Not Cleaning The Bore?

M

montelores

New member
Does it damage a bore if it is left uncleaned (solvent and oil) after shooting?

I am assuming modern smokeless powder and the bore being left uncleaned for months.

Monty

P.S. Not that I would ever do this!:)
 
I hope not, I've got a gun I havent cleaned for the last 2 weeks and I may not get to it for another 2 weeks.

I wouldent be too concerned unless you live in a fairly humid area. I live in Colorado so it's probably not a big deal for me. But if you live somewhere humid you NEED that thing to be clean so you can put on a coat of oil to keep it from rusting.
 
Depends on what youre shooting. Most "modern" ammo isnt corrosive, but theres still some older corrosive floating around that will spoil your day if you dont get right on it.

I always clean right after I shoot regardless.
 
With modern ammo it shouldn't. But why would you leave a gun uncleaned for several months? To me, cleaning a gun afterwards is a part of shooting.
 
This is something that came up with me too. I'd read from a very dependable source that with most modern guns and ammo it wasn't as critical an issue if you're shooting regularly (if I remember correctly it was something like weekly). Still, I'm struggling with the impulse to clean it. It is, as someone already pointed out, part of the ritual of shooting.

Now my 91/30 is a different story because I'm shooting old Soviet era surplus which is corrosive. That get broken down and cleaned after every shooting.
 
I've always cleaned all of my guns within 24 hours of shooting them. More often than not within an hour of returning home. Until I got a 2nd gen Glock model 23 about 10 or so years ago. I didn't clean that thing for a few years and shot it frequently. I finally cleaned it some months ago and the bore looked fine. This is down in south Florida where the humidity is no joke and the pistol stays under the seat in my van. I have used Hoppe's 9 and oil for years when I clean them.
 
CLP is an excellent lube for firearms. It has great rust resistance and is an long lasting lube without any grease or oil type of buildup. I first started using in in a small poilice action in SE Asia some years back on my M16, etc.

With modern ammo not being corrosive it isn't necessary to clean the bore every time. For semi autos it is recommended just to clean out any powder fouling (this fouling will be caused by any ammo including modern ammo that uses gun powder as the propellant) that could make the cycling unreliable. In the military you always cleaned your gun every day even if you didn't fire a shot. You wanted the puppy to function as intended when the time came.

I usually run some CLP down the bore and wipe down the action and barrel and anything else metallic every time I go shooting. It doesn't take but a minute. Put your brush on the rod, cover it with a patch, slop from CLP or Breakfree and run it though the barrel a few time.

Then put the brush aside and run a couple patches down the bore just to clean out any gunk. If it take you more than five minutes you are being lazy.
 
Thanks, jimmy10mm.

I don't clean 22s every time, nor, it seems, do many other 22 shooters. That is what prompted my original question.

In fact, most 22 shooters seem to discourage too much cleaning.

Although many brands of 22 ammo are wax-coated (if it is not copper-washed), there will be the same propellant residue in the bore as with centerfire. I am curious about the deleterious effects of the residue. If it doesn't damage 22 bores, will it damage centerfire bores?

Thanks again,

Monty
 
Thanks, Gator. I was curious about how CLP is used.

I absolutely do wipe down the outside of a firearm every time to remove the salts and acids from handling.

Monty
 
While you can "get away" with quite a bit, I am unwilling to test the limits too much. To me cleaning guns after firing is much the same as doing the dishes after dinner.
My limit is about 48 hours, before overwhelming guilt wins, and I go clean.
 
There is one barrelmaker who says it is not necessary to clean his bores. Just scrape the coke out of the chamber:

"My Personal Practice has become to never clean the bore of my barrels. I do use a brass rod to scrape the deposits out of the chamber. But, I've learned to leave the bore alone and it very slowly becomes shinier and cleaner all by itself. Years ago I occasionally scrubbed the bore with a brass bore brush. But, doing so always seemed to cause the bore to revert to a dirtier look with more shooting, so I eventually stopped ever putting anything down the bore except bullets..."

Read more under Barrel Cleaning at
http://www.schuemann.com/Information/tabid/67/Default.aspx
 
CLP is great for the military because there is just one product for the supply chain. On the bench, I found that separate cleaner and lube work better, but I carry CLP to matches because it is more convenient in the field.

With me, how often I clean is counter intuitive. Guns that get used alot do not get cleaned much, because of the time involved. If I pull one from the back of the safe, and shoot it, it gets cleaned right away and stowed. Also, cleaning means disassembly and pulling a rod though the barrel, so damage is more likely.

I put about 5k rounds through a Glock 17 before I disassembled and cleaned the slide. Yes, the extractor was gunked up and failing, so I do not recommend that long a time.

Lee
 
I used to clean my guns every time I fired them.... then I started reading about the damage that can be done with cleaning tools and improper methods, not to mention just wear from repeated scrubbing... then I started thinking about WHY I clean the bore... and the down side, like the fact that the first round (or 2 or 3) doesn't hit where they hit from a "dirty" bore and I shoot at real, living things with my first shot and 2nd and 3rd....

I've come to realize that a "clean" bore is really not helping anything, and it might be hurting in more ways than one.

Now, I clean the bore when (if) I notice a decrease in accuracy. My 204 hasn't been cleaned (the bore) in over a year... The other day, it shot .75 MOA at 410 yards.

Why clean?
 
Thanks for the perspective, peetzakilla.

I, too, have been concerned about over-cleaning and damage, so most times I use a Patch-Worm. I don't shoot hundreds of rounds at a time (except in 22s), so mostly I am concerned with corrosion, and thus my question about the long-term effects of residue (not lead or copper) in the barrel.

Thanks again to all for your experiences.

Monty
 
I clean my .22 pistol every couple of years, whether it needs it or not. :D I probably shoot it 1000 or so rounds per year. I clean just the chamber and the bolt face maybe twice a year.

I clean my centerfires after every trip to the range, usually.
 
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