Little Advice and Tips please on M4

[DJHensley23]

Hello I am a specialist currently deployed in Baghdad, Iraq as an upgunner on the humvee. I had a few questions and tips to things I am currently doing regarding weapons maintenance feel free to comment on things I am doing and what I should or should not do. I don't think I am doing anything wrong because I am a pretty good shooter only qualifying sharpshooter once and the rest expert, but if you think something can improve my accuracy regarding weapons maintenance please post, thanks alot I appreciate it.
1.) CLP in chamber? I put a dad on a cutip and swirl it around the chamber, is a little lube in the chamber good?
2.) Soapy Water mixture on heat shield of M4, buttstock and hand guards, anything bad about this?
3.) Remington Dry Lube for bores and bullets. I spray it in the bore to fill in microscopic cracks in the barrel I also coat my bullets in it because it dosent attract sand and allows very smooth action through my weapon.
4.) Glass on ACOG 4x, I brush it off first to remove and particles and then wipe with a microfiber cloth any advice?
5.) M9 Mags, suck! lol anyway to keep them feeding better rather than cleaning them twice a week.
6.) CLP on the firing pin good or bad I've heard mostly no so I do not lube it, any opinions?
7.) Any 240 gunners out there? thats my primary weapon so if theres any little pieces of advice out there for keeping that in tip top shape let me know.
8.) Is there any type of good cleaner for the outside of my weapons that does not attract sand?
Thanks alot for the help everyone hope to hear from you soon.
-Specialist Hensley

[Stan]

Hey DJ, Welcome to the forum !

You might want to check out this thread, as it covered a lot of maintenance issues both in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

Please also take a minute to introduce yourself here.

Regards, Stan

[120mm]

A better thread can be found here:

http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=31

I recently took off a couple months from this forum, and immersed myself in all things M4/M16. What I've learned so far:

1. Run your M4 wet with lube. Even in a high dust/sand environment.

2. Get shoot-through caps and use them, all the time. It prevents dust/sand from getting down the barrel to the action.

3. Always, always keep your dust cover closed.

4. If your chain of command requires you to NOT have a magazine inserted, get a mag-well plug and use it. There's some real cool ones that you can clip onto a loaded magazine, and it will keep a mag handy, plus it will prevent garbage from entering the action.

5. Re-lube as necessary. Always keep a little container of lube, and if you fire your weapon, re-lube it at your earliest, safest opportunity. CLP is good, but there are some better products out there. If you can get away with it, use a non-ammonia based cleaning product to clean, a lubricant to lube and a preservative to preserve. CLP is just mediocre at doing all three at the same time.

6. Don't forget that there are places you grease, and that you can put lube oil over grease to make the lube oil last longer.

7. Don't lube your ammo. Just don't.

8. Graphite and ammonia will eat aluminum like nobody's business. Your M4 is made mostly of aluminum. Always check your clean/lube/protect products for those two ingredients and stay the hell away from them.

I think you'll find with proper lube, your M4 will be always reliable. If you have regular internet access, get on that M4carbine site that the lube instructions are on, and read the hell out of it. Those guys will steer you right.

[120mm]

On the M240, I am a big fan, from my armor days. Just lube them IAW the lube order in the -10 and let 'er rip.

I don't know if it's an Ole Sarge myth or not, but my personal M240s tended to like to run a little dirty. Most malfunctions (of which there were damned few) occurred immediately after detailed cleaning.

OBTW, on weapons cleaning, keep the action clean, but don't overclean. It doesn hurt to have a little black oil oozing here and there. And the carbon build up on the tail of the M16/M4 bolt doesn't really hurt anything, at all.

[PaulsFin]

Mobil1 synthetic 5w-50 weight motor oil. I suppose any synthetic will work since the multi-viscosity will thicken especially on high temp parts (it won't gum up like peanut butter, just get a little more traction). Also, the synthetic lubes have a higher cook temperature so they won't start smoking as much if you used too much. ie down the barrel/chamber, up into the gas tube and out around the bolt assmbly---and then around your face.

[Xenophon]

This is coming from a training-only experience viewpoint, I haven't been to Iraq or Afghanistan yet.

1) I've always shot my M16 variants with just a small amount of CLP in the chamber, but keeping wet in the sand is probably the right thing to do.

2) Nope.

3) Sounds good.

4) Yes.

5) Yes. The best way to feed a 9mm mag is to feed it into your duffle bag and leave it there for the rest of the deployment. If you're already crewing an M240 and carrying an M4, your M9 is dead weight.

6) If the firing pin is not fixed, lube it.

7) Keep a spray bottle filled with CLP with you at all times. The M240 is uber reliable, but keep the chamber soaked and you'll never have a problem. Really soak the damn thing. If the chamber is not leaking scalding hot CLP onto your hand during firing, it's too dry. In the rear, make sure the gas regulator is clean and you know how to operate it. (Very important) If you have a fixed gas regulator (this may be an M249 only thing) try to trade it in for a normal one. Make sure to take the bolt all the way apart and clean every little piece. Do all that and you'll never see a misfire. (BTW: all this info goes for the M249 as well.)