Another Dumb Question

[Tennessee Hayre]

I was just sitting at my desk thinking about cleaning my rifles. And recalled a web page I was reading awhile back and the shooter who I am refer to (A competition Shooter) said he did not clean the barrel of his rifle until he had fired 200 or more rounds through it. My question is,, Can a rifle barrel get so much build-up in side from carbon that it would become too dangerous to shoot. What say yaw....

[Blaine]

Dangerous? I doubt it. After the buildup reaches a certain point, it would become selfcleaning, in a way. That's not to say I don't look down the bbl fairly often to make sure nothing dangerous has not become lodged in there.....

[awp101]

BP might but not smokeless AFAIK.

Most of the time when you hear a competition shooter mention they don't clean the barrel until after match season it's to keep the variables down. Once you clean it you start all over again with the sight in process. When 0.0001" can mean the difference between placing and being a "also ran", variables become big things.

[bogus bill]

Ya aint shooting black powder I assume. To a point I agree. Depends on the caliber and what type of shooting you have in mind. If you will be shooting the gun regularly or putting it away untill next season etc. Are we talking a .22 rimfire or high powered? We really need to know more. A .22 rifle that I will be playing a lot with later I may not hardly clean. Same for some handguns I carry a lot. Are you sighting in a hunting rifle for next year? Clean it! Are you trying to work out loads on a high powered target rifle? Clean, shoot, and clean again. I ALWAYS wipe any gun down with a oily rag after handeling them. But truth is unless you get the bore wet or useing ancient corrosive primmers or old military surpless questionable ammo, contrary to what the newer younger generation thinks, the gun will not rot and disintergrate right away if you dont clean it now!

[marlinman93]

I don't give my guns that shoot smokeless thorough cleaning each time I shoot. I do however run a patch with some light oil or solvent down the bore wwhen I'm done, unless I'm sighting in for hunting. If I'm planning to use the gun again to hunt soon, I wont clean it at all until after the season is over. Just wipe the outside down, and put it away.

[Gun Smith]

I learned early to clean my guns each time I used them. Two reasons, my dad would have been on my case about not taking care of my gear, and when I was older I liked to make sure they were ready for the next go-a-round. As a younger man, before all the juice ran out, my fingers were so acidic I could make a rust spot on anything metal I touched. And my customers would not have liked that on their guns. So I got into the habit of wiping my guns down each time I handle them, and I still do.

[C. Cash]

I would think that it could feasably happen but only with a problem barrel that was rough and gatherhed much copper or lead. I've never seen one that bad and it remains only a theory in my head. I've seen thousands of rounds go through M-60 barrels in one day with never a problem as well as M-16 barrels, with monotonous regularity, and I think the 5.56 round operates at a pretty high pressure as well. Never seen a problem show up with a ruptured case and/or shooter being injured.

[Jarhead]

Nothing better than a clean rifle... Perhaps the smell of gun powder I keep my weapons clean, especially after a day in the field. For a lot of different reasons...

[Tennessee Hayre]

As far as the rifle, I was just asking in general. It is just a habit for me after serving in the military. I to like a very clean rifle. After going to the range and firing 60 rounds through my 45-70, 30-30, 300 win mag or my deer rifle .308.. it seems to be the right thing to do. But after deer season last year I had some rust in my barrel on the 300 win mag . Guess it was because I was hunting in the rain all day. I cleaned it and a few days later is when i seen the rust starting. So I guess I did not do a very good job the first time. But I just thought I would ask that question. My brother and I was hunting years ago when we were just kids and he fell and the end of his shot gun stuck in the mud, and after cleaning all of the mud out of the end of the barrel so we thought he fired off a shot on the 12 gage and blew off half of the barrel. I know we looked in side and it looked clean , but guess it dont take much for that to happen.

[1886]

I don't give my guns that shoot smokeless thorough cleaning each time I shoot. I do however run a patch with some light oil or solvent down the bore wwhen I'm done, unless I'm sighting in for hunting. If I'm planning to use the gun again to hunt soon, I wont clean it at all until after the season is over. Just wipe the outside down, and put it away.

I prefer this approach myself. 1886.