How often do you clean your hunting rifle

[Alex Wheeler]

I hunt with them just like I tune them. I shoot 3 shot to fouls then shoot a handful of groups, then clean them. They are tuned to shoot that way so thats how I hunt with them.

 

[KHawk66]

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, but I always leave the barrel fouled before hunting.

X2!! I will clean after every testing round (usually 35-50 rnds)without fail and to the point of nothing green or discolored on the patches. Then I run a rem oil jag patch through it and then a dry jag patch. I never hunt with a clean bore. I'll sight in the rifles before hunting season then not touch them until the season is over. I can't store a dirty gun.

Carbon ring?

 

[Trm82]

It's a Christensen so I clean it after every shot for 100 then every 5 for 30 then every 10 for 40

I'm just kidding. I'd never own another one of those things.

 

[memtb]

I think that I've cleaned mine once or twice since this post was started……in 2020! memtb

 

[emp1953]

i talk to target shooters they say whenever they notice their groups growing
I also hear after every time they go out shooting
And the old timers that tought me to hunt said never go to the woods with a clean barrel. What do you do

In Virginia Beach, I shark fished with a fellow that told me a thing or two about shooting and cleaning. He said that I need to choose what I want the rifle to do, Kill game or punch paper. I told him I was a hunter and I couldn't eat paper. He told me to have 50 rounds ready. Clean the rifle really well. Not make it copper free. Take the rifle and ONE round to the range, set up at 100 yds, and make the best shot I possibly could. Do not mess with scope zero. Save the target and put notes on it, weather conditions, etc. Sometime within the next week go out again with ONE round and at 100 yds make the best shot I could etc etc etc. After 10 outings like this, I will prove whether or not my rifle likes a clean bore. If all your targets have the bullet hole within an inch of each other laying the targets on top of one another then it likes a clean bore. If these 10 shots shoot otherwise then don't clean the rifle after shot #10, Repeat your process but now run a single dry brush and a dry patch through the bore after each shot. ONE only per day. Notes on the targets again, Do not mess with the scope. Overlay the targets and see how the holes line up etc etc. I found that all my rifles liked being fouled and since the first shot is what counted for me I didn't care about what a 5 shot group would do. I never cleaned down to bare metal and did use a borescope to check for carbon. The dreaded Carbon ring is bad.

 

[Mikecr]

Clean the rifle really well. Not make it copper free.

If it has copper remaining, it is nowhere near clean.
You wouldn't want to rely on a clean barrel, as that would be cleaned after every single shot. Right?
Otherwise, your fouling(from clean) is changing a bit with each shot until it settles.
You want this stable form of fouling.

That doesn't mean you have to keep your guns in a dirty condition. They can be cleanly dry pre-fouled.
You can store them in this condition (in a dry place) as long as needed.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Fouled for hunting season, cleaned post hunting season.

 

[Radman]

i talk to target shooters they say whenever they notice their groups growing
I also hear after every time they go out shooting
And the old timers that tought me to hunt said never go to the woods with a clean barrel. What do you do

I clean mine after every outing. I store guns clean & fire a fouling shot or two before actually using.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

...not many shoot a big game rifle enough times in any season to worry about cleaning that often, a few shots off the bench, a few in the field..you good for years at that rate..

 

[SteveBurton]

I clean all of my rifles after every session. Doesn't matter if they are target or hunting rifles. That way I know that when I pull the trigger on the first shot, it is consistent every time. Works for me, YMMV.

 

[huntinghuasna]

Hunting rifle barrel cleaning, depends... (everything else gets cleaned as needed)
After deer season, clean and foul... pig season year round. Prior to deer season verify zero and hunt. If I'm shooting more often to practice, depends on the rifle. If I know the round count at which my rifle starts losing accuracy then I stay below that number. Often I can prove my rifle will go 50 rounds or more without losing accuracy but not having the patience to test all the way out to max round count, I use the number I know. Nothing wrong with cleaning your barrel before it starts to lose accuracy, just make for sure you know how many fouling shots to bring the accuracy back! I have one rifle that shoots clean, fouled, hot or cold. The rest have unique behaviors which is important to know.

Also need to define "clean"... For normal cleaning I use Bore Tech Eliminator until patches are fairly clean. For deep clean I add in Cu+2 to get all copper out. I might go several hundred rounds before I deep clean the barrel... all depends on the rifle.

 

[C-130 Dude]

i talk to target shooters they say whenever they notice their groups growing
I also hear after every time they go out shooting
And the old timers that tought me to hunt said never go to the woods with a clean barrel. What do you do

When I go out hunting, my rifle MUST fire every time. No exceptions, no excuses. You never know what you will run into out there. That said, I start out from the same place every time. Fullt cleaned rifle, very lightly oiled barrel. This eliminates any chance of corrosion or problem being carried into the field. Just cant/won't accept anything I could have prevented with a little TLC.

 

[LRNut]

Wow, if I cleaned after every "session" I would clean every day, because I shoot every day.

For my LR rifles, I clean about every 50 rounds. I log every shot in an Excel spreadsheet (every gun is a column, every row is a day) and mark "cleaned" when I clean it.

I just switched scopes on a 300 RUM in AZ; it wasn't holding 1 MOA at 500 (had been about 1/2 for 3 shots). I looked in my log - haven't cleaned since...well, over 200 rounds ago.

My PD rifle doesn't get cleaned until the carbon makes the bolt cycling stiff.

I clean with either KG products (Phoenix) or Bore Tech (CO). KG carbon remover will turn patches blue if there is copper in the barrel (KG12 does not but will turn them black then brown if there is copper); Bore Tech as well. I start out with carbon remover; once that is out, I switch to copper remover. Since both of these contain no ammonia, I let them soak for quite a while (my .223 overnight). Once a patch comes out white after soaking for an hour or two, I am done.

I have noticed most custom barrels clean much easier than factory. I have also noticed most custom barrels shoot to the same POI as when fouled with one or two shots.

 

[memtb]

...not many shoot a big game rifle enough times in any season to worry about cleaning that often, a few shots off the bench, a few in the field..you good for years at that rate..

I resemble that remark! memtb