22: to clean or not to clean - that is the question….!

[Pippin89]

Ask an olympic shooter and they will tell you the clean them after every shoot and sometimes during. If its good enough for them....

[ovenpaa]

My cleaning regime was a PB brush down the barrel and chamber after every outing, just enough to remove the dust. Clean and lightly oil the bolt and wipe everything over. This was for pre war single shots. Occasionally the moving parts were stripped and cleaned on a Martini action.

On a SA, strip and clean everything every 500 rounds, not that I shot such things. My son shoots a lovely Nylon 66 and strips it every 5000 rounds with zero failures recorded.

Just do what you feel best with.

[Itskeith]

Still awaiting my FAC but useful thanks everyone.

Seriously impressive shooting 1066

[phaedra1106]

My 22lr cleaning is just like Christmas, it only happens once a year

[Gun Pimp]

Ask an olympic shooter and they will tell you the clean them after every shoot and sometimes during. If its good enough for them....

That's correct - when I visited the Eley test tunnel a few years ago the guy who ran it was the armourer to the UK Olympic Team in 1964 I think. He told me exactly the same - clean it like you would a fullbore comp. rifle - i.e after every shoot.

[dromia]

The thing is most of us are not Olympic shooters.

My "lack of cleaning" regime might be of no use for an olympic shooter, just as and olympic shooters cleaning regime is of no use for my needs.

It is all horses for courses, I find that .22s only need cleaning infrequently for my needs, 100 yrd wabbit shots and rested 100 yrd consistent 10 ring shots.

As in all things you need to find what works for you and what meets your needs, that is what works best.

[ukrifleman]

I knew a farmer once, who had a nice .22 Walther bolt action rifle and his regime was to pull the dipstick out of the tractor engine and run a bit of oil around the bolt if it became stiff to work!
I don't ever remember him stripping and cleaning it.

[Gun Pimp]

The thing is most of us are not Olympic shooters.

My "lack of cleaning" regime might be of no use for an olympic shooter, just as and olympic shooters cleaning regime is of no use for my needs.

It is all horses for courses, I find that .22s only need cleaning infrequently for my needs, 100 yrd wabbit shots and rested 100 yrd consistent 10 ring shots.

As in all things you need to find what works for you and what meets your needs, that is what works best.

Agreed - I know a stalker whose new rifle would shoot 2 inch groups at 100. Five years on he's never cleaned it and it still shoots 2 inch groups.

[DammitMissedAgain]

Target rifle and Match Rifle both get bore-snaked before going back into the cupboard, and also when they are taken out of the cupboard. The minirifle gets a boresnake if it's been wet, and otherwise only gets looked at if it starts to run ragged.

[Pete]

I used to use boresnakes until I replaced one and found that the replacements "phosphor bronze" bristles were magnetic.....
Worth checking with a magnet, because even these have "fakes" being sold, and steel bristles won't do the crown any good....

Pete