Welcome back to the 21st installment of my blog, in which I don’t claim to be an expert, in fact the opposite. I’m a new user to the AR platform and want to share my findings and experiences as I go through and build rifles as well as being the Operations Manager at Tyrant Designs.

 

21 Blog posts! My blog is officially legal to drink. If you’ve been with me since the beginning, you know I just built my first rifle at the same time I started this blog. Now that 21 weeks have gone by, I have put a considerable amount of ammo through it. For the first time I thought I’d do some serious maintenance and not just my occasional lube ( or over lube lol).

 

Here is a list of things that I checked for the maintenance of my AR-15 this past weekend. Also, taking the rifle apart is always a good refresher and learning opportunity to understand the platform better.

 

1. AR-15 Muzzle Device

I gave my muzzle device a very strong twist in both directions to make sure it wasn’t loose. Because I installed a new brake myself, I wanted to double check everything is still firm and tight. ( Don't do this when the rifle is hot...Just saying)

 

2. AR-15 Bolt Carrier Gas Key

 I took my BCG out and gave it a good physical inspection to make sure everything was in working condition. You don’t want gas trickling out and causing malfunctions. If it’s not rock solid, you might have to take it apart and degrease and clean it. Then remount all the screws.

 

 

3. AR-15 Firing pin

I took my firing pin out and thoroughly examined the tip. I’ve read that if the pin is not rounded on the end and has any type of chip or dent, it needs to be replaced.

 

 

4. AR-15 Lower Receiver

When I looked into my lower receiver, I noticed a lot of black crud. I saw no evidence of any pieces of primers which is a good thing. Just needs a little cleaning.

 

5. AR-15 Pistol Grip

I probably didn’t have to take my pistol grip off but hey I work for Tyrant and I wanted to put on our new Mod AR 15 grip in Nickel. I took off my previous grip, lightly oiled the safety detent spring and made sure it was installed flush on my lower receiver. Its not required, but I put a dab of blue Loctite on the grip screw just for the hell of it. 

 

6. AR-15 Magazine

I hear a lot of people don’t do this and skip it all together. We do our R&D at a place called the pit, it’s very dusty and muddy at times. I’ve noticed dirt getting into my magazines. So what I did was remove the base and spring, wiped it down and reassembled.

 

7. AR-15 Vertical grip / AR-15 Foregrip

I wanted to make sure everything was tight and flush on my handguard. I’ve been using our HALO MiniVert as a handstop and wanted to double check everything was snug and didn’t move at all. It was.

 

8. AR-15 Optics and Mounts

This was a quick lesson I learned, when the mount gets loose, more than likely poor accuracy will follow. I checked the base of my riser and it needed a good tightening.

 

 

9. AR-15 Buffer and Spring

I removed the buffer tube from my AR-15 and took out the buffer and spring. I checked for build up in the tube itself as well as the spring. I also examined the buffer to make sure it still looked the same as the day I bought it.

I’m sure I did more but to be honest I can’t remember and I probably should get back to work. If you have OCD and needed me to do an even 10 maintenance tasks, not 9, then I apologize.

 

How often do you guys do maintenance on your AR-15? How often do you check the things I checked this past weekend, to make sure your rifle is in top shape? Let me know any other important maintenance checks that I forgot to list. Need more insight? Check this out