Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Anybody clean their .22 barrels?

Well now that depends on your individual circumstances. I've reduced my .22 rimfire
cleaning by quite a bit based on function rather than round count.

No.
I was told to never clean the barrel by a national champion 30 years ago. I do clean everything else.

Never

I didn't need that visual, but thanks anyway.

Quite a few years back I was at the clays club and had a "virgin" with me. Club owner offered his Beretta 390 to my buddy...I looked at it and asked when he'd cleaned it last. "About 12,000 rounds back."

Looked like it too. Buddy smoked my ass at skeet with that gun.

Butthead.

Mine too are on the most casual cleaning regimen. But. I got my hands on my grandfather's Rem Model 12 22LR pump, which reputedly "would shoot, but nothing came out" was the passed down caution about that old gun, it having been retired to a closet since the '60's (made 1922-ish IIRC).

So first I shined a bore light down it, and just a pinpoint of light could be appreciated. Hmm. Couldn't pass a patched jag thru it at first. Soaked. Forced a brush thru, the first 3 inches after the chamber being TIGHT. Anyway, I had 5/8 inch long peels of soft lead mirroring the grooves come out of the rifle, bit at a time. Took a lot of work.

Who knows what those boys did/didn't do with the rifle, but evidently whatever the limit is on round count before cleaning they exceeded it by a wide margin.

No, I haven't yet. Hoping to make it another few decades without having to do so.

After reading this thread I'm certain I've been cleaning my Kidd 22lr entirely too much.

I haven't cleaned a 22LR barrel since I was 15.

Cleaning .22 rimfire barrels is a Blue Moon option....

I only meant everything else on the gun except the inside of the barrel.Don't blame me for the bad images.LOL

If I was into competitive shooting, that's exactly what I'd tell everyone up and down the line and I would not wink either.

If I lived in a humid region, I'd probably do more than just my regular annual scrub.

Every time, never thought there was the option not to.

A quick couple of passes with a brush, then a patch with solvent, then a few clean patches.

Depends.

Seen a 22 that leaded severely and obviously shoot like crap because of undersized cheap ammo.

It needed cleaned.

Most of em dont.

When all works, lead shooters dont, shouldnt need attention unless stored in high humidity.

I was a junior shooter,not even competing in the same division.He was actually telling me what he practiced. That was fairly standard target shooting procedure in those days. I have no idea what the standard is today. I can tell you for certain though when using lubed SV target ammo if you clean your barrel it will be at least 50 rounds before it will be back to it's best performance level before you cleaned it.

RH..many people say you need to fire half a dozen or so to "re-acclimate" the bore before best accuracy but, like you, I have found far more than that are needed before it settles back down..
And it took me a fair amount of head scratching and doubting before I quit with the 5-10 and didn't bother with groups till 30-50...

Yes sir. I think the varying amount of 5-10 or 10-20 advice is likely to come from shooters using sporting rifles. When we are talking match grade rifles it is easier to notice very small increments of accuracy.

The only reason to clean a rimfire is if accuracy is important to you. Just like any other rifle, they will become fouled with lead and carbon. This is especially important in the leade area where a lead/carbon ring builds up and it builds up rather quickly. This will not be noticed so much with run of the mill cheap .22s shooting bulk ammo, but anything with a match chamber and shooting match ammo, you will quickly notice a drop in accuracy.

Last year I won the IR50/50 Unlimited Nationals(.22 benchrest shot at 50 yards and 50 meters) and I clean my benchrest rifles and accurate sporters (Cooper 57M)after every target (roughly 40 shots with sighters). The vast majority of benchrest rimfire shooters clean after every target and those that don't will clean every couple of targets. The ones that want to win, they keep their barrels clean. Consistency is the key, and it's easy to repeat clean than some level of dirty. Rimfire barrels will lead up just like any other rifle shooting lead bullets. For shooting minute of tin can though, it's not that important.

My cleaning is done with a quality one piece .20 cal rod, bore guide, .22 pistol bronze brush, .20 jag and rimfire blend solvent. For my 10/22, I just use a boresnake. That's just for plinking.

My rimfire guns all get a real good cleaning at least once a year. Usually on cold midwinter nights. After dinner I'll go down to the work room and clean one a night until they're all clean. Good for another year, usually.

Never used to clean mine at all.

I've got a 580 Remington that shoots exceptionally well if you clean with a bronze bore brush about every 125-150 shots, then wipe with a dry patch. Go too far beyond those 125-150 shots and the bullets may go where they please.