How to clean your rifle without impacting zero

[IDHUNTER]

Just curious what you guys do to clean your rifles after a session at the range when you know the next time you take the gun out will be on a hunt and you dont want to impact your zero. Do you do nothing? Run a patch with a little solvent on it and call it good?

I want a clean barrel but every time I give it a good scrubbing I have to re-sight it the next time out.

 

[beachbunny]

i shoot a couple to foul the barrel

 

[fightthenoise]

I don’t clean it till the end of the season. Clean the gun, check/re-zero, hunt all season, clean the gun. Wipe down the exterior as needed but the bore doesn’t get any attention till the season is over. If it’s shooting, I don’t want to fool with it.


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[rileybassman]

I don’t clean it till the end of the season. Clean the gun, check/re-zero, hunt all season, clean the gun. Wipe down the exterior as needed but the bore doesn’t get any attention till the season is over. If it’s shooting, I don’t want to fool with it.


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what he said... if I'm load developing I may clean between sessions, but when it's hunting time - I zero and don't clean till the end of the season, or if I do for some reason I shoot some fouling shots.

Bore cleaning is over rated ;-) jk - but most guns - actually all of them - I have had shoot much better dirty.

 

[zeroforhire]

Amen to that

what he said... if I'm load developing I may clean between sessions, but when it's hunting time - I zero and don't clean till the end of the season, or if I do for some reason I shoot some fouling shots.

Bore cleaning is over rated ;-) jk - but most guns - actually all of them - I have had shoot much better dirty.

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[Formidilosus]

Just curious what you guys do to clean your rifles after a session at the range when you know the next time you take the gun out will be on a hunt and you dont want to impact your zero. Do you do nothing? Run a patch with a little solvent on it and call it good?

I want a clean barrel but every time I give it a good scrubbing I have to re-sight it the next time out.

Don’t clean.

 

[Zebra312]

I dont clean it at all until the rifle tells me it needs it.

 

[OFFHNTN]

I don’t clean it till the end of the season. Clean the gun, check/re-zero, hunt all season, clean the gun. Wipe down the exterior as needed but the bore doesn’t get any attention till the season is over. If it’s shooting, I don’t want to fool with it.


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Exactly. I shoot it a week or two or a month prior to season to get it dialed in. Hunt all year, clean it when the seasons close, leave it till next fall, then do it all over again.

 

[Flatgo]

maybe i'm doing something wrong, but i've never had cleaning impact zero. The first shot after a cleaning maybe off slightly due to oil residue in the barrel, but foul the barrel once and you should be good to go. i would be really worried about my rifle if i cleaned and had to readjust zero.

 

[rileybassman]

maybe i'm doing something wrong, but i've never had cleaning impact zero. The first shot after a cleaning maybe off slightly due to oil residue in the barrel, but foul the barrel once and you should be good to go. i would be really worried about my rifle if i cleaned and had to readjust zero.

Other then a few fouling shots, cleaning shouldn't change zero. *maybe* if it was super dirty with a lot of copper build up it could start to drift... But I haven't ever seen that.

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[Leadfeather]

Other then a few fouling shots, cleaning shouldn't change zero. *maybe* if it was super dirty with a lot of copper build up it could start to drift... But I haven't ever seen that.

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Spot on!!

 

[ramont]

I used to be a Rangemaster and I've seen how much of a problem a dirty bore can be over the long term. Yes, I know that most competition shooters wont clean their bore until their season is over but I've also seen what happens when you NEVER deep clean the bore. I've seen bores so fouled that you couldn't even see the land and grooves in it. The guy said that he needed a new barrel because it was "shot out". I offered to clean it first and it took me a week of hard work to get the bore clean. It went from terribly large groups to groups that were tight enough that the owner bought a high end scope because he was able to shoot with it again.

I'm in the camp of guys that wont clean the bore until the groups open up but that's usually within a 100 to 200 rounds and I shoot 50 to 100 rounds every time I go shooting. It all depends on the rifle, some of my rifles will go back to shooting well by just removing the carbon and others have to have everything removed.

 

[elkguide]

Love that Kroil as my bore cleaner...…… AFTER the hunting season is over.

 

[rbljack]

I used to be a Rangemaster and I've seen how much of a problem a dirty bore can be over the long term. Yes, I know that most competition shooters wont clean their bore until their season is over but I've also seen what happens when you NEVER deep clean the bore. I've seen bores so fouled that you couldn't even see the land and grooves in it. The guy said that he needed a new barrel because it was "shot out". I offered to clean it first and it took me a week of hard work to get the bore clean. It went from terribly large groups to groups that were tight enough that the owner bought a high end scope because he was able to shoot with it again.

I'm in the camp of guys that wont clean the bore until the groups open up but that's usually within a 100 to 200 rounds and I shoot 50 to 100 rounds every time I go shooting. It all depends on the rifle, some of my rifles will go back to shooting well by just removing the carbon and others have to have everything removed.

what process do you use to remove the fouling/lead fouling? curious to know what you did there. Thanks!

 

[Formidilosus]

I used to be a Rangemaster and I've seen how much of a problem a dirty bore can be over the long term. Yes, I know that most competition shooters wont clean their bore until their season is over but I've also seen what happens when you NEVER deep clean the bore. I've seen bores so fouled that you couldn't even see the land and grooves in it. The guy said that he needed a new barrel because it was "shot out". I offered to clean it first and it took me a week of hard work to get the bore clean. It went from terribly large groups to groups that were tight enough that the owner bought a high end scope because he was able to shoot with it again.

I'm in the camp of guys that wont clean the bore until the groups open up but that's usually within a 100 to 200 rounds and I shoot 50 to 100 rounds every time I go shooting. It all depends on the rifle, some of my rifles will go back to shooting well by just removing the carbon and others have to have everything removed.

Well over 6,000 rounds. Never cleaned.







12 cans= 5,520 rounds, plus at least 1,500 rounds of 185gr Berger Juggernauts, and 900+ of barrier loads. Never cleaned.



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About 1,500 rounds ago.....

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[Ryan Avery]

Form, I am right there with ya.

Have not cleaned a rifle in four years and probably fired over 7000 rounds

I'm not saying I'm right but I certainly think its a waste of time and people rather blame a dirty gun then blame the shooter.

 

[bhylton]

i've wasted a lot of time and reloading components trying to build a load cleaning between shooting sessions. the only accurate barrel is a consistent barrel and the only consistent barrel is a dirty barrel in my experience.
I will run some type of oil down the barrel when storing for a long period, but thats about it.

 

[belly-deep]

I agree with the other posters. You're too hung up on having a clean bore. Just hunt with it. Clean after the season ends (or not!).

 

[jsb]

This is interesting. So if I fire maybe 20 rounds a year through my 30-06, is it ok not to clean it? Maybe just oil the bore at the end of the season for storage?

 

[Formidilosus]

This is interesting. So if I fire maybe 20 rounds a year through my 30-06, is it ok not to clean it? Maybe just oil the bore at the end of the season for storage?

20 rounds isn’t anything. If it’s a stainless barrel, you don’t even need to oil it.