Photo Of The Day and we have a really worn M16A4 service rifle above. It’s been laid out on the table during rifle issue for Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, in July 2022. Here the recruits are issued their M16A4 service rifle, the one that will be their responsibility for the rest of recruit training.

U.S. Marine Corps recruits with Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, attach slings to their rifles during M16A4 service rifle issue.

We all know what these are for, don’t we? Of all the things on an AR-15, I think the chamber is the hardest to clean. Some parts of the bolt and the internals of the bolt carrier come afterwards. Do you agree?

Have you been part of this kind of exercise? How do you remember it? I remember having to turn in the bolt every night, and the countless hours of cleaning where the rifles were probably more worn down than from shooting.

Photos and captions: U.S. Marine Corps, Lance Cpl. Jacob Hutchinson, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego.