How often do you clean you're rimfire?

[nockhunter]

I have read a lot of thins lately about cleaning 22 lr rifles. Bolt guns mostly, semi's need a bit of scrubbing. I have probably run about 5-6 patches down my Rem 541T in the 20 years I've owned it. Once I've seasoned the bore with the bullet wax from whatever I am shooting I leave it alone. I have never seen the accuracy decrease or change. I think I read an article from Lones Wigger a long time ago about over cleaning a 22 lr.

So, how often do you guys clean your rifles?




Mike

P.S. I do wipe them down with eezox on the outside.

 

[justin amateur]

I send 150 to 250 rounds downrange per week.
Lilja 22lr barrel, EPS chamber.
I have to scrub the chamber at the end of every morning.
Bronze brush and solvent from breech to leade, no further.
If I don't, I get extraction problems due to carbon ring buildup.
Solvent and plastic brush to clean the muzzle star off,
then pull 3 dry patches through to finish.
I do not scrub the rifling, no need due to the hand lapped interior of the Lilja.

I worry about gsr deposits on the muzzles of my rifles.
A crust forms that can affect accuracy.
Actually creates an irregular ridge around the crown.
It can cause tipping due to uneven pressure release as the bullet exits.

 

[Topstrap]

Never

 

[jbell]

Never

I clean a little more often, but not by much. Mainly just the action, breech face, and chamber with any regularity.

 

[Alabusa]

Olympic shooters clean every 200 as I understand it. This may or may not be accurate.

I clean mine when accuracy falls off.

 

[jbell]

Olympic shooters clean every 200 as I understand it. This may or may not be accurate.

I clean mine when accuracy falls off.

Do you see accuracy drop off? If so what barrel and at how many rounds? I have gone well over 500 rounds with no accuracy loss with several different barrels (all premium barrels).

 

[Fig]

Every time I shoot. I also take apart the can and clean it till it’s like new every time.
.22 is incredibly dirty compared to center fire. I’ve never had accuracy or consistency problems from cleaning.
Ammo, yes. Cleaning, no.
Go over to accurate shooter and tell all those champion BR guys they’re ruining their precision by cleaning.

BUT, POST A LINK TO THE THREAD WHEN YOU DO!!!

 

[Hookturnr]

I clean my Fedderson barrelled CZ about every 500 rounds and it's pretty much the same cleaning JA uses above. Seems to remain pretty consistent that way. Now, my Surefire can, that's more like every 300 rounds or it starts to effect accuracy.

 

[Alabusa]

Do you see accuracy drop off? If so what barrel and at how many rounds? I have gone well over 500 rounds with no accuracy loss with several different barrels (all premium barrels).

Mine is a Savage FV-SR so not the best barrel. Usually about 1000 rounds or so. Not very often. I'm sure if I had a nice aftermarket barrel it would be a different story.

 

[Hoser]

I clean often. Usually before I get to the 200 round mark.

My prone gun will start to show off call fliers at 50 meters after 125-150 rounds. This is indoors with a S&B 12-50 and lot tested Eley Red. This rifle will clean a 60 shot international smallbore target (60 shot group around 3/8) and has done it several times.

Our rimfire rifle day has 2 matches. An 88 round belly match in the morning and 75-80 round PRS match in the afternoon. I usually shoot my Elrod 40X in the morning and my Vudoo in the afternoon. Any rifle shot that day gets cleaned.

Now I am just in the habit of cleaning after every match. I often check with a borescope to ensure I dont have any carbon build ups forming. Keeping them clean means all I have to do is run a few VFG pellets down the bore and occasionally some JB. Wipe down the bolt and blow out the sction with some compressed air and its done. Maybe 5 minutes of work.

However I shoot nothing but suppressed, so that adds to the gunk factor.

 

[nockhunter]

Lots of good responses, I get the "can" cleaning. I guess it all is a personal thing, confidence kind of thing. Some people have a routine, clean after each outing. Some clean whenever. I like a clean gun, I just don't like an unfouled bore, (wax coated). I do clean the bolt for extracting empties. Whenever I try new ammo I run 10 shots before group testing. If I get goofy results, I will run some patches to see if the results change.

Mike

 

[Eoddave27]

You are supposed to clean those things! Damn I didn’t know that.

In all seriousness I pull a bore snake through mine after I shoot it and keep the bolt oiled but that is about it. If I see the accuracy start dropping off or start getting fliers I will give it a good cleaning but I haven’t got to that point with any of my barrels yet.

 

[squirrelsniper]

It really depends on the rifle. I have one that likes to be cleaned every 50-100rds, then I have some that go thousands of rounds between cleaning. If you try a couple different methods the rifle will tell you what it likes.