How many shots before you clean your centrefire rifle?

[dodeer]

But target or game it's the same still

Of course, I did go to school.

 

All I merely said was I ( in my

Opinion) use mine a fair bit and more than most

[njc110381]

400 rounds down a deer rifle per year is good going. 1500 between three is a busy stalker! I see what was being said. To a target shooter it's nothing but to a man in the field it's a lot of work.

[welshwarrior]

Enough and more than most especially as it's not at targets but I learnt never argue with a Welshman so i will leave it at that

But we're talking cleaning and maint I've a 308 the fires 500-600 a month. Yes it's a coaching gun so shoots targets and deer same bullets but no long strings. Maintaining it correctly prevents it having to be rebarreled and if it was just stuck away after each outing I doubt it would be 5 years old.

[Zetter]

17s are a different kettle of fish, I'll get to around 30 shots and it's a complete de-copper joby. More of a carbon clean than a copper, I don't seem to get much showing at all.

 

 

My hornet went to pot this weekend so I decided to have a proper go through with a .17 bronze brush as well as the patches and the amount of stuff that came out of a barrel I patch through every time I shoot it was eye opening. It was all carbon and powder though I don't get a lot of copper at all out of the hornet barrel. Though to be fair its not motoring as fast as your .17 remmy.

[Albert 888]

Mine get cleaned everytime they have been out the cabinet fired or not. I shoot quite a few rounds a year at targets so I need them as accurate as possible and to last as long as possible. As my good friend used to say, you can replicate clean but you can't replicate dirty. The kg products are the best I have used so far. Oh my 22lr only gets the bore cleaned if it's not going through the same hole or I change ammo.

[Albert 888]

Overcleaning is worse than not cleaning (the bore that is).

Really?

[Red-dot]

Yes.. some cleaning potions are damaging to metal surfaces if overused and rodding the rifling will cause wear too but carry on with what regime you choose. I have a Pro stalker mate that probably shoots more deer in Scotland than anyone and his gun is never ever cleaned or wiped down and its a mess but to him it is a tool for doing a job not a thing of beauty or ego massager. I am somewhere inbetween but my shotguns are a different story.

[foosa]

.223 .204 and .243 get cleaned when I got nothing else to do, so defo not very often! I've had the 223 8 years and like the others shoots about 5 hundred rounds every year without any problems or accuracy issues. I could be lucky but it's what works for me as I don't believe in making work for myself if not required ☺

[Savhmr]

I clean mine after every outing. I shoot perhaps 1500 to 2000 rounds annually. The .308 barrel (T3) can go 100 rounds in between de-coppering before accuracy starts dropping off but my .223 needs more frequent attention, typically after 60 rounds. My regime is to liberally apply KG1 carbon remover first applied with a jag and patch, and then ensure that it gets into every nook and cranny by applying a further amount using a nylon brush (but NOT pulling it back through the muzzle). The KG1 is left in about 30 minutes and then patched. Often, the patches wont come out 100 clean and retain dark grey streaks. In those situations, I apply more this time using a brass brush and give it at least 10 passes if shooting 60 plus rounds. It's then patched again after 30 minutes. I'm always amazed by just how much filth and carbon is removed when brass brushing. Bill Fisher was right (read the Lyman manual on cleaning) and to do a proper job, it really requires the use of a brass brush imho. If not de-coppering, I leave it at that. My cold bore shots are generally spot on zero when doing this.

 

If de-coppering (which I do after every range outing) I use Patch Out or M-Pro 7 (both equally good) but as someone else mentioned, claims that patch-out works without scrubbing are erroneous. Try a brass brush down the bore soaked with Patch out after you first patch apply it. 9 times out of 10, no copper is being removed from the grooves in between the lands because there's still a coating of carbon left there and until all the carbon fouling is removed, you can't get the bore properly clean. A bore scrubbed with a brush after applying Patch Out will come out filthy again. I leave Patch out in the bore at least an hour or two to work. Sometimes it's left overnight. The crown and threads for the mod all get de-carboned using a nylon brush soaked in KG1.

 

Once the patches come out spotlessly clean, that's me done. If storing for prolonged periods (which rarely happens) I'll put an oil soaked rag down the barrel, remembering to dry patch and then clean the chamber with a meths soaked patch before next use.

 

Periodically, perhaps twice annually, I strip, degrease and clean the bolts, lightly re-oil and reassemble.

 

Over cleaning doesn't damage bores. Careless cleaning does. Use of decent one piece rods and bore guides are a must.

 

Older barrels with loads of rounds down them and eroded and fire cracked throats may respond better to less decoppering (or longer periods in between decoppering) but carbon removal is still important.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Savhmr

[walshie]

I'll let you know once my shot count gets high enough to warrant cleaning.

[Newbie to this]

I clean my .357 underlever after every outing, but as I only shoot it with the club, it gets between 100 - 200 rounds through it.

[Dekers]

It was always going to be EVERY TIME or NEVER.

 

In simple terms what works for you.

 

Personally, every time I use them!

[Graham M]

 

 

Over cleaning doesn't damage bores. Careless cleaning does. Use of decent one piece rods and bore guides are a must.

 

 

Nail on head methinks

[Tford]

All rifles just get a boresnake pass through three times if shot and always a oily rag over the outside (22lr, 22wmr, 223). Seems to be okay so far but my guns have always been cheap enough not to worry too much.

[SPARKIE]

mine get cleaned every time use them if its 1 or 100 shots they have shot in a day. It must work as my .22-250 is still shooting and anyone that's seen it being used knows its had some ammo through it.