Preventive maintenance sticky

[TriumphRat675]

Today's Sig preventive maintenance thread got me thinking - I'm new to higher volume shooting and don't have any firsthand knowledge of what preventive maintenance should be for my handguns (or long guns, for that matter). I have a vague notion I should replace my G17 recoil spring at 5,000 rounds; that's about it. It seems like need to know information though. Mods, what about a sticky where those in the know can post preventive maintenance recommendations for those of us who are less technically knowledgeable? Subject to the standard legal disclaimers, of course.

[HiggsBoson]

seconded. In the past week there was a SIG thread and an AR thread. I have both bookmarked, but I'd like to see a sticky for reference and maybe draw more interest.

[John_Wayne777]

That's not a bad idea, but there are a couple of obstacles:

1. The sheer number of different weapons out there would make it difficult to have a generic thread about handguns. AR's would be more easily done.

2. A lot of the specifics of handgun maintenance schedules are zealously guarded by gun companies. S&W, for instance, won't just hand out a list of the parts and service intervals for their pistols for a number of reasons.

If we can figure out a way around those issues...

[TriumphRat675]

I'm just thinking out loud here - maybe at first it could be limited to the most popular brands and models - start with G17's and G19's for example. I'm sure that some people here have knowledge of the proper maintenance for them and it would be nice to have one source for them. Todd would have suggestions at least for the M&P. it might not be factory approved armorer scheduling but for the do it yourselfer it's better than doing nothing.

[HiggsBoson]

JW, understood.

To expand on what aful is saying:

Really, it could be a separate sticky in each sub-forum. One for M4 and AR-15, so the Technical Forum would be the first place I would like to see a sticky for maintenance. But Secondary Weapons forum could have a sticky that just points to each major style, and adds links to threads as they come up (as is currently done for other topics in the Technical Forums). For example, most SIGs have pretty similar maintenance steps and schedules. So do most Glocks (AFAIK). Likewise with the Beyond 5.56/.223 forum. Aren't there a few common rifle models (FAL, AK, M14, AR10) that would benefit from a PM sticky? We can't cover everything, and I'm not sure that should be the goal. But there are a lot of really smart and experienced people here, and it'd be a shame not to gather some of the collective wisdom here into a more accessible format.

I'm not an armorer (hence my desire for these threads), so I don't know how feasible this really is, but it seems like the sticky(s) for some topics are just intended to centralize pointers to the pertinent info. Others (like The Chart and "Now I'm an AR15 owner, now what?") are people presenting the info themselves. I bet Iraq_Gunz and gotm4 have some great tips for taking care of an AR. Not just "Keeping in Running", but what to check for wear, when to replace stuff, etc. I_G just created a thread about Gas Rings. That right there is a link to go in the sticky.

As for the manufacturers wanting to "guard" information about maintenance... frankly, I don't think they should have that right (but I Am Not A Lawyer). I'm not asking people to post copyrighted material. But once a company sells a product, it is in the public interest for people to know how to take care of it. We could probably just handle this the way this it is generally handled on the Internet: by adding a disclaimer saying that we think this information is public-domain, but if you believe it is not it is your responsibility to send us an email <insert other obligatory legal mumbo-jumbo here>. I suspect we have people here who could help with that.

That's not a bad idea, but there are a couple of obstacles:

1. The sheer number of different weapons out there would make it difficult to have a generic thread about handguns. AR's would be more easily done.

2. A lot of the specifics of handgun maintenance schedules are zealously guarded by gun companies. S&W, for instance, won't just hand out a list of the parts and service intervals for their pistols for a number of reasons.

If we can figure out a way around those issues...