is it safe to leave guns uncleaned

[davery25]

hey guys,

Ive just come back from the range and now i cant be bothered cleaning my two rifles. i put about 100 rounds through each. one is a stainless steel barrelled 223 and the other a chromemoly 22-250 if that helps. I generally go to the range every 3 to 4 months so if i leave it unclean it will be unclean till then

 

[xdshooter]

you may to rewrite that, its certainly not gona clean itself

 

[ChipEckardt]

I would never wait that long. If you are shooting 100 rounds now and 100 again before cleaning I would suspect accuracy on the 22-250 would suffer as well.

Chip

 

[bozo699]

Can't be bothered with it? yet you have time for the internet,hummm,......
Okay?.... First I would never shoot my 22-250 100 times with out cleaning it, but then to shoot it another 100 times ??? at that point I just wouldn't bother EVER cleaning it.
Wayne.

 

[shortgrass]

If I put ONE round down the barrel,,,,,,, I clean it! Call me fanatic, but I've seen the results corrosion brings.

 

[deadlyswift]

If you mean letting it sit without cleaning until you are ready to shoot again? I would at least run a patch of oil down the barrel. Don't let it sit dry. I would also clean it well before I shot again. When you do have time. Like I said tho. I wouldn't put it up and let it sit long without a patch of oil ran down the tube.

 

[jonbearman]

Really,I think we are being pranked,LOL Nobody,never cleans their personal rifles.If this is for real,Please do yourself a favor and get with the program.You shoot,you clean period.Your gun deserves it as it is an investment for your future.

 

[fdshuster]

I try to clean at the range, before leaving, weather & time permitting, or if unable, as soon as I return home. I want to get the Butch's into the bore a.s.a.p. Makes the whole cleaning chore easier. Guess we all have our priorities.

 

[Tozguy]

hey guys,

Ive just come back from the range and now i cant be bothered cleaning my two rifles. i put about 100 rounds through each. one is a stainless steel barrelled 223 and the other a chromemoly 22-250 if that helps. I generally go to the range every 3 to 4 months so if i leave it unclean it will be unclean till then

OK I'll bite ...no its not safe, your CM barrel will be rust pitted in a week or less and continue to rust more and more till you can see the craters with the naked eye.

 

[1holeaddict]

Ok i'm the next fish to bite. You post a question on the best shooting forum in america about mistreating your firearms. Most guys on here love their guns more than their wives.Would you take your pet to the vet and ask him if its ok to feed him when your next appointment comes up?

 

[Scott Harris]

I think the intent of the question was "what damage, if any, is done to the firearm by leaving it uncleaned for extended periods." Seems like a valid question and I'd like to know if any studies have been done. Gotta love all the passion around cleaning your firearms though....

 

[LR_Shooter]

probably it will depend on the powder & primers used to get that barrel dirty, sometimes they leave corrosive residue which should be removed as soon as possible... Next thing you know pitting allover

 

[bozo699]

I think the intent of the question was "what damage, if any, is done to the firearm by leaving it uncleaned for extended periods." Seems like a valid question and I'd like to know if any studies have been done. Gotta love all the passion around cleaning your firearms though....

Scotharr,
I have read and re read many times, I don't see that, however maybe your right.

hey guys,

Ive just come back from the range and now i cant be bothered cleaning my two rifles. i put about 100 rounds through each. one is a stainless steel barrelled 223 and the other a chromemoly 22-250 if that helps. I generally go to the range every 3 to 4 months so if i leave it unclean it will be unclean till then

davery25,
If I miss read your post and answered with a sarcastic answer than I apologize. We have all been guilty of saying one thing and meaning another, I just did it a couple days ago on the thread bottom of the gene pool, but we must read our own posts then we catch our poor wording and can usually fix it before anyone gets a chance to read our undecipherable dribble that no one in the world could possibly understand including ourselves. So with the thought that Scatharr has suggested you were trying to imply let me re answer your question,....... With the 22-250 clean it every 25 rounds or so, the .223 maybe 50 or so, as fdshuster stated get the powder fouling out at the range then put some butches in the bore before you leave the range and most of your work will be done by the time you get home, then finish your cleaning followed by a lightly oiled patch down the barrel then put it away until next time I agree totally with shortgrass's statement,....if I put ONE round down the barrel,,,,,,, I clean it! Call me fanatic, but I've seen the results corrosion brings.
Wayne.

 

[dmickey]

I don't know about the chrome moly barrel as almost all of my rifles are stainless. As for those that are, I have shot them a minimum of 500 rounds (if not much more) and, except for a nylon brush wet with Hoppe's Number 9 when they were first new, they have not seen a patch or a brush since then. As for corrosion, give me a break! We have not had corrosive primers for at least forty or fifty years! If you see green at the end of the barrel, that is not corrosion but is copper fouling. This should be cleaned out as it will affect the accuracy of the rifle until it is removed.

 

[DaveWhite]

Your question was if it was safe. answer: probably, but not if you accidentially stood the muzzle in the mud before you put it away.

An old adage among shooters and hunters is "never let the sun set on a dirty gun..." If you have time to shoot it, you have time to clean it. Most of us have had occaisional lapses in keeping up to that standard, but there are multiple levels to cleaning , and it does not take much effort to offset the ravages of rust.

I would suggest a run through with a bore snake as a minimum level of effort. Use a few drops of oil on the fat end to coat the barrel. Then wipe down all metal parts with a silicone impregnated cloth to keep your fingerprints from being memorialized on the barrel or action steel.

A lot of people take better care of their firearms than they do of their cars, but it depends on what your values are. Some people hunt with beaters, and treat guns like farm implements, and some people put more value in their equipment than they do in proficiency with their guns. What is right is up to you, just make sure it is safe by making sure the bore is not obstructed. Other than that, hold center...

 

[Romulus]

I've heard more than one smith say they tell a lot of people to only clean when the accuracy degrades because a lot of people hurt their bores/ crowns with their cleaning equipment/ regimen.

I clean mine if I know it'll be put up more than 2 days. It gives me time to think about how I shot and it does indeed give you a feel for how the barrel changes over time. Plus I like the smell. I don't use Hoppe's anymore, but I still crack a bottle open when deer season rolls around for nostalgia's sake. My .308 is 3500+ and still stacks em. It's opened up a little, but I don't know if it would do that if I shot until I noticed accuracy degradation.

This question reminded me of a friend of a friend who had a rifle he was going to throw in the pond. We cleaned it. It went from shooting 4.5" 3 shots to 1.1's 5 shots and it was a hunting taper. We asked him how long it had been since it was cleaned and he said it had been "forever". It was the rifle his father gave him and he never though to clean it to try and save it. It takes all kinds.

 

[tjtjwdad]

My first post although I've been visiting for several months. In your scenario 100 rounds followed by 3-4 months of inactivity, I would definitely clean them.

I clean mine at the end of (and during if needed) every shooting session. However, if had say 10 rounds or so in the tube and I was coming back to the range the next day or day after shooting the same loads I would probably let go and besides the barrel would already be fouled. Mind you, I don't use corrosive powder or primers.

For my blued guns the get a fresh coat of oil on all of the internals and externals before being put away.

HTH

Jim

 

[bozo699]

For your info All powder and primer residue is corrosive to a certain extent, it also makes a nice base to collect moisture and cause real problems. I can't understand the thought process behind lets clean our guns once every 500 rounds or better yet lets never clean it,...heck were just going to shoot it again and get it dirty all over again,why bother : Changing your oil is also a waste of time, it's still slick isn't it ??? ,.....well then it obviously doesn't need changed, when it no longer feels like oil then I will change it, and when my rifle misses that buck of a life time or I loose the championship shoot by a couple of points I'll clean the barrel ???......What kind of thinking is this? Seriously what kind of thinking is this? this used to be a precision gun forum, these type of bold unthought out statements belong on those forums that start out with four letter words and ends with them. I agree with shortgrass I would clean if I only shot one round unless I was fouling my hunting rifle for the season the next day. I mean you have a $350 barrel on your rifle + whatever gun smithing costs WHY..... wouldn't you want to take care of it ??? Do as you please I'll continue to take care of my expensive precision equipment and leaving filthy corrosive residue in my barrels isn't my idea of care.
Wayne.

 

[markm87]

I've heard more than one smith say they tell a lot of people to only clean when the accuracy degrades because a lot of people hurt their bores/ crowns with their cleaning equipment/ regimen.

This notion gets repeated on the gun forums too much. Granted... I'm sure there are idiots capable of doing damage to a rifle barrel due to stupidity. After all, guns seem to attract numb skulls like moths to a porch light. But anyone with half a brain and isn't going to harm their rifle by cleaning it.

 

[LR_Shooter]

I can see where damage can be done by not using bore guides or appropriate chemicals or not flushing chemicals used out of the barrel, a lot of stuff out there which dissolves copper will cause harm to the barrel if left unclean. Also bore polishes like J&B or KG-2, sometimes you need to know when is enough, all of them fine grit compounds (about 1400 grit) and many state that they only work on softer materials like copper and no harm is done to the bore, anyway I usually reserve about 10 passes with a patch when I use them, I admit they clean copper and fouling good, just don't get carried away when chasing clean bore and make sure they flashed out the bore before you shoot it, otherwise you'll be doing firelapping