Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How many shots between cleaning for larger bores?

Yes. If you're OCD you clean excessively. If not, you don't.

I have a 700 ADL in 25-06 with more than 3000 rounds down the barrel. When I first got it, I cleaned it after every range session. I always griped that it wasn't accurate enough shooting 1.5-2" groups with factory stuff. When I started reloading for it, the guy that was teaching me told me not to clean so much. Soon, the barrel dropped down to an honest .5" shooter. After about 2500 rounds it started opening up, whether I cleaned it or not. So, cleaned it down to the metal and started finding a new load for it. Settled on 7977 and the 110 Accubond. Groups aren't as tight as they use to be since I'm chasing the lands pretty well. But I still shoot it quite a bit. I learned that it wanted cleaning after every 100-125 rounds.
Fast-forward and it was time to clean the ol' girl. I decided to run a test of all of the best known bore cleaners. After following the instructions on each, I'd run the bore scope down the barrel. What I learned is that clean is in the eye of the beer-holder.
Some of them took the carbon out real quick but left the copper.
Some removed some of the copper.
Some removed some more of the copper
Finally, I tried the 29% Ammonia and a bronze brush. ALL of the copper came out and the barrel was spotless.

What I learned:
There's clean enough and there's too clean.

Under my 'normal' cleaning regimen, I could clean and be back in battery with my handloads in 5-6 shots.

With the Ammonia and getting to 'too clean' it took 28 shots before the rifle started to group like it should.

Not a 'big bore' or 'larger' (liger) bore and only an sample of one but still interesting findings.

I like to target-shoot and work up loads at the range, but do not dabble in competitions.
My end goal is to have accurate hunting loads that I like and use during deer season.

I clean at the end of a range or field session, mostly because I want the equipment to stay rust-and-pitting-free forever.

My hunting rifles always stay very, very close to my expected point of impact on a 1st shot from a clean bore, preceded by a pull or two on a bore snake.

I don't think I'll start keeping dirty bores in the safe, just to reduce a quarter inch or half inch off the size of my current results.

I think everybody does "what works for them".

Vive La Difference!

come on you can do better than that ...how many rounds max. between cleaning = OCD...?
there might be some folks here with a problem that hasn't been diagnosed yet.

and the dude from GAP telling guys to go 'have a few beers' while the bore is soaking
wouldnt help folks with OCD...too many beers while handling firearms doesnt sound good....

IIRC, 800 - 900 rounds with my previous 300’s. I clean less than that now unless crap gets in the barrel.

Gunsmiths make a huge income from cleaning rifles that are fouled to where they have lost their accuracy, and by this point, it takes special cleaning supplies to clean the barrel.

Carbon gets super cooked and at some point will be Near impossible to get out. Each barrel can be different. Various factory barrels can be very different from each other, and custom barrels are also very different in their micro finish.


Accuracy is a relative thing. Some guys like 1/4-3/8", others 1.0", most would fall into 1.5" groups, and others minute of pie plate.

Not cleaning your guns is like not changing oil in your car or truck. You can get away without changing your oil every 20,000 miles, but the motor will not last long with regular oil that is a non synthetic.

Through the years, I have helped a lot of guys with barrels that were fouled very badly, some could be saved, some were just way too much pitting to save. Their responses were, "I never knew" or "no body told me".

Guys that do not like to clean, will not clean no matter what the consequences, just trade the gun off when it quits shooting.

There are a lot of threads on cleaning guns over on www.accurateshooter.com.

A few observations on these points. First, I really doubt gunsmiths make piles of money cleaning rifles, it's labor- and time-intensive and it's not something most of them want to be doing. Anyone can clean a fouled bore, it's not what they trained to do, so it's not a big-ticket item for gunsmiths.

Second, letting fouling accumulate in your bore is nothing like not changing the oil in your engine. Not changing your oil will screw up your engine, not cleaning your bore just means it's dirty or you lose accuracy. Not cleaning your bore is more like not washing your truck.

Third, pitting comes from corrosion, right? Not a dirty bore by itself.

I don’t refer to rifle cleaning by rounds as much as years...

interesting parallel, so does your truck lose accuracy when you don't wash it..?

Does every rifle lose accuracy if you don't clean it over the course of a year or two?

your previous broad statement seems to suggest they do.-

>>.. "not cleaning your bore just means it's dirty and you lose accuracy".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger
Are we cleaning our liger rifles?

Do you fret over all my posts to this degree? I never knew. I'll try not to upset you next time.

Fretting..??..lol..you asked me a question and I responded.

You also called out Keith and disected his comments and I called out you on yours, that's all.

Smokepole, we are just having a discussion.

"A few observations on these points. First, I really doubt gunsmiths make piles of money cleaning rifles, it's labor- and time-intensive and it's not something most of them want to be doing. Anyone can clean a fouled bore, it's not what they trained to do, so it's not a big-ticket item for gunsmiths.

Second, letting fouling accumulate in your bore is nothing like not changing the oil in your engine. Not changing your oil will screw up your engine, not cleaning your bore just means it's dirty and you lose accuracy. Not cleaning your bore is more like not washing your truck.

Third, pitting comes from corrosion, right? Not a dirty bore by itself."

#1- depends on the gunsmith and his following, accuracy gunsmiths do not do much cleaning, they replace barrels instead of spending many hours on cleaing rods. Anyone can clean a fouled bore if they have the know how and the money to spend on the equipment to do so, most do not have the knowledge to clean a gun properly, so they do not. The "won't clean a gun crowd" just trade off guns or they sit in the back of the gun safe with another taking it's place.

#2- fouling gets to a point to where you can not get it out without lapping a bore and opening up the dia, and I have the compounds to do so, and Hawkeye bore scope to examine the results.

#3-pitting comes from neglect and not putting tape on the end of your muzzle or a finger rubber, especially the first 1/2" back from the muzzle.

For the vast majority of shooters, a rifle is like a drill or a hammer. Just oil the outside to keep down the surface rust, and Rock On!

keith, thanks for the reply. We will have to agree to disagree. On your #1 above, the equipment needed to clean a bore is cheap and rudimentary, and no special skills are required. I'd be willing to bet that most shooters who can't clean a bore when needed don't shoot enoiugh to foul their bores to the point it makes a difference anyway. Cleaning a rifle bore is not something anyone I know would pay a gunsmith to do.

As for your #2, again, shooters who don't know how to clean a bore are not out there sending hundreds of rounds down-range. For the guys who buy 1=2 boxes of ammo a year and shoot five to "sight in" before deer season, none of this matters.

I didn't "call out" keith. He said a few things I disagreed with. I listed them, told him why I disagreed, and he responded. His response above says "we are just having a discussion." If keith and I are having a discussion, what business is it of yours? Are you the moderator now?

And I didn't "dissect his comments." I quoted his statements I disagreed with and told him why I disagreed. Unlike you, you seem to be quibbling over the fact that I used "and" when it should have been "or." So I went back and edited the post, just for you.

Get over yourself, you twit.


Oooops, another grammatical error, I think I spelled that wrong.

Someone who likens not washing your truck to not cleaning a barrel is in no position to call anyone a twit.
I trust most people come to the campfire to hopefully be educated somewhat , not dumbed down by folks like you.



Carbon deposits act like a desiccant or hygroscopic , drawing moisture from the atmosphere
and inducing corrosion.
Copper fouling can also induce corrosion, in the presence of moisture.

...thus dirty or contaminated barrels can contribute to corrosion and pitting.

if you come back for more, Ill take it that you suffer from the 'OCD' condition you mentioned..

Starman, you just unwittingly proved that what I said is true. It appears that doing things unwittingly comes naturally to you. Maybe you should go back and read those twelve words again, their meaning seems to have escaped you the first few times:

"Third, pitting comes from corrosion, right? Not a dirty bore by itself" The point being, you need to add moisture to get corrosion. Or, are you here to tell everyone who puts their rifles away without cleaning that they're ruining their bores?

And sorry for calling you a twit. As I said, it was a grammatical error, I should have used "a" instead of "i."

KEY is a dry bore.

Bartlein here.



Hint.

LAUGHING!...............