Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Appearances......

I am having the Devil of a time keeping the outward appearance of my Bushmaster to my liking. The matte finish is difficult to keep in a uniform manner. It seems to dry at different rates in regard to the oil giving it a mottles appearance. In addition to that, despite my best efforts at wiping it clean there is a constant seepage of oil out of all openings (trigger, safety, mag release, etc.) I see the pictures you guys post of your rifles and they have a clean, sleek appearance.

On my other rifles I like to keep a thin, almost imperceptible film of oil on them. I'm still learning on this thing.

Alan

I don't sweat the lube seepage. It just goes with the territory.

I use grease, cuts down on seepage.

mottle and seepage don't open the groups up any.....

Remember its a combat rifle to start with, not a show piece.

I know thats not what you wanted to hear though.

And FWIW I don't oil the outside of the recievers and never have.

Pictures hide a lot. All my AR's leak like an AMF Harley Davidson.

Terry

Ain't Gun Slick great?

I have no clue, I use TW-25b.

Have you tried BreakFree and minimum oil, whn I assembly my AR's after a good cleaning. I hand rub all the internal parts with minimal oil and all exterior parts with BreakFree and then wipe the exterior dry with a towel. It will protect it and give it a even dark look, instead of a patchy wet/dry look like some other oils will do. I live in a very dry area and try to keep my oil to a minimum. If not dust adheres to everything. I only get seepage when I starting running them, then it doesn't matter anyway. I'm religious with my cleaning.

All mine leak, also. No biggie...

Religious with cleaning with an AR is just to make you feel better... keep it lubed and you can clean it about ever 500 rounds or so and life will be just fine and worry free. Just sayin.

I have a piston setup and GunSlick is fantastic on it and all my auto handguns. I used it first on a 25 y/o "calico" 1911 my Da and I built in the early '80's. All parts were out of Shotgun News and ran well untill a couple of years ago. Replacement link and barrel and the timing was GTG!As for the GunSlick in an AR, my SR-556/6.8 eats it up. So far no FTF's, feed issues or cycling issues. A light coat of GunSlick on all contact surfaces and she runs, and runs. On match ammo it's -MOA out to 200 yrds. After that start checking tables etc... For most else, hand loads included, should be no problem. Gunslick is one product I will always endorse.

Go to Walmart and look in the shaving section and find yourself a shaving brush. That is bar none the best CLP applicator ever. You control how light or heavy your application is by how many drops you apply to the brush.

Should have bought a R-15 that's been dipped.

Annodized metal is hard to keep the same universal sheen on.

Mine all leak, but I shoot them wet. We may call them "modern sporting rifles", but they will never have the same appearance as blued steel and AAA Claro walnut, so why worry about it?

Part of the reason for my concern is dirt. Right now in South Texas we have lots of loose, dry dirt with no place to go except into the actions of our firearms. The more dirt that collects on the outside means it's going inside too. The mottled appearance, to me, indicates uneven oil coating, but as has been pointed out, oiling the outside of the AR action does nothing from a protection or preservation standpoint.

After just one afternoon of riding on the truck seat (even with the windows up and the AC on most of the time) it was getting pretty dirty. The damn dirt gets everywhere not just in the action but up under the fore end and in the sliding butt stock, ...... It does the same thing on a "regular" rifle but is easier to wipe off.

I gotta figure something out because it's going to take a lot of cleaning time to keep it in a presentable condition (working order). Or, I can just not worry about it. I've got a little Springfield 511 that I keep in the truck too. I don't take as good care of it as I should. It cost me about $150. The Bushmaster cost a bit more than that so I feel a bit more obligated to diligence in cleaning it.

I may have to adapt some kind of scabbard to use when I'm out and about. The AR really doesn't lend itself to scabbard use either but ....... Thanks for the replies. It's great to be able to call on a bunch of experience in a short amount of time.

Alan

I hear ya on dust.... I got my 50 bmg covered with dust one time in South Tx... from then on, and we do a bunch of hunting if we can find places for shooting hogs... I go no where without some protection on the gun in dusty... and I'm not just talkiing AR.....

A buddy carries his AR in an upright holder on the mule, and drops a long pillow case over it.... works pretty good.

I've never had any issues with dust. I keep mine in the rack on the 4 wheeler and just brush it off after I'm through. The outside I keep dry, the inside is wet, keep the dust cover closed and rock on.

It's gonna get dirty but it won't hurt it.

Just sayin, let me know how those 300, 400 and 600 yard groups look after not cleaning it for 500 rounds.. Just sayin.

Just perfectly fine FYI>... Was still shooting perfect scores the last string at 600 at Camp Perry at the National Matches as a High Master Service Rifle competitor...........
Ya might learn something from that too....

One of my High Master buddies cleaned only his BCG for a complete season. As did another High Master, by the name of Derrick Martin of Accuracy Speaks, USAR for many years and for those in the AR field, a very familiar name in building top notch ARs for many years....

Not into the high master thing but to each their own. My idea of precision shooting and yours are a world apart. Now how large is the 10 ring at 600 yards???? all those posts and still rambling.