Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

So i have a penchant for cleaning the hell out of all my firearms, especially the rifles. I actually enjoy it and find it relaxing.

I picked up an outdoors magazine today and there was an interview with an air force sniper, and he discussed the top 10 things that make a marksman.

9 of the 10 i knew and practice most, but the other was odd to me..."shoot a dirty gun". He said they normally only clean their weapon every 200-300 rounds, and find no adverse affect on accuracy.

Any one agree?

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Can you give us the name of the magazine, or an on-line URL version?

Years ago I had read that the first few rounds from a cleaned rifle were not as accurate.

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It's outdoor life magazine. Most recent one I'm guessing. I picked it up at the airport but don't have it with me at the moment. The article was called something like "10 tips to make you a better shooter"

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Cold bore clean shots are often not going to shoot to the same place... I have read that in several places as well. While I don't have any that shoot that differently I have a buddy that cleans one of his and then shoots a few fouling shots before he takes that particular firearm out in the field.. it shoots high on the first shot out of a clean bore.

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Todd over at pistol training.com has ran several guns to the 75-100K, ues 75,000-100,000 rounds fired and was cleaning at something like 20,000 rounds.. didn't seem to adversely effect accuracy, or reliability.

I'm a big believer in more guns are hurt by cleaning than dirt.

I reckon that's plausible; particularly if they design some fouling clearance into the gun to begin with. I doubt if I've ever shot well enough (at least consistently) to discern a difference between a cean and dirty gun.

Well, it certainly matters with .22s, at least for reliability.

One of the reasons I don't scrub the mess out of my barrels but once a year. Just to ward off pitting.


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Diomed wrote:Well, it certainly matters with .22s, at least for reliability.

That's for sure. Thank god for boresnakes, though, it seems to extend the inevitable on my 10/22 and Mk III

Benchrest shooters know this to be true. I've found in several of my rifles that a clean barrel shoots differently than one with a few rounds through it. The only guns I clean up right after shooting are milsurps using corrosive ammo.

And just my $0.02. If your gun won't run dirty, there's something wrong with it. I wouldn't trust said firearm with my life and neither should you.

It's been said by several gun gurus that (especially your CCW) you need to fire the weapon after breakdown and cleaning to verify proper re-assembly and operation.

There's a big difference between a dirty or fouled bore and a dirty gun. I don't recommend scubbing the bore after every session unless you have a particular fouling problem like lead or copper fouling. I do, however, recommend at least brushing out the action and openings to the action. You should also cosider the environment that the gun is going to be stored in. Most fouling and unburned powder residue is hygroscopic. If the gun is left in a humid environment, and it's not well cleaned and oiled, you can expect rust and eventual pitting . Not trying to preach, just saying that blanket statements can be costly. Just consider your particular circumstance and react accordingly. And for what it's woth, my guns all shoot that first round out of a clean barrel to a different POI than after the barrel has a little fouling.

I found a lengthy article online once about the cleaning methods of various top competition shooters. Their opinions varied wildly about how often to clean, what to use and etc. So there is no right answer. I dont use a bore brush that often but I do use a light coat of clp on everything just to prevent corrosion. Plus it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I would agree that there's no 100% right answer for cleaning. Did find out the hard way that there was a wrong answer for me-- I bought an Outers Foul Out electrolytic lead and copper remover several years back. Used it on an old Winchester 670 in .308 that had above average accuracy (for me) before I cleaned it. Before electrolytic cleaning, it was capable of clover leaf patterns at 100 yards if I did my part right. After cleaning the best I could get was 1.5 inches no matter what I did. My own fault, lesson learned was an old one-- if it ain't broke don't fix it. It did cure me of trying out new gadgets for a while.

100% answer for cleaning...... If it's too dirty for your liking, clean it as well as you'd like it to be. If its not dirty enough for your liking, don't clean it.

simple solution to a simple question.

Dirty, dirty, gun.

With the exception of benchrest/precision rifles, clean them when you feel they need it.

A dirty gun may not have an adverse effect on accuracy,giving the expert the benifit of the doubt,but accuracy is not the only disadvantage to not cleaning your gun regularly. I don't suppose a clean gun has an adverse effect on accuracy either and If I had to choose I would clean mine.