How often do you clean your barrels?

Any harm in letting the barrel sit dirty for a couple of months during hunting season?

So long as it's not a black powder gun. Modern components and/or factory US ammo should not hurt (maybe accuracy) your gun. I've talked to bench rest competition shooters (good ones) who are not that fanatical about cleaning their guns. others clean after every stage.

A dirty barrel would lack any protective lubricant. Your conclusions allowed.
Stephen

A couple of weeks in Africa, no clean. 22 rimfires, once a year needed or not.

Dave

Some. if not most, guys clean improperly and do more harm than good. If you just hack through the job, might as well not do the damage and forego the cleaning.

Carbon and copper won't damage your rifle but it can damage your accuracy! Improper cleaning WILL damage your rifle.

I'll clean after every range session or hunt but I use extreme care not to damage the throat, bore or crown. *if the hunt lasts 2 weeks, I don't clean the bore unless weather dictates differently.

I don't over-clean because there isn't such a thing... if done properly.

You should be able to read what your rifle's accuracy likes for round-count before it needs cleaned.

I've heard all the way from "clean after every 20 rounds" to "never worry about cleaning". I lean toward the former.

Zeke

If I shoot or hunt with a firearm, then I clean the firearm when I am finished shooting or hunting. All firearms in my gun safes are clean as of this post. I was taught very early in my youth to take care of the dogs(Labrador Retrievers) if applicable, then clean the guns and equipment, and then to take care of myself, in that order. I still follow that teaching to this very day-whether hunting upland birds, waterfowl, deer, plains game or dangerous game.

"Less all the time" might be my best answer.

I used to clean after every shooting session to the point of being OCD about it but POI from clean metal is often quite different than a fouled barrel, leading to a somewhat circular problem.

I live in the dryness of the west and for the past 15 years or so shoot weekly from about April to Jan. My process, such that it is, is to run a dry patch or two through and wipe the exterior down with an oil cloth, only cleaning the bore with solvent/brushes at the end of the last hunt.

Over those 15 years and a dozen guns (both SS & CM) I've not had any issues.

**Caveat: I will clean properly if a barrel gets wet, otherwise once a year cleaning.

UtahLefty: I grew up in Orem and the humidity was significantly higher there than it is where I currently live in Las Vegas. Thus, with the weather, higher humidity, etc. we were taught to clean firearms after finishing each hunt or shoot, just to be on the safe side. I still believe in clean metal when I'm finished with a hunt or shoot. However, if I'm going hunting, I shoot my rifles beforehand to ensure that the scopes are sighted in and on target and then leave them 'dirty' until I return from or complete the hunt to avoid POI problems. Black powder is a completely different issue. All of my rifles and shotguns are in gun socks and all of my gun safes have dehumidifiers. Call me OCD or anal retentive if you like, or both, I don't care.

I hear you. I lived in Alabama as a teenager and watched a gun rust siting on a stand between breakfast and lunch.

Maybe we're coming to the heart of the matter:

If you have humidity, you have a problem, if you don't then you don't. Clean acordingly.

Protection of the metal is one thing and removal of carbon rings and copper for accuracy is another.

Carbon and copper continue to build and the subsequent bullet fired down the bore doesn't remove it all. Randy Brooks (old owner of Barnes bullets and a personal friend) says about 20 shots is where a rifle should be cleaned to preserve top accuracy. Your mileage may vary.

SOME rifles need to be fouled (seasoned) with a shot or two, let cool, then shoot a group or go hunt. All my barrels are seasoned, with a couple shots, before an actual hunt and I leave them so until finished, whether the hunt is done in a day or a week... unless they get wet then appropriate action is needed.

Aside from that, do whatever works for you.

Zeke

...But no cleaning is probably better than haphazard cleaning where damage to the throat, bore and crown will happen.

MOST guys don't "shoot" a rifle out. They "clean" it out through poor practices and then wonder "what the hell?".

Zeke

What ZekeShikar all said!

I use the bore snake after shooting sessions, and do a copper remover only when the gun quits shooting to its norm..More barrels are ruined by cleaning rods than by shooting for sure..I have had a couple of rifles that quit shooting groups after a good cleaning and one that shot under a half inch that shoots 3 inches for a hundred or so rounds then back to half inch, so I have not cleaned it for a number of years...IT ALL JUST DEPENDS.