Do you REALLY need to clean your rifle?

C

cdoc42

New member
Give me your thoughts on this:

Bench rest shooters religiously clean their rifles between shooting sessions at the range, understandably because of their pursuit to limit all variables as much as possible, replicating every move so that the shooter is the least controllable factor.

I thoroughly cleaned my Rem 700 .270 after the last session and I took it out today to see how well I could do at 300 yards. The first shot from the clean barrel was 1.5 inches high (as desired) but about 2 inches to the left. The next 2 were touching, 1.5 inches high and almost dead center. Over the next 2 hours I fired a total of 19 rounds and my final 2 shots hit two balloons at 300 yards.

I wondered why I should clean the rifle. It's right on target. It's not unusual for the first shot from a clean barrel to be off target, and the "seasoning"gives a more predictable result, which is what seems to have happened here.

Now I recognize one can't leave the weapon dirty forever, but for those of us who are not bench rest shooters, how often should one clean your rifle?
 
I clean my guns when (and if) accuracy degrades.

For most of them, that means every few years. Even then, it's more "Wow, it's been a while, maybe I should clean this thing" than accuracy related. I've put over 75 rounds through my .204 and still shot under 1/2" groups and killed woodchucks at over 300 yards.

Modern smokeless powder and primers are non-corrosive and are only mildly (if at all) hygroscopic. I've never had a corrosion problem with *ANY* gun, *EVER*.

Cleaning guns because you shot them is a waste of time and materials and the idea that you're not "taking care" of them if you don't scrub them every time is as old-fashioned and out-dated as corrosive primers.
 
I usually clean my rifles after a range outing, unless I shot less than 10 rnds through them.
Mostly I wait until my loads won't perform, then I go after the copperfouling pretty hard.
 
I'm like Brian, I clean once accuracy goes down.

In my .308 before I changed barrels this year, that was about every 700 rounds.


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Y'all are just plane lazy

Take care of your tools

I clean after every shooting session
Yes I will have 1 or 2 fouling shots on the clean barrel
but that's expected and no big deal

It only takes 1/2 to 1 hr to clean a gun properly
 
I was competing in a 3 day CAS match in upstate NY. One of the match participants, told us he never cleans his guns. On the last day of the match his 1873 stopped working. Maybe he should of cleaned it some???:D
 
firewrench044 said:
It only takes 1/2 to 1 hr to clean a gun properly
Click to expand...

And who doesn't have 5 or 6 hours to clean their guns after every range session, right?:rolleyes:

Seriously, it's not lazy. It's the old adage "Work smarter, not harder."

There's absolutely, positively, undeniably no reason whatsoever to clean a modern firearm that shoots noncorrosive ammo after every time it's used. None.

It's not a matter of "taking care of your tools". It's not a matter of being lazy. It's because I have better things to do, that actually matter.

The idea that they have to be cleaned after every use is a leftover dinosaur from the corrosive primer and powder days. It hasn't been true for most folks shooting most guns since longer than I've been alive... and that's in it's 5th decade.
 
Depends on the gun, and if you are shooting lead cast bullets or not. Also depends on velocites. Have to clean my 458 and 355 every time I shoot them because they leave metal in the bore. I clean my AR every 500 rounds, but could go more. My hadguns get cleaned after every range session, just because I want to clean them and have time. Iike someone else said, the days of NEEDING to clean most average guns after shooting are long gone.
 
I'm with Brian. I shoot a lot, and cleaning after every session is not practical for everyone. Also, after working 100 hour weeks, I'd rather pay someone to clean my guns for me.

Modern ammunition isn't corrosive, so there's no need to clean every time. If anything, cleaning all the time can have negative consequences, too: the brushes can wear the rifling or barrel coating, the crown can get damaged, you can drop the gun, you can lose or wear out parts (very common occurrence on guns with lots of moving parts, like springs and small pins), and the fumes from Hoppes can't be good for you.

It's probably more important to keep the gun oiled so as to prevent rust and oxidation.
 
well if I could shoot good enough (or consistently ) that I knew hen accuracy was going down I would clean when it did, sigh.

If I worked 100 hours a week I would hope I could pay someone not only to clean my gun but shoot it for me while I sat back, sipped Whisky Sour and had pretty girl's fanning my feavoured brow.

Ok onto the OP

Do what works an in your case, clean your gun, then shoot the fouler or two and you are good for at least 100 rounds.

Me, I shoot 100 - 150 rounds a range session (not counting the 22 I don't clean) and I try to clean them when I am done if its all on one gun.

Otherwise if its split between two or there guns I clean them every 100 rounds or so.

That said I no longer use the old solvents.

I have Carbon Killer 2000 and Bore Tech Eliminator. Carbon Killer regularly and Bore tech to clean down to base metal if I think its not and away I go.
 
A fellow shooter, a lady friend, she is an F Class Tactical and other category champion. They paid her to go to South Africa and shoot on a USA team. She claims that if her barrel is cleaned it takes time to settle down and is less accurate till it settles down. Her husband believes in clean barrels and that causes some tension.

I have found that in my 308 barrels, around 3000 and up rounds, if I really clean the barrel, use JB bore paste and a copper remover, the point of impact changes, and changes big time till the barrel fouls in. I have not noticed as much an impact change with new barrels.

Small bore shooters are wacky in their own right. I have asked many about their cleaning habits. Some clean the barrel to medical antiseptic standards. Most are pretty causal. Some have told me, "I don't clean till the barrel tells me it needs cleaning".

Since I put the rifles up in a safe, I will at least run a patch of GI bore cleaner, maybe a copper bristle brush to knock the big stuff down, and I will oil the barrel to prevent corrosion. I am worried about rust and so I want to remove powder fouling which attracts moisture. I do this for all firearms, nothing gets put away fouled with powder residue.
 
For fun, sport or if your life depended on it. A clean firearm is the only way to go. I clean after every fire session.
 
I clean them after hunting season. Before hunting season, I head to the range and shoot a few through. The first shot is always way off. I tried shooting one shot and letting it lay for half an hour. The results are the same. It is the dirty barrel that changes the hit area. That is with my go to, absolute favorite hunting rifle. Some hunting rifles you will never see the difference. Depends on what you know about your shooting.
 
After I started the post I recalled my experience with my first .22 Winchester Model 69A rifle. It is now in its 60th year of ownership. From age 15 to 27 it was the only rifle I owned. As a young fellow with no paternal direction with regard to guns, I shot rats, birds, cans, etc., as often as I could accumulate 50 cents to buy a box of Long Rifle ammo. I also totally neglected it - RARELY cleaned it until after I got married and started to accumulate more guns. I'll bet I didn't clean it more than 5 times in those first 12 years. I cleaned it thoroughly, glas bedded and refinished the stock. Shot it a few times for old times sake, but never did any more with it until about 2 years ago. Then I fired 10 shots at 100 yards with a 4-power scope at a sheet that had 10-two inch diameter targets on it. Much to my surprise I had 9 bulls and a nine-ring. Kudos to Winchester.

I guess that sort of answered my own question, but I appreciate the diversity of opinion presented and I am now more comfortable moving toward my old habit of not cleaning my guns as frequently as I do.
 
Yesterday I took my Marlin XT-22 tube feed model to the range. I had cleaned the bore after the last time it was shot. I wanted to be sure that during squirrel season it would still put meat in the pot. The first shot (25 yards) went 4" left, the second was 2" left and it took 4 more shots for it to return to the bullseye. I don't put enough rounds down the pipe in a years time to be concerned with cleaning too often but when I do.....It usually take several shots to bring it back.
 
Some barrels are different than others but I'm in the group of cleaning the barrel when the accuracy fades a bit. My son's marlin x7 in 7mm08 needs to be cleaned after about 20 rounds. The rifling in it is still very sharp and is very accurate for very short periods. Most others will easily shoot a couple hundred rounds before accuracy falls off. I have some very nice and expensive 22's that havnt been cleaned since the day I bought them and I believe the accuracy gets better. I have noticed even on dirty barrels that the first shot is often off the mark a Lil bit but usually not as often as a clean barrel.

I've seen alot of mad hunters that sight their rifle in before season and then clean it for two days. Then wonder why they missed a head shot or shot low in the leg instead of on the shoulder. Most guns aren't off that much but it does happen.
 
I am moly coating bullets to reduce the frequency of cleaning Copper out of the bore.

I do not bother with moly at 2600 fps or less.


Even with moly, I do not go above 3600 fps.

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Douglas blued the inside of this 260Rem long chambered Mauser barrel.
The first group of 100 gr NBT bullets at 100 yards will be a one hole group.
Then it needs cleaning as accuracy falls off.
 
Don't participate in sanctioned rifle activity's anymore. Just for fun now. A simple quick inspection_ cleaning_ and re-oiling after a outing and into the safe its sits. Rifle probably doesn't require a cleaning every time its Bench Rest shot as its seldom I shoot over 20 jacketed cartridges in a day. But doing so (cleaning) afterwards I think is the least amount of maintenance I can preform in hopes to keep that particular firearm in good & reliable condition.

These days I'm more into shooting cast then jacketed which requires some additional maintenance. Cast shooting. 50 Rds in a day >minimum. Bench Rest shooting with my "for fun guns" is typical.
 
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