Disassembly (field stripping) of an AR rifle

I thought I would re-visit the AR style rifle for a moment and show how to field strip the firearm for cleaning and maintenance. I will once again use the Smith and Wesson M&P 15T for the illustration, but the information also generally applies to all AR style rifles.

The first step in stripping an AR rifle is to be certain the rifle is unloaded. And, as always, make certain you are following the four rules.

After you have confirmed the rifle is unloaded, make certain the bolt is fully forward, as in the photo below. The charging handle should be flush as in the photo below as well.



Now you will need to locate the take down pin. The pin on this particular model is located on the left side of the firearm, above and to the right of the safety select switch. Once you locate the pin, press in on it. If this is the first time the rifle has been disassembled, it may be somewhat difficult to move at first.



Once you press in on the pin from the right side of the rifle, the pin head on the left side of the rifle will rise from the frame. Just like it is doing in the photo below.



When the pin rises from the frame, grab the pin head and pull it out away from the frame until it stops. Be sure you are supporting your rifle when you do this. After the pin has been pulled out, the AR will open very easily!



Once the pin (circled in the photo below) has been pulled away form the frame, you can easily move the upper receiver away from the lower receiver. The upper and lower receivers stay attached at a hinge on the front of the lower receiver, so be careful and do not let the upper receiver just fall forward.



From here is it very easy to further disassemble the rifle for cleaning and inspection. Just pull out the bolt carrier (pictured below with the lower arrow) and the charging handle (pictured below with the upper arrow) back away from the upper receiver.



Once the charging handle has been pulled back, you can fully extract the bolt carrier from the upper frame.



After the bolt carrier assembly has been removed, you can remove the charging handle by pulling back, then angling it down and out as in the photo below.



With the bolt carrier assembly and charging handle out of the upper receiver, the field stripping disassembly of the AR rifle is complete!



NOTE: Smith and Wesson urges in their instruction manual to NEVER dry-fire the M&P 15T rifle when it has been disassembled. Severe damage may occur.


-end-