Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Do you clean your 22RF bores?

Nah,
I just put the dirty barrels pointed down ...next to a can of Kroil...and all the dirt falls out .

Every ten years whether they need it or not.

The rest of the rifle, whenever I use it I wipe it off.

I have learned that cleaning ruins the accuracy for 20 or so shots until it gets dirty enough for it to be happy.

Also, a 22 bore with 1 grain of powder at a time takes a damn long time to NEED cleaning unless you're shooting matches for money.

Yup.

my 22RF's will need a bore cleaning when it fails to extract a spent cartridge. then i will need a bore brush, Shooters Choice and patches. when the rifle is clean, then i shoot about 100-125 times to make the rifle accurate. the outside of the rifles i use Ballistol religiously.

"Some" say a lot of stupid things too. Why polish and hand lap a barrel, only to "season" it with crud and then shoot it. A really good barrel will shoot lights out either way. I run a pull through cleaning device through my 22lr's and it has never hurt them. I clean them after every use, so they don't get a carbon ring. "Every use", could mean 100 rounds or 300 rounds, but they do get cleaned the same day, or after each use:




The last 2 targets show the most recent groups with that rifle, to show how it shoots with a clean cold bore. Measly 5 shot groups, sorry as I usually shoot 10 shot groups, but didn't want to burn up that ammo. As with most things, you guys can do what you want. I do what I've always done..

No

Yes, just to take care of it like all the others. Otherwise they feel neglected.

I have a couple .22s I shoot quite a bit, a couple I shoot seldom. For the ones I shoot seldom I like to clean them pretty well before putting them away. Guns I shoot frequently .. no. A couple times a year maybe, maybe not even that. Basically clean them if the dirt seems to affect function. Also clean them .. or at least wipe the carbon, etc off the muzzle before sticking them in a gun rug for transport.

With a silencer, yes. A quick pull through with a bore snake will keep you rifle extracting.

The idea of a bore snake breaking 1/2 through a 22 RF barrel would keep me up at night.

Sort of an annual deal for me. Mostly to get the crud out of the action, so I do the barrel while I'm at it. Seems to subsequently take about 15 rounds for things to settle down (Ruger, CZ, and Anschutz).

I clean the chamber of my 10/22 CSC with a bent pipe cleaner periodically to prevent cycling issues. Others get a solvent-soaked snake very occasionally, being very careful not to let the cord contact the crown.

I don’t clean any of my rifles much, just a CLP or Ballistol-soaked patch, followed by a dry one, before storing, with copper cleaner as needed, which ain’t often.

Takes roughly 40 rounds or so for my 10/22 to settle back down after a cleaning, but it was ingrained in me, that guns get cleaned when you get home from the range.....PERIOD!

It's only a .22...

Maybe someday...

Maybe not...

I have 2 .22 caliber rifles I use solely for squirrel hunting. One is a 10/22 and the other is a cz452. I generally only shoot them a few times to check zero, after which I just hunt. I might fire 200 rounds per year. Both rifles are 1/2” shooters at 50 yards. I might have cleaned the barrels once in 15 years. I have another factory 10/22 made around 1974. I carry it around the farm either in a side by side or farm pickup for shooting snakes, muskets, beavers, and anything else that needs killing. I haven’t cleaned the barrel in many years and it still shoots where I aim. If accuracy ever falls off, I guess I’ll clean the barrel. I’m in the camp that believes cleaning a barrel does more harm than good. YMMV