Well that was pretty traumatic!

[CraigH]

Saying as we are in lockdown and I was bored, I thought I might as well give my CZ 452 it's first, for me, clean (bought 2nd hand and put a couple thousand rounds through, so no idea how dirty it may be).

Already bought the equipment, .22 Parker hale rod, Brush, Jag and bore guide - now I'm not particularly handy, but lets face it how difficult can this be!

Insert boreguide - stick a patch on jag and do a test (in case for some reason it doesn't fit) comes out the other end, happy days.

Squirt some cleaner in (Pro Ferrum, no idea if its any good - somebody recommended), left for 10 mins and then got the brush out - insert brush and straight away stuck - it's going nowhere, panic sets in! Fortunately it's stuck in the bore guide, now spend 15 mins wrestling with the rod trying to extract it from the Bore guide - finally release it - now the brush is welded onto the rod, 5 mins of wrestling and the brush comes off, brush goes in bin.

Wait 5 mins until I feel brave enough to push patch through, push rod through - no patch on the end!

Shine torch down barrel, cant see anything, check all over the floor, no sign - it's in the boreguide (starting to hate this boreguide!)

Start again, success - patch comes out, bit of muck on - every subsequent patch comes out clean.

All that stress for one dirty patch!

[ovenpaa]

I use a PB brush to remove the carbon in the barrel on a .22LR bolt action and that is about it, a couple of lightly oiled patches finish the job. I wipe the bolt over at the same time and give the gun a visual check. I do this when I remember or if I have been out in the rain. Cleaning Semi Auto rimfire is a bit more frequent as they do get a bit manky inside.

[CraigH]

I'll not be doing it again in a hurry - still sitting in the corner, gently rocking back and forward while drinking herbal tea and listening to soothing music.

[Airbrush]

You must be bored to clean the barrel of a .22.

[snayperskaya]

If you get really bored try cleaning a Mosin Nagant that has been fed a diet of milsurp ammo for years, that'll keep you busy for a while!.

[dromia]

Time enough to clean a gun when it stops working.

More good guns are ruined by over cleaning than anything else.

[snayperskaya]

Time enough to clean a gun when it stops working.

So by that logic do you change the engine oil in your car when the engine seizes?

My grandfather used to shoot and he always said "look after a gun and it will look after you".

[FredB]

I had a friend in my first club who was a dedicated 25yd prone shooter. He used an Anschutz rifle and his scores were high and consistent. always using Tenex. When it was 40 years old, he decided to treat hinself to a new one, compete with adjustable stock etc, and donated his old rifle to the club. The guy who looked after the club rifles asked him how he cleaned it. "Clean it?" he said: "I don't know really. it's never seemed to need it".
Fred

[redcat]

I'll not be doing it again in a hurry - still sitting in the corner, gently rocking back and forward while drinking herbal tea and listening to soothing music.

Buy a bore snake.

Redcat

[dromia]

Apples and oranges.

Modern ammunition is not very dirty and consequently guns don't need cleaning as often as people think or as vigorously.

All I clean is any dirt and powder residue from the inside and outside of the gun with a light wipe, the externals of my guns rarely get dirty even after a day on the hill, obviously if I dropped in a slurry pit then I would clean it down, in the rain any moisture would be wiped off, I bed my rifle's actions and barrels into the stocks with pump grease to stop any water ingress.

Barrels just get a damp ed's red cloth pulled through followed by a dry patch and another damp patch and good to go. The main reason for cleaning the barrel is to stop the fouling attracting moisture, my guns are stored in a dry environment so they are not needed to be cleaned after every session.

I don't lube the actions of my bolt rifles as they don't need it and the lube just attracts dirt and grit and adds to wear.

If you have the misfortune to have to shoot condom bullets then they copper barrels like hell and eventually accuracy deteriorate, hence the "time enough to clean the gun when it stops working".

As I rarely if ever use condom bullets my guns do not suffer from this, I have too much respect for my firearms to use condom bullets in them.