Rings Too Tight?

[Circle_10]

I've had new gas rings that were so tight that the gun wouldn't go into battery on an empty chamber if I closed the bolt slowly (which you'd never do when actually chambering a round anyway), and once when after changing the rings the bolt wouldn't even fit back into the carrier until I'd basically doused everything with Slip EWL.
They loosen up pretty quickly with firing though.

[mark5pt56]

I think we need hand lapped gas rings, hmmm---

[Dr. Bullseye]

Forgive me since I have been laboring under the analogy of automobile rings, but why would someone NOT lube the rings on the AR?

[MistWolf]

Doc, the proper way to lube an AR is to place a few drops of oil in the exhaust ports of the carrier. That right there tells you all you need to know when you hear "Don't lube the gas rings!"

[RVTMaverick]

LOL ... YEP!

Doc, the proper way to lube an AR is to place a few drops of oil in the exhaust ports of the carrier. That right there tells you all you need to know when you hear "Don't lube the gas rings!"

[TomMcC]

Pretty much anything that rubs against each other metal wise should be getting a bit of lube...the RE excluded, but some might and do.

[MQ105]

They're virgin rings, of course they are going to be tight. Lube and running them hard should loosen them up.

Pretty good advice for anything virgin

Good advice, except for the lube. Don't lube gas rings.

I guess the innuendo didn't translate...

[Dr. Bullseye]

Doc, the proper way to lube an AR is to place a few drops of oil in the exhaust ports of the carrier. That right there tells you all you need to know when you hear "Don't lube the gas rings!"

What is the difference between putting oil directly on the rings or putting the oil in the exhaust ports where it contacts the rings anyway?

[26 Inf]

What is the difference between putting oil directly on the rings or putting the oil in the exhaust ports where it contacts the rings anyway?

Doc - Your good.

Here is what the masters of mil-spec, the U.S. Army says about the subject:

071-100-0004 (SL1) - Maintain an M4 or M4A1 Carbine

5 c (4) Generously lube outside the bolt body, bolt rings, and cam pin area.

[Eurodriver]

Our armorers would walk by and ask us to pull the bolt carrier back about an inch and then spray CLP out of a big squirt bottle multiple times directly on to the rings.

We all died because our weapons malfunctioned.