Enough to protect it from full immersion in the fishing hole it will eventually end up in the bottom of.
“Enough to protect it from full immersion in the fishing hole it will eventually end up in the bottom of.”
This comment wins the thread.
But in my opinion, the CLP light on the bolt. I’m not a soldier, and expect to shoot it in nice conditions (Range, backyard, etc) and won’t be going into war-time operations with it... anytime soon.
In my safe (read... next to me just about all the time) it’s relatively dry. Dust is the biggest enemy in this household.
So after the range time, I clean it and lightly cover the bolt (2 drops in the trigger and sear) and leave the gas piston alone after inspection. 100 rounds of decent ammo and powder doesn’t leave too much going on to be worried about.
Other than that, mine is the Colt 2960 with M4 lower, hbar and all the mil-spec goodies outside of the trigger group (Obviously). I have a relatively shrouded foreend that keeps the barrel free of issues.
And as in my pistols, I look for scratches on the metal and lube there.