Barrel cleaning frequency and barrel life?

[ratbuster]

When ground squirrel shooting I typically bring 4 rifles and rotate them to avoid getting the barrels too hot. Each one gets about 100 rounds a day. I have read that too many shots between cleanings contributes to barrel wear. I always wait till the end of the day to clean them all. Should I take the time in the midst of the fun to clean them after approx 50 rounds?

The four most commonly used guns are two 20VT's, one 20 Practical and one HMR. I do not notice a fall off in accuracy later in the day with any of them. After 1250 rounds the 20P has some firecracking and the lands have moved .013. The Vartarg's show no appreciable firecracking and the lands move about 1/3 of the rate of the 20P.

I would love to hear some opinions from long time, high volume shooters. Clean them after 50 rounds or don't bother till end of the day? I suppose an option would be to clean the 20P after 50 rounds and wait till end of day for the Vartargs.

 

[dmoran]

End of the day....
Sort to speak, no matter if I've fired 5 or 205, I clean at the end of the day.
Donovan

 

[1shot]

+1 ^^^

 

[Tommie]

What Mr D said.
And some guns seem to take a kajillion shots before accuracy drops off. Those pieces get cleaned once I'm back home. But then again, I'm not as neurotic about cleaning as maybe I should be.

 

[R.Morehouse]

I am just now going to shoot one of my guns with out cleaning it until the accuracy drops off. It is a 300wsm custom tac type gun that i don't yet compete with. It has a Shilen Select Match barrel that has been set back and re-chambered from a 300rum. So if my little experiment has a negative effect on the barrel it really doesn't matter much to me. I hear some stories of MANY hundreds of rounds through 308's, 223's ect........We will see.....

 

[Jeff A]

I have two things that influence my cleaning frequency greatly. One is premium aftermarket barrels and the other is a Borescope. Once I owned a Borescope I soon found out that I was cleaning too often. IMHO, in this day and age, every serious shooter should own a Borescope. I bought a Hawkeye which is very pricey but now we have a Lyman that is very affordable. No more excuses. Without a Borescope, there is no way to tell if your bore is clean or not.

 

[Roach]

I clean the chamber / bolt but not the barrel until accuracy drops around 250-300 rounds. MY savage 10 FCPK 10 in .308. Held 1/2 MOA until about 2500 rounds and opened up a bit but still sub MOA. I have the savage 10 stealth in .308 that gets the same cleaning schedule as well as a Ruger RPR in 6.5CM.

 

[savagedasher]

I never have seen a barrel go bad from cleaning
But I can from not . Larry

 

[dmoran]

^^^ +1 ..... that is my experience as well

Oxidized fouling (from time spent fouled) is what I see damages a barrel the most. And is why I clean at the end of a day no matter how few or many I put down it. Clean and oiled is my favorite barrel.
Donovan

 

[Ned Ludd]

Proper cleaning will not damage a barrel or cause it to wear excessively fast. On the other hand, some of the powder/primer residue can be hygroscopic, that is, it attracts water from the air. Collectively, the moisture and residue are what will lead to pitting over time. In addition, the longer you wait (the more rounds you fire) between cleanings, the harder it is to get all the crud out of your barrel. I suspect it is this buildup and the increased difficulty removing it that leads to "excessive" cleaning practices that may damage the bore.

 

[Chuckhunter]

Proper cleaning will not damage a barrel or cause it to wear excessively fast. On the other hand, some of the powder/primer residue can be hygroscopic, that is, it attracts water from the air. Collectively, the moisture and residue are what will lead to pitting over time. In addition, the longer you wait (the more rounds you fire) between cleanings, the harder it is to get all the crud out of your barrel. I suspect it is this buildup and the increased difficulty removing it that leads to "excessive" cleaning practices that may damage the bore.

I agree with Mr. Taylor completely.

 

[people]

I clean when accuracy goes. Unless I have no plans of shooting it for a long time then clean.

 

[K22]

I clean with a carbon and copper removing cleaner approx. every 30 rounds. I've been doing it this way for 40+ years and it seems to work in keepiing carbon and copper built up to a minimum.

 

[J P Brown]

I clean for rust prevention at the end of the day, which is usually just one patch in the chamber and into the bore, sometimes two patches just depends how dirty the first patch is.
Other than this I "deep" clean when accuracy drops off, or I feel there's excess copper in there. (Some is ok)
I guess it depends how your bore fouls or holds it's accuracy.

 

[David247]

I read an article once by a guy from Rifles Only if memory serves. It's been a long time ago but I think he said that they did not clean their barrels in till accuracy fell off and with 308's it was like 500 to a 1000 rounds. Don't hold me to those exact numbers but I was shocked at how many it was. He also said that many times the barrels would be damaged more by over cleaning. At the time I had a 308 with a Mike Rock barrel and I tried it. I would shoot it as many as 500 times and never did see accuracy fall off. If anything, it seemed to shoot better after 100 or so rounds. I never did go over 400 or 500 rounds and kept it in an environment controlled safe in between uses. I would like to see some rock solid testing to see once and for all what really happens. But there are so many cleaning variables and products it would cost thousands to study them all. Middle of the road is my best guess for now. Don't go too long, don't over clean, keep them in a humidity controlled space between uses and be very careful about your cleaning technique so you dont cause more harm than good.
I wish I could find that article again, I think there was even a video where he used Iosso products and showed the steps he used for cleaning. I'll keep looking.