Yes you can use Dawn but the brake cleaner will work faster. Be mindful that it will strip all oils away and leave a white haze which is temporary till you treat the surfaces with Frog Lube.
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I removed my bolts from the carriers but didn't break the bolt itself down. Course that's your choice on whether to do that or not.
Oil's and greases can sit in the small parts when cleaning if not broken down. like it will pool behind the extractor, etc. Better off breaking down the bolt, etc to be sure. At least the extractor which is just drifting one pin. Don't go too crazy with the paste. Just Put it in the main lube areas. I put it on the bolt (fore and aft of the gas rings). Bolt face (tiny bit to help cleaning, do not dump it in the firing pin channel). Bolt carrier slide are's where it contacts the upper. And cam pin (heavy). Has worked very well this way. I do not coat everything in the way some Frog Lube vids or recommendations say. I feel the lube only belongs where the friction points are. I have tried just coating the BC group and Bolt, but performance seemed much better when performing a full take down. Maybe just perceived, but racking the CH and function testing seems much smoother after a full take down. Keep in mind that I use the paste which does not turn to it's full lube till some heat hits it. Few rounds down range and the past is turned to liquid. But when in paste form and just function testeing the rifle. It does seem much smoother after full parts take down and heat applied Frog Lube.
I used brake cleaner as well to de grease. Did a very good job quickly and is inexpensive.
I second the can of dollar brake cleaner, and suggest the dollar can of motor oil next to it on the shelf.
Dude. Not here. This is M4C! Use the orange search button and you'll learn that you have to use a hair drier, Q-tips, dental picks, latex gloves, brake cleaner, gun scrubber and lint-free cloths to remove the inferior lube from your AR so that you can go through some other [totally worth it] ritual to apply the FROG LUBE to your AR upper and BCG.
Oh yes. Then you'll be naturally lubed with a minty fresh smell, and no pesky petroleum products in case you accidentally ingest some your lube when the SHTF.
And after you fire to clip's without a jam, you can go home and scrape the carbon from your bolt tail for hour's.
:D
Ok..:)
I successfully completed the job.
After removing the BCG and then the bolt, i noticed that there was not a huge mess of the OEM lube. The charging handle was also cleaned.
Each part was worked over well with Q-Tips.
I wiped each part with a paper towel and washed it with a toothbrush in a container of Dawn dish soap.
The oil came off easily.
I then dried each part with a hair dryer.
The chamber of the upper was then cleaned with Q-Tips, warm water and Dawn.
4 bore patches were used for the bore.
Then it was time to apply the FrogLube.
Each part was thoroughly heated with the hair dryer and coated with a light coat of FrogLube. The face of the bolt of course was left dry.
The chamber of the upper was lightly coated.
Bore patched with FrogLube were used.
The BCG was assembled and put back into the upper.
I charged it a bunch of times to identify any friction points I may have missed. A couple more drops of FrogLube was applied.
All in all, it was a great success - short of test firing.
I will be cycling some dummy ammo though.
Besides all the help you all have provided, I found a good video here:
"Cleaning an AR-15" - FrogLube used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...BXNoVqE#t=1093
Thanks.