Seasoning the Bolt Carrier?

[TonyAngel]

Yeah, I don't doubt that someone out there believes in this, but I have to call BS. For some, it may just make them feel better about their equipment. Lord knows, I'm just a regular guy and likes to shoot and tries to be prepared for whatever, but I have shot MANY thousands of rounds through my AR(s) and didn't do anything like this.

In fact, I hardly ever clean my ARs. I just lube them. I had one 14.5" build that I had almost 9K rounds through and never cleaned it. It was an experiment to see how long it would run before it choked. When I lubed it, I did so through the ejection port.

Besides, as mentioned, phosphate bolts pretty much stay lubed as long as you don't degrease them. I use Slip 2000 and it's pretty good about not disappearing. With the bolts with other coatings, I doubt that those will absorb anything.

[tomme boy]

Seasoning only works on cast iron. Will never work on any steel. Especially on steel that has nitrided.

[Core781]

Seasoning only works on cast iron. Will never work on any steel. Especially on steel that has nitrided.

This is not true. Many types of iron can be seasoned with oils that "polymerize." Whether or not it's beneficial for the component is up for debate. Woks are carbon steel and are seasoned so that the peanut oil polymerizes into a non stick coating: if you maintain it properly it will not fail. In some respects the teflon coating in the milspec upper's is a form of polymerization: and it's an extremely effective way to reduce friction while the BCG slides back and forth, so effective the military M4's use it. A chrome BCG like the originals in the early M16's will not season effectively due to it's lack of porosity and end up turning to gunk or carbon. FrogLube seasons metals in the same way most other metal treatments function like MG Lube but at a micro/molecular level. We will see ceramic based lubes with nano tech that will best these other coatings/lubes, and some are in use already. The difference is suspension versus polymerization, and other surface treatment types: there are many. FrogLube seasons and lifts carbon and fouling to the surface: when used on a ceramic coating for example FrogLube will only serve as a suspension if it cannot penetrate the pores of the coating/material.