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Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:49 pm
by FredB
Bert Brookes was a good friend of mine and a member of Stourport. He spent his working days on the Eley test range, helping top competitors select batches of Tenex by test firing their rifles in his rigs. Bert believed that lube and bore condition were critical. After cleaning, there is no lube conditioning in the bore and accuracy is affected. Bert could easily demonstrate this and showed that at least five rounds were needed to restore condition. After shooting, Bert would push two dry patches through the bores of his test rifles. A thorough clean was only carried out if the type / make or lube condition of the ammo was to be changed.
Fred
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 5:03 pm
by Graham M
Loved his car registration plate T3 NEX
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:24 am
by Pippin89
You will always get people (usually the older generation, sorry) saying that you should never clean a .22LR.
I guess it largely depends on the type of shooting you are doing and if whatever you are doing works for you then great.
However, if you look at the care instructions with any high end target rifle, they will suggest cleaning meticulously after every shoot. On top of that, if you look at any top draw Olympic shooter, they clean their rifles. Even sometimes in the middle of a competition.
Someone hit the nail on the head earlier. The key is consistency, and I find consistently clean is easier to maintain than consistently dirty. For a new shooter getting into the sport, I would seriously suggest getting into the habit of cleaning your rifle after every shoot.
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:55 am
by 1066
Pippin89 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:24 am
You will always get people (usually the older generation, sorry) saying that you should never clean a .22LR.
I guess it largely depends on the type of shooting you are doing and if whatever you are doing works for you then great.
However, if you look at the care instructions with any high end target rifle, they will suggest cleaning meticulously after every shoot. On top of that, if you look at any top draw Olympic shooter, they clean their rifles. Even sometimes in the middle of a competition.
Someone hit the nail on the head earlier. The key is consistency, and I find consistently clean is easier to maintain than consistently dirty. For a new shooter getting into the sport, I would seriously suggest getting into the habit of cleaning your rifle after every shoot.
Although I'm quite convinced my .22lr match rifle gives best accuracy after a barrel clean, I never clean the barrel of my .22lr sporting rifle. If I'm out for an early start to clear a few rabbits I certainly don't want to be shooting half a dozen fouling shots to condition the bore to reach consistency. It may shoot a slightly tighter group with a clean barrel but I know without a clean, (other than a brush over the action) when I take it out the first and the hundredth will all hit the pingpong ball at 50 yards.
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:03 pm
by Pippin89
1066 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:55 am
Pippin89 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:24 am
You will always get people (usually the older generation, sorry) saying that you should never clean a .22LR.
I guess it largely depends on the type of shooting you are doing and if whatever you are doing works for you then great.
However, if you look at the care instructions with any high end target rifle, they will suggest cleaning meticulously after every shoot. On top of that, if you look at any top draw Olympic shooter, they clean their rifles. Even sometimes in the middle of a competition.
Someone hit the nail on the head earlier. The key is consistency, and I find consistently clean is easier to maintain than consistently dirty. For a new shooter getting into the sport, I would seriously suggest getting into the habit of cleaning your rifle after every shoot.
Although I'm quite convinced my .22lr match rifle gives best accuracy after a barrel clean, I never clean the barrel of my .22lr sporting rifle. If I'm out for an early start to clear a few rabbits I certainly don't want to be shooting half a dozen fouling shots to condition the bore to reach consistency. It may shoot a slightly tighter group with a clean barrel but I know without a clean, (other than a brush over the action) when I take it out the first and the hundredth will all hit the pingpong ball at 50 yards.
When you are out clearing a few rabbits you don't need the same accuracy as a match rifle. So probably a perfectly fine way of doing it.
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 9:47 am
by crismaqsood
I run a bore snake through it every time I shoot it and have it fully disassembled and clean about twice a year
Re: New to shooting - any guidance about cleaning .22 LR?
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 11:45 am
by 1066
By coincidence, me and another member of my local club are trying to get some data on this very topic. We both shoot similar Anschutz Match 54's in benchrest comps and, after a deep clean, trying to see how many shots before accuracy starts to fall off.
I'm shooting Lapua Midas+ and he is using RWS R50. The plan is to continue shooting without any cleaning and plot the score and "X" number onto a graph to see if there's a definite pattern.
Currently I've just shot rounds 74-87, six consecutive 25yd benchrest indoor 10 round targets including sighters. 100/7, 100/6, 100/3, 100/6, 100/2,100/4
