As far as routines go this has worked well for me over the last 20+ years:
Rule #1: If it's not broke, don't fix it.
-Meaning: If the gun is shooting well, why mess with it? Marine bootcamp is tough. As tough as it is, I don't think I've ever had my arse chewed and wore out like I did when my Team NCOIC got after me for "cleaning" the NM M-14 that I shot while on the Camp Pendelton Rifle Team in 92-94. I'm still looking for a piece of it in fact. The rifle had surface rust on it and the bore looked horrible. Trying to be a good little Lance Criminal I figured I'd bust that rust and scrub the bore.
I found out real quick just how dumb it was to go thinking like a grown up. . .
AGAIN: If it's not broke, don't fix it.
This simple little rule is consistent with many of the marquee barrel maker's recommendations when you get them to talk to you. As Mark Chanlynn once said to me, "everytime you put something OTHER than a bullet down a barrel you run the risk of damaging that bore." "More people ruin barrels by cleaning than by shooting them out."
Mark is one of the best barrel makers on planet earth. That's a fact.
So, unless you start to experience one of the following, I say don't "fix it".
a. Increase in pressure that results in red flag warnings on your brass
b. corrosion (more applicable to carbon steel barrels than stainless)
c. loss of accuracy (groups getting bigger suddenly for no rational explanation)-assuming you don't have a high round count that's resulted in the bore being shot out of course.
d. failure to function (can mean anything)
I see folks at ranges all the time that shoot 3-10 rounds then get out the suitcase full of the latest cleaning wigits. They scrub for half an hour, then go back to shooting 3-10 more times. Then they wonder or blame things like "barrel harmonics" for a flyer or shot that's not on call.
Then you go to someplace like Camp Perry or to a US Palma Team practice. There you rarely see a cleaning rod come out and the NRA Highpower 800 ag course involves 88 rounds down range over the course of the day. A Palma event is 45 rounds for record shot at 800, 900. and 1000 yards with IRON sights.. If a shooter does have a clean gun he'll fire a half dozen foulers either between the tgts prior to the start of the match or he'll burn them into the berm.
If you need more proof, just look at a lot of test tgts posted up all over this site. You'll see the "orphan" out in left field (labeled as a cold/clean bore shot) and then a nice little wad piled up someplace close to the point of aim. The clean bore causes the flyer. Almost every time it causes a flyer. It's a very cold day in hell that a rifle doesn't do this. Some do, but its extremely rare.
Pull the bolt, wipe it down, squeegee the muck out of the receiver, and go on with your life. Leave the bore alone. Clean it when it really needs it, not when you "think" it needs it.
Good luck and hope this helps.
Chad.
