Do you REALLY need to clean your rifle?

Cleaning commonly used firearms after every range trip (shooting non-corrosive ammo)? Unnecessary imo and your just wasting time and money with no real advantage. Now if you shot your vintage firearm that your not sure you will shoot in the near future then a cleaning and long term storage swab is prudent. However its your firearm and your time and money so its your choice. Me personally i keep an Excel shooting log with my weekly shooters and i clean and de-copper after about 400-500 rounds. The exceptions are my M1 and my M1a i clean those more often as the lube grease gets quickly mixed with carbon and dirt. ( Its been very dusty in my area from severe drought)
 
This was the second, and should have been the last post in the thread...

Well said Brian.

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.
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One compass I have to keep from getting lost in gun culture accuracy folklore is, "If Bart Bobbitt doesn't do it, then I don't have to."
That is because he shot 20 rounds into a 3.325" group at 800 yards, and Krieger took out an ad in Precision Shooting May 1997 saying he used a Krieger barrel.
And Bart does not clean barrels very often.

But wait a minute. He used 45.3 gr IMR4895 155 gr palma .... that is only 2686 fps.
That is like 17HMR at 2600 fps. I don't clean at 2600 fps or moly coat or anything.
As James Calhoon [Jim Leahey] says on his web site, if you shoot a 204 Ruger at 4000 fps, you spend all your time scrubbing blue out of the bore.
I built a 243 in 2002 with a $30 Adams and Bennet bull barrel that had a bore like an inverted rat tail file. It fired 3 shots touching at 100 yards, and then went to 6" group mode. It took 24 hours of work to get the Copper out each time it was shot.

So we can imagine a spectrum of bore cleaning needs from none to every 3 shots.
Bore cleaning heaven with custom barrels with factory lapped bores with bullets at 2600 fps with hard Copper alloy jackets.
Bore cleaning purgatory has rough corn cob looking bores with bullets made with soft pure Copper jackets [Remington] running at 4000 fps.

I have a foot in both worlds. I am building rifles for hunting in 2016:
1) Pac Nor super match 6mmBR 95 gr NBT moly 3200 fps
2) Shilen select match 25-06 115 gr NBT moly 3200 fps
3) Benchmark 7mmRM 140 gr NBT moly 3300 fps

...all with IMR- 4166 anti Copper fouling powder. I expect to clean Copper for ~ 10 minutes ~every 30 rounds, using KG-12 and Witches Brew.
 
There's absolutely, positively, undeniably no reason whatsoever to clean a modern firearm that shoots noncorrosive ammo after every time it's used. None.
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I consider this patently false, depending on the rifle. There is not a one-size-fits-all standard for everything. I have a couple of rifles that I clean after every range trip. One is a Mauser that I shoot surplus ammo in... and you are not arguing against this. Another is a 270 Savage 110 that I rebarreled with an ER Shaw barrel. If I don't clean after about 20 rounds, accuracy starts to suffer somewhat. Like going from 1/2moa to 3/4moa. If I don't clean it, the next time I go to the range the groups will open up even more. What's more, I've found that double range trips make copper fouling removal way more difficult.

For most normal rifles, however, I do not clean after every single range trip. My pistols are a different story since I shoot lead out of them, but even then I will skip a cleaning on occasion if I only put a hundred rounds or less out of that pistol.
 
I clean mine after every range session except the last before hunting season. I leave the barrels fouled during hunting season and give them a good cleaning after the season is over. My handguns are cleaned after every range session.

As an Infantryman and Infantry officer, I was expected to clean my equipment no matter how tired I was. I guess that is still instilled in me.
 
I used to clean religiously until a friend of mine who did practical asked me "did the accuracy fall off"? Now I clean less.
 
Clean a rifle 4 times a year whether it needs it or not? At one time I had over 200 Arisakas, plus other rifles. You must not have many guns. I shoot a lot of cut rifled barrels. Some are pretty ugly looking inside. The more copper build up in the pits, the better they shoot. Like everything else, there is no blanket answer to cover everything.
 
It's a good idea to clean a centerfire after every trip to the range. The exception for me was when I was deer hunting I did not clean it til after deer season. If left too long the bore can and will rust. In a .22 I don't worry about it but it won't hurt to clean it once in a while. A bore snake works well and doesn't damage the bbl. The chamber in the .22 may need attention occasionally.

I wipe a blued gun down every time it's handled, they will rust if you don't.
 
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Went shooting with a friend yesterday. He had put up his 10/22 "wet" 6 weeks ago. Had a nasty, dime-sized patch of rust on top of the barrel. Was pitted underneath. Thinks a drop of sweat landed there.

He's just too lazy to clean his guns. Apparently doesn't even wipe them down.
 
My routine after a shooting session is to spray a patch with WD 40 and make a couple of passes through the bore. Then spray some RemOil on a patch and make a pass through the bore. Serious effort with a copper cleaner if and when the group size degrades.

Mostly it's just rust avoidance. Powder residue is hygroscopic.
 
Then again, don't clean it , let it rust let the barrel get pitted & hang it over the fireplace. But if its a shooter , keep it clean.
 
I have to clean it. Could you go extended periods without cleaning and suffer no ill effects to the firearm? If your not shooting corrosive primed surplus stuff I would guess you can. Unfortunately, my firearm obsessive compulsiveness forces me to clean my firearms after every outing as soon as I possibly can, I could have shot 5 rounds through the firearm or 100, doesn't matter I have to clean it, drives me crazy at times.
 
If you use a firearm for the defense of your life you have to ask yourself which is less likely to malfunction, a dirty weapon or a clean one?
 
I clean after every shooting session. I scrub the barrel with a standard rod and bore brush , and plunge out the gunk with a Remington Squeegee. Wipe down the action with some cleaner, spray some oil and voila.Takes me all of ten minutes.

I do no someone who pretty much never cleans his. We go shooting a lot, and I've never seen him have a malfunction.

I'd say that a gun intended to be used for self-defense really needs to be cleaned and oiled between firings to ensure its operation.
 
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 because of the fantastic replacement hoyt strings. 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?

My routine after a shooting session is to spray a patch with WD 40 and make a couple of passes through the bore. Then spray some RemOil on a patch and make a pass through the bore. Serious effort with a copper cleaner if and when the group size degrades.
 
No, rifles do not need cleaning. All those cleaning supply manufactures have conjured up a myth to make money. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Seriously, I think some people take it to the extreme, but firearms need to be cleaned, serviced, inspected, and lubricated quite regularly.
 
In 2001 or 2002, I bought an Arsenal M-7 AK variant. It is made in the USA, has the fit and finish of a Colt or Bushmaster AR, and is assembled on a milled receiver. I also bought 5,000 rounds of Wolf ammo for $350.

Judging by the stock of ammo left, I have gone through 4,000 rounds since the gun was new.

Some day I will get around to cleaning it, as soon as I remember how to disassemble it. Until it jams, I see no need, and it is still a beer can killer at 100 yards.

Most army and marine vets put more wear and tear on a firearm by cleaning, than actual shooting.
 
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