory that somehow the sand is going to be magically shielded from the weapon by running it dry came from. makes absolutely no sense. the sand is GOING to get in there, and it’s gonna need to be lubricated to not hang up the gun.
dry sand is friction. sopping wet oily sand is not as much friction.
Not to mention that the lube will help bleed off encrusted carbon. Now make sure that your NCOs are NOT allowing troops to scrape off carbon with metal.
I see this all too often even here in the Stan. It’s like pulling teeth trying to convince people that using lube will be more of a benefit than a detriment in this environment. I personally lube the inside of the upper and hit the bolt good as well inside the carrier.
You know, even among the “run them wet” crowd, I sometimes doubt many folks understand how lube works in their weapon.
lube does more than one thing. It reduces friction, it cools, it cushions, it protects from corrosion and it cleans.
Now, it doesn’t clean all by itself: lube takes that particulate matter that it “attracts” and then suspends it. If two closely fitted moving surfaces encounter the grit suspended in lube, the resultant “swiping” action moves the foreign matter from between the moving parts.
Any other suspended foreign matter that collects doesn’t “matter” (pun intended) as it does not contact closely fitted moving parts.
So you cannot over lube a rifle in dusty or dry conditions. Unless you allow it to get in the chamber, or create a hydraulic lock somewhere it just isn’t possible. If enough dirt or sand builds up to cake your rifle shut, you have other problems, independent of how much you lube.
For this “swiping” action to work, your lube has to sag a little. If you have insufficient lube, the swiping action will not push the foreign matter far enough away from the two moving and tightly fitted parts.
Roger – but youngsters are going to do what they’re told, what it takes to get out of work, or what they hear or figure out themselves what “Might” be the solution. Many have never read the manual.
For too many, cleaning or dusting off your sidearm once a day is still too often.
Run it wet! I used to perscribe to the RUN IT DRY way of thinking but thats before I was set strait. I remember the first time I seen an SF A TEAM in central Zabol provence the turet gunners all had a spray bottle of CLP hanging from there guns and there pants where stained as hell from the shit.
I remember the “light coat” instruction in the USMC from the 90s, but I learned quickly when I was issued a SAW that things run better when they’re juicy.
If you look back through the years, start with DA PAM 750-30, at the written requirement for lube quantities, I don’t think you’ll see a change. The requirement for specific quantities of lube, in specific places has not changed.
Somewhere along the line, regardless of written instruction, the idea was born that less lube is better. Now the Army has an even bigger job at hand reeducating the troops regarding that incorrect information that was disseminated through the ranks for so many years.
What do you guys recommend for general purpose CLP on the M4 and handguns in general? I just started using Weapon Shield and it seems to work pretty well. However, it is kinda runny. I’ve been thinking about mixing in some TW-25B grease on the M4 bolt assembly as added insurance.