Gun cleaning frequency

[Carl 9.3x62]

Those of you doing a "wipe down," do you remove the stock or leave it on?

 

[CoHunter1991]

Those of you doing a "wipe down," do you remove the stock or leave it on?

Leave it on. I loc-tite my action screws so that much removal would be a pain.

 

[noharleyyet]

Those of you doing a "wipe down," do you remove the stock or leave it on?

I clean 'under the float' & remove the firing pin assembly on my 700's. ....what do you do?

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I clean 'under the float' & remove the firing pin assembly on my 700's. ....what do you do?

Normally clean my rifles once a year, which includes the barrel and removing the stock to wipe down all the surfaces. Usually have to re-zero though. Not sure if the stock removal is actually worth it, unless I see obvious dirt.

 

[338win]

Stainless m77 hasn’t been cleaned since it had frozen tundra rammed down the barrel in 2017.

 

[CoHunter1991]

For those who don't clean there hunting rifles often do you switch bullets and see effects in groups? I read on Ron Spomer that switching to monolithic without cleaning the barrel to bare steel can effect accuracy.

 

[Walkathon]

I clean mine after about 40 rounds, or if I believe I got water or condensation inside the barrel.

 

[Carl]

I wipe down actions as needed based on feel. I’m undecided on barrel cleaning, but I’m doing a pretty well controlled test of zero cleaning on my latest match rifle barrel. I’ll publish results at some point, but 650 rds in so far so good.

There are many cleaning strategies employed by high level shooters, but no one I’m aware of would advocate hunting with a freshly cleaned barrel. A freshly cleaned barrel would be the least stable with respect to point of impact and velocity.

 

[Vanishe187]

So for me I do a few things. My small calibers .17 and .204 I clean after every use. Smaller calibers tend to foul very fast. With my .22 cal and above it varies. I do lots of coyote hunting, if i shot once or twice and I'm going out next day I wait. If I shoot upwards of 10 rounds I'll clean it. If I only shoot a couple rounds but no plans to shoot in next few days I'll clean it. My grandpa was competition shooter and always cleaned his rifles. My dad picked up that habit, and now so have I.

 

[Redmt]

I'll do a copper scrub on my hunting rifles once a year, maybe. I'll super scrub before developing a new load. After satisfactory development I'll send a couple of a known load through it. If the POA is the same I'll leave it until the next year.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

For those who don't clean there hunting rifles often do you switch bullets and see effects in groups? I read on Ron Spomer that switching to monolithic without cleaning the barrel to bare steel can effect accuracy.

Generally, no. I won’t say it doesn’t happen sometimes but I bounce around with different powders and bullets a lot and don’t typically see any issue.

Have bounced around a fair bit between barnes LRX, Berger, hornady, and Sierra bullets in my primary hunting rifle and it shoots them all well without cleaning in between.