How do you spell relief?

I spell it: A-R-1-5.

That's right -- my rifle is BACK! It was at Coal Creek Armory (www.coalcreekarmory.blogspot.com) for 3 solid weeks. Withdrawal was killing me.

So, aside from the huge wave of relief now that I'm re-armed, here's what the gunsmith told me: the rifle was clean (I would have been offended had he said otherwise), but I need to keep a bit more lubricant on the bolt and in the receiver. Aside from that, he said it just looked like the rifle had been shot quite a bit, and needed work done on most of the gas operating system parts. They replaced the gas rings with a one-piece system (rather than3 separate rings on the bolt, which can end up with the gaps aligned and cause FtFs), replaced the gas key and he said the gas tube was "packed" with carbon residue.

I was afraid that would be the case. The gas tube and its connections is the one "cleanable" part of the rifle I haven't messed with yet. It looks like the gas tube "cleaners" (pipe cleaners, really) that I had been using were just pushing all the residue toward the tube's connection with the gas block (where the tube bleeds the gasses from the barrel). Since the tube bends at a pretty good angle, the pipe cleaners won't bend to push the residue all the way out. I guess I just clogged it rather than cleaned it. The tube must be removed in order to be cleaned properly. Live and learn.

So, I expect I'll take an afternoon break to go try it out.

Stay tuned for a range report from this past weekend (just as soon as I get some pictures lined up)...