Barrel Cleaning

It's only been within the last few years that I started putting a lot of rounds down the barrel of a few of my rifles. Years past, I hunted, went to the range once per year to confirm zero and that was it. Most of my rifles were shot 5-10 rounds per year. I rarely cleaned my barrels with a rod, they shot great in hunting situations.

If most of you were shooting 100-200 rounds over the course of a year, how often would you clean? One of my best shooters put up some not so great groups yesterday. Not range conditions or ammo, I was doing a side by side with another .308 and it had no issues.

Some "Best Shooters" have an off day. Could be the shooter/rifle/ammo/optics or any combination of the above. Bench rest guys clean a barrel every few rounds. IMO, overkill, but I'm not a bench rest guy.

This is my cleaning methods in the link below.

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5370400/1

I generally only clean rifles and shotguns when they start having accuracy or cycling problems. As for handguns I typically clean after ever session. Probably way overkill but it seems like I have more issues with dirty handguns than anything else.

His rifle may have been telling him it's time for a cleaning. I keep the working parts clean but don't do any bore cleaning until I start seeing groups open up that I seriously cannot account for even in my own mind.

Wipe the down the barrel, stock and bolt after every outing. Oil the moving parts lightly as needed. Only touch the bore when accuracy falls off. Few fowler so then it's back on.

The rifle will tell you when it needs to be cleaned, bore wise that is..

This.

Less is more.

J. Dewey Nylon Coated Cleaning Rod is a fantastic product. Great quality, turns freely, very smooth, makes something that could be hard not too difficult.

Cleaned it. Probably had 250 rounds over the last two years. Sixth patch was clean. This is a stainless, 5R heavy barrel. I'll get some range time soon, hopefully things will tighten up.

Okierifleman mentioned that the rifle will tell you when the bore needs cleaning. That's true, but you do need to be listening.

Exactly, gun shoots great, but I do check zero from time to time.

250 rounds and your 6th patch was clean? That's aweome!

Also, no blue stain from copper fouling. I was surprised. It's had nothing but Hornady SST through it.