Just curious what others do, but how often are you pulling your stock for a deep cleaning? How about pulling your bolt apart?

I grew up with the thought of rifles were meant for hunting. We would hunt through season, wipe the dust off the outside, clean the bore, oil it and put it in the safe. Then right before season, we would get the rifles out to check zero and we were ready to hunt. From what I remember, we would really only pull the stock off if we hunted in the rain to oil everything.

Nowadays we will ride around in the buggy, where rifles are getting much dirtier/dusty and I was just thinking about pulling the stock off, bolt apart, deep deep cleaning and was curious what others are typically doing.

I pull mine apart when they get dirty, I might not pull it all apart during hunting season.
I will say this all mine have a metal bedding block and steel bottom metal so the get torqued to 65 inlbs and they repeat zeros with no issues.
I also clean the barrels after every session of shooting but typically refrain from cleaning the barrel during the season.
This subject is about as subjective as what brand of oil and how often you change it in your car.

I say do what works for you, I’m a little ocd with my firearms and all show little to no wear at all.

I only do a deep clean after a gun has been exposed to rain, snow, sleet, or super heavy fog. Never clean barrel during season unless exposed to those things as well. Mostly just wipe it down at the end of a trip and call it good. This is going to sound crazy but I usually wont clean a barrel unless it starts to lose accuracy or exposed to those elements above. I have barrels that haven't been cleaned in years that will still hold their own against some of the best customs being built.

When I pick it up and go, “This is gross.”

Keep the outside wiped down, only clean the barrel when accuracy deteriorates. Also, if you oil barrel before putting it away for a while, make sure that oil is removed before firing again.

^^This.

Action, when it's rough, pull the bolt, clean the bolt and inside the action.

I'm all about function over fashion. So I only clean the barrel when it starts to shoot less than it is capable of.

Put me down for the ‘gross’ category. It’s a tool.

This is kind of what i was thinking. Thanks fellas. One of them is almost to this point, but it'll have to wait until after mld season to get pulled down that far.

How about for a hunting rifle that is only going to get shot a few times at the range to confirm zero, and then once or twice during hunting season.
Clean it after season is over or throw it back in the safe?
Would it be ok to leave a gun dirty for a few years?

Growing up dad taught me to clean it after deer season and put it away. Cleaning included wipeing the outside metal parts with some type of oil to prevent rust and cleaning the barrel with Hops #9. That was it, barreled action never came out of the stock.

From recommendations on here I now only clean when I get them dirty by some other means than shooting or when accuracy falls off. I prefer a foaming bore cleaner and I wipe the rustable surfaces with a clean towel and whatever clean motor oil I have on hand.

Not sure what other actions are the same, but after an incident with a gummed up firing pin spring I take down and clean all the bolts on our rem 700's ever 5 or so years, good reminder I probably need to do that again.

I hate gun cleaning threads

Never all my guns are dirty mostly fine red dust. Why clean it off just to take it out and get it dirty again

I never put a gun in my safe with a dirty barrel. Hoppe's #9 for cleaning with a final pass with Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner and Lube because it provides excellent rust protection and doesn't leave an oily residue. Actions get taken down and cleaned after 100 rounds or so. Bolts maybe every other year at best. All wood and exterior gun surfaces are waxed once or twice a year as needed. My hope is that all my firearms will show they were greatly valued and treated well throughout several generations of dependable use.

Probably the biggest area I procrastinate on in my life is cleaning guns. But I just don't shoot that many rounds through any of them. I still clean more than my dad ever did.

Grossest gun I've personally handled was a Pre-'64 Mod 70 .243 that I bought off of gunbroker. 'Only time I've had a gunsmith clean a rifle for me. The darn thing is almost magical the way it shoots now, and all I did was have it cleaned up.

I am far from a patient man, or what you'd call a methodical thinker, so I never take anything apart to the 'nth degree. I never get things to go back together right. A man needs to know his limitations.

I typically do too. I was mainly curious what others do when/if it comes to a deep clean. I've known people that have never cleaned rifles, ever. On the other hand, I have a friend that completely strips his rifle down every single time he takes it out to shoot, including hunting.

To each his own, but I was brought up, and still practice, that if a gun is shot, it gets a thorough cleaning before it is stored for any length of time. If I carry a gun in the field, and never get a shot, I simply wipe them down and lightly oil before storing, but still do a complete breakdown clean at season end. If shot, even if only going to sit for a few weeks, it gets a deep clean. Its a lot of work, but guns I've had for 40+ years still look new, so works for me.

I do and have seen no negative effects. Corrosive ammo is pretty much a thing of the past so guns don't need constant cleaning like they use to. Moisture is the primary reason I clean a barrel like I said above, but I have no issues with letting a barrel go years at a time without cleaning. Now if I plan to put a gun up for years and years without any plans of shooting it I will go ahead and clean it and run a oil patch through it. But for guns that get used every year I don't clean the bore unless its a accuracy or moisture issue.

Being made of metal, firearms sweat when taken from cold to warm. Anyone who has ever cranked up a heater in their stand or seen the temperature quickly rise in their ground blind knows this all too well. And when they sweat, any foreign substance that clings to the metal is going to absorb the moisture and hold it against the metal until dry. So it's really not so much the corrosive nature of gunpowder residue than causes pitting but the repeated and prolonged exposure to moisture.

The only time I found rust on any of my firearms happened when I was a kid and didn't know better. I had put my Remington 1100 shotgun in a soft case after it had been raining and didn't take the time to dry it off. A small amount of water left on the receiver combined with the cloth lining of the case worked together to hold moisture long enough for a small spot of rust to develop. Thankfully, it was easily removed with some fine steel wool.

This is a timely thread for me. Saturday I picked up a gun cabinet off CL and after removing each from their case, was wiping all the guns down with an oily sock before placing them in the cabinet. Wife came in and said she never saw me clean any of our guns in the past. I told her they get cleaned good when I think they need it but I have procrastinated more than I used too. None get shot a bunch.

Anyone use a sonic cleaner for their pistols? I know it’s great for muzzle brakes.

Which is why I said "moisture is the primary reason I clean a barrel".

Funny you say this, I used to keep a box of factory ammo for one of my guns in the glove box of my buggy. I was out and about running low on ammo and opened this box up and it had corrosion on 5 or 6 of the rounds. If I remember this weekend, I’ll take some pictures of it.

That's not the type of corrosion I am talking about. Brass and copper most certainly will corrode when it comes in contact with water or various chemicals. Same thing with lead. I am talking about corrosive primer/powder. Many of barrels have been destroyed by corrosive primer/powder ignition. Almost all major commercial loads are non-corrosive these days. Millitary surplus ammo is what you have to play close attention to.

Makes sense. I get what you’re saying.

most on here know how anal i am about cleaning my guns after every range session. while hunting its cased most of the time till i get to blind, etc.
Most are bedded where nothing can get to. I run lightly oiled rag under barrel between stock, Lighter fluid and canned air on the triggers. lens pen on all optics, etc

Pistols also cleaned after every range session