AR-15 Questions ...

P

Pilgrim

New member
I have a few questions about the AR-15. I just bought one and I don’t know squat about them.

First, I read somewhere that there is a certain way to break in the barrel to give optimum accuracy. Mine has the chrome lined barrel. Does anyone know about this?

Second, what are some good spare magazines to get for this rifle and where do I get them?

Third, I wanted to know if there are any spare parts I should buy and keep on hand.

I have already found one spare part that this gun goes through pretty regularly. It’s shiny, gold colored and conical shaped with a pointed end and a flat end. Every time I make the gun go BOOM, it breaks one of these. The bottom two thirds with the flat end shoots out the side onto the ground, but I never can find the pointy end. It turns out that the part that shoots out the side is actually hollow and it has 223 REM stamped on the bottom. I can already see I will need a LOT of these … this could get expensive.

If I could only find that pointy end, maybe I could repair them and use them over again ...


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"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." Daniel Webster
 
There are so many naive questions about AR-15s that I took this one seriously for a few minutes. Good laugh.

Jim
 
Go to here: ar15.com
All your answers re AR-15's will be found there.
To break-in a chrome-lined barrel, don't clean it for the first couple hundred rounds. This will allow the bullet to polish the bore, or something along those lines. There's a good FAQ on Bushmaster's home page.
As for spare mags, USGI are good, new or used, and Thermolds are good too. With the Y2K thing and SB-23 in CA, the price on mags is inflated. If you don't live in CA, then wait until after 1/1/2000 and prices should get back to normal for AR-15 mags. If you live in CA, then go to the Great Western Gun Show in Pomona at the end of the month and prepare to get ripped-off. :( 30 round Thermolds will probably cost from $30 to $45, depending upon the seller. Avoid the no-name, metal mags because they jam - a lot.
Of course, there's always Shotgun News. There might be decent prices for mags to be found there.
As for spare parts, you can buy spare parts kits from a lot of places. Things like springs, pins, blah, blah are good to have. A really expensive spare part is a complete upper receiver with bolt-assembly group. ;)

Later,
Rich
 
Yes, a little humor, but I am serious about the 3 questions.

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"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." Daniel Webster
 
Rich:

What I bought is the Bushmaster "SHORTY" XM15 E2S Carbine with the 16" barrel.

Are the Bushmaster mags good? I heard (not personal experience) somewhere that the Bushmaster mags for the Mini 14 are not great, but what about for their AR-15?
 
Hmm. I've read some bad things about the 11 round BM mags. The shorty Carbine is a nice choice, BTW. :) I have a DPMS post-ban CAR-15 that shoots 1.5" groups at 100 yards pretty consistently, 1" groups if I didn't have too much caffeine that morning.
Avoid USA mags. They should put a sticker on all AR-15's with that warning. I think the problem with BM mags is they tried to get them to only fit ten rounds to please the government and kept having problems. The newer BM mags might be OK, though.
It's not that easy to find good mags for a decent price these days. I have a good supply of 30 round Thermolds, a couple 30 round DPMS and a couple seven round Armalite mags but I've been looking for some good 20 round Thermolds. The 20 round mags work better when using a bench-rest as the 30 round mags are too tall. I have a few no-name 20 round mags that jam, too.
The only way to tell if the BM mags work well is to use them. I seem to recall that BM mags stick in a DPMS - but since you have a BM, it shouldn't be a problem.

Later,
Rich
 
I've had a Colt Match Target Competition HBAR for about 1 year now.

1. Old military mags are the best. I always find someone selling them at the yearly gunshow here for about 20$ a piece.

If you HAVE to buy non-USGI mags, make sure they aren't the kind with a heavy coat of black paint. A good test I've learned is to make sure the mag drops free from the lower receiever by itself when you press the button. If it needs help getting out avoid it.

2. Spare parts would be ...
a. Gas Rings
b. Firing Pin Retaining Pin
c. Firing Pin

If you've got extra cash just get a whole spare bolt carrier assembly.

Cleaning Note : On AR-15.com you can get directions on where to get a bolt carrier reamer to clean out the deep well in the bolt carrier. It works like a charm ; two twists and it's clean. Otherwise you need dental picks or some other long, sharp object to get the compressed carbon out of there.
 
If you live anywhere near a military base, check the Saigon Sam's Army Surplus stores that invariably crop up outside the main gates. I've found good GI mags for about $9 here in CA.

I don't believe that break-in is particularly useful for chrome lined barrels (the chroming is never quite uniform in thickness).
 
That's a great point Destructo6. I forgot, the first 6 mags I got were from the local off base pawn shop for $10 each.

Ever since then I've trolled the pawn shops 3 times a year or so, but no more luck after that. I imagine around Army or Marine posts they are more plentiful.
 
1. Swab out the barrel with patches between 50 rounds untill you reach 200 rounds. Then start using a copper brush in your bore after 200 rounds. *Always wet the copper brush with CLP or bore solvent (do not use dry).

2. Most US GI magazines are good. They are made even more reliable through the installation of the green followers. Here is my evalutaion of a couple magazines and a picture of a green follower...

http://members.xoom.com/urbansniper/30mags.html

3. Next gun show, pick up a firing pin, bolt pin, and misc. small breakable or easy to loose parts. Eventually buy an extra bolt assembly if you have the $$$.

_________________________________________
Ban the bans.
http://members.xoom.com/urbansniper/home.html
 
Break-in: Assuming you aren't after competition shooting for tightest groups, I wouldn't worry about it as long as you give the bore a good cleaning after each shooting sesssion. Don't leave bore cleaner in the barrel. Run dry patches after you're finished. If you want super-clean, after dry patches, give it a spritz of gun scrubber or carb cleaner and some more dry patches. Do this outside as the fumes really stink.

Magazines: I think that's been covered pretty well. Note some mags look like crap and work fine, and others look fine but work like crap. Try out what you get. Download 20s to 18 and 30s to 28. Avoid max-loading.

Spare Parts: The Bushmaster emergency repair kits are good, but none of them have a complete trigger group. If your rifle ever goes "brrp", the simplest solution is swap out the trigger, disconnector, disconnector spring, hammer, hammer spring, and trigger spring. Swapping the 2 pins might not be a bad idea, either.

BM sells a kit with the hammer, trigger, disconnector, and safety selector, but without the pins and springs, and I never saw a rifle that needed a new selector (knock on wood).

Spare extractor assemblies are good to have. They see a lot of wear.

Edmund
 
Brownells has the green followers manufactured by DPMS. Their part number is 231-015-025 for a package of 10. Retail cost is $21.75. Address is http://www.brownells.com When you get to the website you can do a search on the above listed product number.
 
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