Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns How often should a shotgun be cleaned?

As I have said in other posts, I am really new to shotguns. I've had one or two over the last 30+ years, but never really shot them much. Now my son is shooting trap and skeet and my daughter will be shooting trap soon, so I am trying to shoot more often with them.

How often should a gun be cleaned? I assume a semiauto will let you know when it needs it, but how about an O/U? We are mostly shooting light target loads.

Schooled by my Army dad, every time you shoot them. As a practical matter it's fast and easy to clean before you get enough crap built up to affect functioning. Then it can be a chore.

If a screw-in choke tube, make sure they're tight often. Some loosen from shooting. And use snap caps with an O/U, firing pins sometimes break if the hammer releases on an empty chamber. The shock from the hammer hit gets absorbed by the firing pin instead of being transmitted to the shell. And get a chamber-size brush to clean the chamber. I've seen a lot of kids have extraction problems from apparently something on the hulls building up in the chamber when shooting trap. A good scrub with a chamber brush fixes the problem, a bore brush is too small to do the job. (Pardon me if you already know this.)

I have always cleaned them every time they are shot. Does not take long, less time than a rifle or pistol. Plastic and powder fouling normally towards the choke for the most part. Keep it maintained and it will last.

O/U keep the hinge pins and face clean and oiled or greased. Depends on how often they are shot when it is needed. Eventually you will get a feel for when. Probably the most important cleaning you can do, so overdo rather than under.

Keep choke tubes cleaned and oiled when they get dirty. I've gone over a thousand rounds. As mentioned keep them screwed down. Clean barrels? Again you wii get a feel for when and it isn't often.

If rained on hard for a good bit, take the stock off and dry things out with a hair dryer.

Wipe off the outside and put it away till the next time. They are not delicate tools.

Remove the ejectors and clean and oil. When? 3000-5000?

Great advice from above. I'll add that teaching the shooter about the inner working, the smooth action as well as the beauty in the design can lead to a desire to clean meticulously instead of a rushed and haphazard manner.

Shoot a beautiful gun or one that you and your child have restored and it will forever have a connected narrative.

I use my SKB O/Us for most shoots. They get cleaned immediately upon their return to my shop. It only takes 5 minutes, and it will ensure the firearm will remain in near pristine condition.. Like others have said above, if the firearm has choke tubes, remove them at the end of every day's shoot, clean the threads, add a dab of tube grease and re-install.. NEVER leave a choke tube out of a barrel..

Cleaning is a habit that everyone should work to achieve. And for young shooters, ensure they are taught to properly clean their own firearms and store them away when not in use.

Originally typing on phone, so left one important thing out.

Anything that you can see that is rubbing metal to metal on something else; keep it clean and oiled. Most of it will be obvious when you wipe it down and a wipe off and light oil will cover most everything. Hinge pins are key. The rest of it a lightly oiled rag does fine for the most part. Your regular left over automotive oil is as good as anything you can buy in the gun shop.

Clean? Rarely if ever. I do wipe mine down, and oil the hinge pins, etc.

Cleanliness is over rated. Its often a waste of time, and I have better stuff to do.

I usually run a bore snake through and grease the metal/metal contact points when I'm done. Check the chokes for plastic build up, and clean when you start to see it. Action gets cleaned once a year. Wiped down if you get rained on. 'Bout it...

I love guys like you - keeps me in business.......

How so? Never had a gun go down from being dirty. Cleaning and maintaining are two completely different things.

I do

Snake

You will.. Actually, they're quite related..

Outside of a wipe down with an oily rage my Benelli's don't get cleaned unless they have gotten wet. Never a single problem with them. I use to clean my chokes all the time. Until a well known top ranked shooter told me its not needed. Reason is the plastic build-up only builds to a thin coating. Once that coating is built up thats it. So I decided to test the theory and let it build and "mic" it, sure enough that part was right. So then I decided to give it a pattern test no real noticable difference.

My O/U's and S/S's get wiped down too and the hinge pin greased. Once a year they get totally striped down and cleaned. Again never a problem.

My Beretta gas guns get cleaned every few 100 rounds.

You need one of those classic blue receiver XCell's. You can go a couple thousand.

Battue the Beretta's never get used anyways, you know the Benelli is my baby!

I might get one when they make it without that blue!

I did take the 390 out a few sunny days for crows.

Disagree on both counts.

My AR15 has, last time I cared to count, a bit over 5k rounds through since the last time I had it apart. I did run a boresnake through it a while back, after particularly muddy romp through the woods. Its coming due for an extractor and buffer spring change, it will get cleaned them.

My 700 308 precison gun has 420 rounds through it since it was cleaned last. It gets cleaned when accuracy begins to degrade, usually around 1k rounds.

My M&P that I carry daily has somewhere north of 10k rounds through it, and the bore has never been cleaned. It does get pulled apart, wiped down, and oiled anytime I am working in inclement weather, or very dusty conditions.

My hunting guns get cleaned before they get put away for the season. Not before. They get a general wipe down, and oiling of the parts than need it. Anything else is a waste of time.

.22s? Never, unless accuracy turns to crap.

Again, maintenance, and cleaning are wholly unrelated. I can oil and inspect without cleaning. Pat Rogers, who most likely oversees more rounds fired through AR15s thatn anyone else on the earth, has rifles with north of 40,000 rounds with nothing more than oil, and extractor changes. Guess what? They work just fine.

That Benelli certinly isn't babied the way you treat it.

Gotta love the giant recoil pad!!!!

Hey that Benelli is babied! That one has only had about 90K thru it.

I am working on a new stock with the right LOP! We'll see how it comes out. I am hoping to finish it up before summer.

clean a sxs or o/u everytime it gets shot. Barrels off , hinge pin greased and residue removed from all visible surfaces. On gas semi's I clean the gas system and barrel and maybe once a season remove the bolt and trigger group and give it a thorough cleaning.