Cleaning a .22 LR Bore, Fact or Fiction?

Question

I have heard once before that you should never clean a .22 LR bore, and that if you did it would lose accuracy until you shot a few thousand more rounds through the bore. And since most often a lot of rounds are shot through the bore, seems you would have to clean it very often to keep the bore free from lead deposits. Just looking for any insight,knowledge, or experiences on whether you should clean a .22 bore or not.

Answer 1

The debate goes on.....

Theory about not cleaning is that the bore will at some point accumulate  just so much lead & no more.

The exposure of the lands  & any filling of the grooves is thought to remain constant, give a better gas seal & provide consistent shot to shot accuracy.

It does not take all that long for the degree of leading to level off.

On the other hand  some think  cleaning  is a must .

It takes some doing to scrub a barrel "squeaky clean"& there is the issue of barrel wear due to pushing rods through the bore esp,causing changes in the last few  critical inches at the muzzle.

Have a fine target rifle & have fired thousands of rounds over the years.

My personal feeling is that there is something to the "not cleaning "idea.

Consistently dirty or varying degrees of clean is the issue.

The only thing I do is pass a patch  to prevent dust from attracting moisture between uses & keep the chamber & bolt face clean w/ a Q tip  & that's about it.

I cannot outshoot the rifle so I guess I'll never know.

Best regards

Answer 2

Most fine .22 R.F. target rifles are only lubricated, not scrubbed clean.

I never do more than wipe the bore of my 'Winchester '52 C' with WD 40

and it's had literally tens of thousands of round through it and still

shoots MOA.

It's been in use since 1949.

The low pressure and velocity of .22 RF guns is a different thing from

center-fire bore conditions. They require different cleaning and maintenence protocols.

Answer 3

Opinions on this tend to range from one extreme to the other, in large part due to the changes in priming compound that occurred in the 1920s and 1930s. This has pitted the old school, always clean against a new school which says you don't need to clean a .22. As always, the best advise is probably somewhere in the middle. However it will help you understand this if I explain a little bit of firearms history before I give you your answer.

Prior to the introduction of non-corrosive priming in the 1920s and 1930s, thoroughly cleaning any firearm after use was mandatory. If you didn't the potassium chloride from the primers would cause the gun to rust extremely quickly (as in over-night in a damp environment or a couple days in a dryer environment). This was especially true with .22s because they had a proportionally larger amount of priming material to the powder charge and an extremely small bore which concentrated the potassium chloride salts.

Following the introduction of non-corrosive primers (which complemented the switch to non-corrosive smokeless powders), the need to clean firearms became less urgent since the gun was no longer in danger of rusting due to corrosive primer residue. Given the low velocities, and jacketed/lubricated bullets used in .22 ammunition this effectively made good .22 barrels everlasting. (According to Townsend Whelen a good .22 barrel will easily have 250,000 rounds pass through it before it wears out. (Fadala, 54) This fact, plus the fact that over-cleaning a .22 barrel (in the manner which was necessary prior to non-corrosive primers) can speed the process of wearing out a barrel has led many shooters to swing to the opposite extreme. (As we've seen in some of the answers to this question.)

So what's the answer? The best answer I can provide is to properly clean your firearm when you're done shooting and won't be using it again for a while. So if once every week or two, you shoot 50-100 (or more) rounds in one session, it won't hurt to run a damp patch down the barrel followed by a 2 or 3 dry patches (preferably from the breech end) since this will clean fouling and add a bit of solvent oil to prevent corrosion. However you don't need to scrub the barrel for an hour or more with wire brushes, solvent soaked patches, and dry patches every time you shoot. That can do more damage than not cleaning the gun at all. (Fadala, 241) Especially if you're planning on shooting daily due to excessive wear. If you're putting your .22 up for the season (because say squirrel season is over in December/January and you won't need it again till August/September) it won't hurt to give your rifle a good cleaning using a wire brush, solvent soaked patches, dry patches (to make sure you remove any fouling & leading), and then a very light coat of oil to prevent corrosion during storage. Just remember to run a couple patches through before you start shooting the gun again. Hope this answers your question.

Edit:

As for a fouled barrel shooting better than a clean one... Each .22 is different, but its been my experience that a badly fouled barrel does not shoot as well as a clean one. You might see a small initial improvement after a fouling shot, but as the barrel becomes badly fouled (as it would after hundreds or thousands of shots) I've found accuracy usually drops off a bit. This may just be me though since after shooting hundreds of rounds at a given sitting, I tend to be a bit fatigued.

Answer 4

For my .22, all I do is pull a boresnake through it maybe twice at the end of each shooting session. I do wipe off the blued parts every time I handle it to prevent rust.

Answer 5

The only time I clean the bore of my 22's is if it has been exposed to damp or wet weather.* I have 22 match rifles, 22 Hunting and plinking rifles. Based on 55 years of shooting it has never affected my firearms performance or accuracy. However I do clean the exterior as needed.* With todays powders I don't see any need for it.* I have 26 of them, and use them all regularly.*

Answer 6

J Kirsh is absolutely 100 percent corect. It is not needed to clean a .22 as much as it used to be.

I dont know if cleaning is bad for accuracy. I own a .22 Remington that has maybe as much as 10000 rounds through it, and is about 30 years old.

I have never met anyone or heard of anyone who shot out a .22 barrel. Nor have I heard of one cleaned to death.

I love my guns, and clean them. I rather er on the side of caution.

Answer 7

A dirty gun will bite you in the butt.

Answer 8

John Taffin ruined me.

I grew up in the "If you shoot it, you clean it the same day" School of Thought.

After talking and corresponding with Taffin for years, I've changed my ways.  Taffins says that the only times he cleans his guns is if there is a possibility of rust, or if fouling is affecting accuracy.  He rather put up with grubby guns than to damage the rifling with over zealous cleaning.

Never clean a .22?  Nope, clean it when it needs cleaning.  Wipe down the outside with a silicon cloth or slightly oily cloth after handling or long storage.  Clean the bore and action if the power fouling becomes excessive.  When you clean, don't get carried away, and use the proper bore brushes, and a one piece cleaning rod.  Be careful not to damage the crown of the muzzle if you have to clean from the muzzle.  It really doesn't take much of a ding to ruin accuracy.

If I had a dirty rifle that was turning out first class accuracy, I'd probably pistol-whip anyone who attempted to clean it.  On the other hand, some rifles will not perform up to their potential unless kept squeaky clean.  I have some guns that seem to shoot better dirty than clean, and I have some that won't shoot worth cussing unless sparkling clean.  I'd suggest shoot it until the accuracy suffers, then clean it.

Doc

Answer 9

I had a friend who heard that "gem", and was wondering why rounds wouldn't chamber.......

Answer 10

Ha, ha!  That's a good one!  Believe me, it is purely fiction.  In fact not only should .22s be cleaned but because .22 ammo is especially 'dirty' semi-automatic .22s should be deep-cleaned every 600 to 1,000 rounds.

H

Answer 11

absolute fiction. A rifle bore needs to be cleaned after every shooting session. Especially a .22 which is a very dirty round to begin with. Your good accuracy, should actually improve with cleaning. Whoever told you not to clean it sounds like aguy who is too lazy to spend the time required to clean a firearm, and not somebody who would ever be allowed to "borrow" one of mine, and definatley not someone to take advice from.

NOTE** Hey Doc, John Taffin is a personal friend of mine, and was one of my customers for many years, sure seems like he reached a lot of people over the years  with his great advice!!

Shoot safe

Answer 12

I think this is very much a firearm and ammunition dependent situation. I shoot a marlin model 60.  I find the accuracy, precision and reliability is maintained if I clean it thoroughly every 250 rounds.  My wife uses a ruger 10/22 and we find it does not respond as well to cleaning both the bore and the mechanisms as the marlin 60.  Consequently, I usually only clean that beast only after we shoot a brick threw it (500 rounds).  It may well get by with less frequent cleaning than that.

As far as your second comment/question.  If it is cleaned properly, accuracy should either improve or not be affected by cleaning the bore.  I tend to be like Doc and clean the day I shoot whenever possible.

Answer 13

Never let any gun get filthy, just as any machine that never is taken care of breaks down, so do firearms. Keep er clean.

And yes any rifle barrel can be shot out. Only a novice would not know that. Some rifles are more prone to this like 22-250’s. It just takes the little 22 LR far more rounds to shoot it out.

Here is a link with much information about rifle barrels, including “shot out” barrels.

http://www.accuracysystemsinc.com/about_...

Answer 14

Clean it!

Now, you shouln't be obsessive about it to the point you are causing wear, and you should try and clean from the breech or at least protect the muzzle crown if an auto. But clean it!  

Answer 15

I only use a brush if there is a lot of fouling.  I normally use gun oil soaked patches followed by dry patches until they come clean then repeat one pass with a oiled patch.  I do run one dry patch through the barrel prior to shooting to remove any excess oil.  Not doing this last step can cause very high pressures.  The gun will not have to have to have a few shots to warm it up also if you ensure it is dry before the first round.  Semi-auto guns need the action cleaned and properly lubricated to function right.

Answer 16

Fiction.  Anyone that tells you that cleaning a gun is going to hurt it's accuracy doesn't know what they are talking about.  Granted that you don't push sand paper down the bore..lol