How often to clean a 22???

[DLH]

How often should I clean my New 22 rifle?  It shoots EXCELENT!!!! and I want to keep it that way.


Thanks

[mjbgalt]

never. i have a 22 rifle that i never cleaned and it shot great. i cleaned it one day and my accuracy went all to hell. it took a half box of shells before it shot good again. when i cleaned it, i saw no evidence of damage from not cleaning it, and since it shoots best dirty, i wipe the barrel down and put it away without cleaning inside the bore.

-Matt

[RaySendero]

Same here - Never clean a 22LR barrel until the accuracy falls off.  Clean and wipe down the rest of the rifle but not the barrel.

[greenjeans]

Don't know about never, but my H&R and my 10/22 both shoot better dirty.

[KN]

I usually run an oily Q-tip down the barrel after shooting. But thats about it.  KN

[jh45gun]

I just run a dry patch down it to get rid of the loose powder after a few boxes but I do not use any solvent or oil down the barrels anymore. I think this applys to 22 LR with the lead bullets not sure about the 22 mags and the 17's as I would think they would get copper fouling like a center fire does that shoots jacketed. Jim

[Jason]

As has already been advised here, if you are going to keep using only one ammo type you don't need to clean a .22lr barrel until accuracy starts to suffer. Depending on your barrel, this can be as few as 50 rounds (VERY unlikely) or many thousands. If you are switching ammo, though, clean between changing types. Each manufacturer uses a different type of wax/lube on their bullets and it can even sometimes vary between different ammo from the same manufacturer. Of course, after you clean the new ammo type has to lay down a good layer of its wax/lube and that can take as few as one shot or as many as 50 or so dpeending on your gun and the ammo. The short answer here is, "If you're going to keep shooting the same ammo and the gun's shooting great, don't mess with it."