Sand and my AR15

TroyBoy

TroyBoy

New member
I just came back from a 3 day hog hunt in Oklahoma. We very running around on the ranch with the windows down in the vehicle with my AR uncared. By day two, the bolt won't cycle due to sand. What is the best way to deal with this? Better to run no lube or dry lube in these conditions?
 
A can of brake cleaner, a bottle of FP10 and ten minutes at the end of the day would be my fix. I'm not going to run one dry.

Greg
 
i havent sand tested it yet, but i've been expierementing with the Hornady one Shot gun cleaner/lube. it leaves a nice slick surface, but doesnt seem to be sticky.


this summer will be the true tale of the tape - our property up north is sand from end to end. we have a few inches of good topsoil, and then 100' of nice clean sand all the way down. there are occassional gravely areas, but for the most part once you're more than 10-15 inches down its nice sugar sand.

which means you get sand in every friggin thing. your cars, the house, your boots, and your guns.
 
Clean everyday and keep it in a case. Any gun is going to give problems if not taken care of. That much dust I would have put the windows up or cased the gun.
 
Will definitely keep it cased next time and keep it clean daily. I haven't ever had problems dealing with sand being from Iowa. Thanks for the help.
 
Please do not run it dry or use dry lube. The AR is a closed system as long as you keep the ejection port cover closed when not firing. In sandy or dusty conditions use more lube not less. It will keep the sand and dust in suspension which will allow your AR to keep running reliably. Copious quantities of Mobil 1 Synthetic is cheap and will keep your rifle running. The only time I avoid using Mobil 1 is in sub-freezing temperatures.
 

I had mine fall off of a shooting bag on the hood of my truck and dig itself a hole in loose FL sand today sighting in a scope in a clay pit. I was in a hurry so I brushed it off and just kept shooting. When I got home I removed the upper and did not realize sand was everywhere inside.

I run my bolts nice and wet in Slip 2000 EWL (Extreme Weapons Lubricant) and sand was stuck to everything but I had no feed issues. (300BLK running subsonics) I blew the sand off with a compressor and had no problem with the sand not releasing from the lube.

https://www.slip2000.com/slip2000_ewl.php



 
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If you are out riding around in the open country and sand is getting into your AR then I'd highly recommend a good cleaning and flushing the sand out before shooting that gun.

NOTE: I clean my gun right away after using it. I carry it inside a case and the dust cover is always closed when the AR is not in use.

Sand is tiny pieces of "QUARTS". And Quartz is silicone dioxide and it's a very hard substance. Geologist have a hardness Scale that they use to classify the hardness of different types of rocks/minerals. Diamonds are rated a 10 on the Mohs Hardness scale. Quarts is rated an 8. It's hard and may damage the metal in your rifle. I'm not sure if quartz is harder than the steel in the barrel but I'd bet that it's harder than the aluminum in your receiver and upper unit.

http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/article/mohs.htm
 
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