M&P 15 "sticky or waxy bolt" out of the box

[yamracer]

Hello all,
While I am a military veteran, and very familiar with the AR-15 rifle, I have just purchased my first AR as a civilian. After much research, I decided on the S&W M&P15.
I went to clean it prior to taking it to the range for the first time and I noticed an almost waxy feel to the bolt and other internal surface areas. Is this a "coating" applied that needs to be cleaned off, or is this part of the "bluing" that needs to be left alone.
All of my prior experience with AR's has been with highly used Colt models, which all had super smooth surfaces.

Reference to previous threads that I wasn't able to find would be great too.

Thanks for the advise!

 

[JaPes]

It's factory packing lube/grease. Because the factory does not know how long a rifle will sit in a stockroom unsold, the rifles are prepped for storage.

Field strip the rifle & bolt. Give them a quick clean to clear out the majority of the packing lube, relube, then go shoot.

Welcome aboard to the M&P-15 forum & wonderful world of M&P 15 ownership.

 

[oneyeopn]

glad to have you here, if you look in the UserCP you can find the emblem for your branch of service that will go up by your user name.
Enjoy your rifle...we all do

 

[yamracer]

JaPes,

Thank you for your super quick response!

The coating on my bolt doesn't seem to be simply a grease that will just wipe off. In-fact a quick cleaning with both Hoppes and M-Pro7 didn't even start to take off this coating, hence my total confusion.

Do I need a better gun cleaner, or should I just go shoot it and see if that takes this stuff off?

I had one person tell me that it may be an alternative to the typical "bluing" that typical AR's have, and that it will always have that texture. That seems hard to believe considering that the texture seems to be tacky, preventing smooth operation.

 

[Dragon88]

I know what you are talking about, many new AR parts feel that way. Don't worry about it, just shoot the rifle. Several thousand psi will take care of it.

 

[Argonnakid]

Congrats on your purchase of an M&P15, and welcome to the forum. I think that you will really enjoy the both of them. So what did you get? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[GMC man]

Hoppes didn't cut it with mine to much copper build up so I changed to Pro-Shot 1 step gun cleaner to cut thru the copper and fouling and it works great another one is Kano Aerokroil Penetrating Oil will clean your new girl great.

 

[yamracer]

@ Dragon88 - Thank you! I will go put some rounds down range and see how that works!

@Argonnakid - I bought an Optics Ready model that came with a dealer installed package with a S&W front rail system, an EOTech 512, and Magpul flip up front and rear sights. I couldn't pass it up!

 

[Argonnakid]

sounds like a good deal, you going to post a picture of two of it?

 

[rtquig]

I picked up my 2nd Sport this week and it came with a lot more lube than the 1st one. I took it apart yesterday and cleaned it with CLP and put it back together. Can't shoot because of the rain today, am hoping maybe tomorrow but my son came home from college and I'll have to drive him back.

 

[storeyteller]

Congrats on the new rifle and welcome. Lots of experienced shooters on this forum.

 

[JaPes]

JaPes,

Thank you for your super quick response!

The coating on my bolt doesn't seem to be simply a grease that will just wipe off. In-fact a quick cleaning with both Hoppes and M-Pro7 didn't even start to take off this coating, hence my total confusion.

Do I need a better gun cleaner, or should I just go shoot it and see if that takes this stuff off?

I had one person tell me that it may be an alternative to the typical "bluing" that typical AR's have, and that it will always have that texture. That seems hard to believe considering that the texture seems to be tacky, preventing smooth operation.

Pull out the BCG, strip it, and hit it with brake parts cleaner. That always does the trick. If you have the same viscous oil in your chamber, upper, and trigger group, you can also carefully spray brake cleaner down there to flush out the oil. Spray it down the gas tube to kick out any oil fouling that may have made it's way there too.

Do it outside. The brake parts cleaner fumes will tick off the GF/Wife.

 

[JaPes]

I almost forgot...

When cleaning with brake cleaner, remove the extractor from the bolt and set aside the rubber "O" ring. Brake cleaner & rubber don't interact well.

 

[MPDC]

Pull out the BCG, strip it, and hit it with brake parts cleaner. That always does the trick. If you have the same viscous oil in your chamber, upper, and trigger group, you can also carefully spray brake cleaner down there to flush out the oil. Spray it down the gas tube to kick out any oil fouling that may have made it's way there too.

Do it outside. The brake parts cleaner fumes will tick off the GF/Wife.

IF YOU USE BRAKE CLEANER AS A SOLVENT ON YOU RIFLE BE SURE IT IS NON CHLORINATED TYPE. OTHERWISE YOU CAN DAMAGE SURFACES.

 

[JaPes]

^Thanks. Forgot about that.