Do you oil bore after shooting

[35remington]

PP, the results speak for themselves. I don't neglect my rifles if they suffer no harm following this regimen, and they don't. Can't accuse me of neglect if the rifles aren't neglected. Neglect is only evident if there is damage, and there isn't any.

My attitude toward .22 maintenance is a virtue because it works. If it didn't work I wouldn't do it. You may well believe that as it's truthful as anything I've ever said. Feel free to stop by and look at my .22's.

If what I'm doing is working whether you "buy it" or not is immaterial. It's working. That is what matters, not internet opinion.

[shoot-n-lead]

No...been shooting some of them for years and they shoot and look as well now as when I started...including .22's.

And, apparently, what I have been doing, is working and is not internet lore, either.

To each...his own.

[shoot-n-lead]

I always cleaned the bore on all my 22LR guns. Haven't shot many in recent years due to lack of availability of "food".

But 22's are BP and should be cleaned-up after, unlike smokless powders we all use for most other cals.

Do you reload your 22 ammo?

Factory .22 ammo has not used blackpowder in 75yrs.

[starnbar]

Lones Wigger I haven't heard that name spoken in over 30 years

[Outpost75]

Lones Wigger I haven't heard that name spoken in over 30 years

Yes, dating myself. My competition gun was a Remington Model 37 with Erik Johnson barrel in a P.J. Wright stock, chambered by Homer L. Culver. Before I bought the rifle it had been owned by Col. Maurice Kaiser, who you may also remember if you are old enough to have known "Wig." I still have a little bit of Eley Tenex in orange paper boxes I got from Pres Kendall, a famous smallbore shooter of the same era.

Col. Kaiser sold me the rifle to take to Camp Perry in 1967. We were soldiers once and young...

[Outpost75]

If you wish to neglect your rifles that's your business. If you want me to believe your lazy attitude towards maintenance is some type of undiscovered virtue, you need to try a little harder - because I'm not buying it.

Bravo Zulu for your Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity!

[tazman]

PP, the results speak for themselves. I don't neglect my rifles if they suffer no harm following this regimen, and they don't. Can't accuse me of neglect if the rifles aren't neglected. Neglect is only evident if there is damage, and there isn't any.

My attitude toward .22 maintenance is a virtue because it works. If it didn't work I wouldn't do it. You may well believe that as it's truthful as anything I've ever said. Feel free to stop by and look at my .22's.

If what I'm doing is working whether you "buy it" or not is immaterial. It's working. That is what matters, not internet opinion.

I have to agree with you on this one.
I clean my actions but not the barrel. I wipe down the outside to prevent rust. The inside of the barrel never suffers damage because of this.
If I thoroughly clean the bore, I will need to shoot it 15-20 shots before it gets back to normal accuracy.
However, my guns are stored inside the house instead of the truck or the barn.
My Winchester 72a still shoots 1/2 inch groups at 40 yards after over 50 years of this treatment. I bought this rifle when I was 10 years old and have shot it at targets and squirrels ever since. I hate to think how many shots it has fired over the years/decades. The bore is still spotless.

Petrol and powder--- You are entitled to your opinion. I am not suggesting you should clean your guns any differently that you already do. I am just stating what works for me.
I don't expect you will change your opinion and I don't expect I will change mine.

[Outpost75]

Factory .22 ammo has not used blackpowder in 75yrs.

Honestly...where does this stuff come from?

He must have found Skeeter's bottle of Jack Daniel's somewhere, or perhaps a few pieces of Dr. Death's peyote mushrooms... Either that or it is disinformation being planted intentionally by Democrat Space Aliens plotting to rust our barrels!

[Smoke4320]

all my guns after shooting get a general cleaning .. Then oiled inside and out

I am blessed with rust curse .. actually rusted a Stainless Kimber once .. had an emergency call during a shooting session.. Put gun in safe
3 days later I remembered I had not cleaned it .. perfect rust fingerprints in the stainless slide

[tazman]

all my guns after shooting get a general cleaning .. Then oiled inside and out

I am blessed with rust curse .. actually rusted a Stainless Kimber once .. had an emergency call during a shooting session.. Put gun in safe
3 days later I remembered I had not cleaned it .. perfect rust fingerprints in the stainless slide

That is definitely a curse all right. I had a similar problem for a few years due to the job I held. I could rust a blued shotgun receiver in a matter of a couple of hours. If I shot a round of trap in the morning on a hot summer day and didn't wipe the gun down, it would be rusted by afternoon.
Since I retired, the problem has gone away.

[shoot-n-lead]

He must have found Skeeter's bottle of Jack Daniel's somewhere, or perhaps a few pieces of Dr. Death's peyote mushrooms... Either that or it is disinformation being planted intentionally by Democrat Space Aliens plotting to rust our barrels!

Hadn't thought about it...but he may reload his 22 ammo as I think the reloaders use BP...IDK

[Sam Casey]

Can't help myself. Few drops of Hoppes down the bore; let it soak while clean rest of gun. Then a dry patch down bore followed by a couple drops of Kroil down bore and 2 runs of 22 bore snake.

[Plastikosmd]

I was also of the school, clean it when done. I still mostly do, minus some stuff. After years of blackpowder shooting, I don't really consider most of my smokeless stuff all that 'dirty' , even when it is

[Outpost75]

Can't help myself. Few drops of Hoppes down the bore; let it soak while clean rest of gun. Then a dry patch down bore followed by a couple drops of Kroil down bore and 2 runs of 22 bore snake.

Sounds like an effective routine. With the Kroil you don't need the Hoppes.

On a match rifle I would avoid the bore snake, because it will pick up, imbed and accumulate the ground glass contained in rimfire primer residue, and believe me, for the cost of what it takes to professionally, refit/rebarrel/rechamber an Anschutz or similar high grade target rifle you DO NOT want to wear it out cleaning it.

I have seen more rimfire match rifles and target pistols with barrels ruined by improper cleaning than by the lack of it or by shooting. For those who want to know, at about 20,000 rounds a bolt-action .22 match rifle begins to get a "frosty" spot at the origin of the rifling starting at the 6:00 position. With continued firing this spot widens gradually until it meets at the top and forms a "ring" at about 100,000 rounds. At this point if done skillfully, the barrel can be set back one inch, be properly refitted and rechambered and you are good to go again.

You don't want a tight interference fit of a rimfire barrel with the receiver, because a force fit causes a constriction. The barrel shank should be carefully lapped in to a "ring fit" about 0.001" smaller than the barrel hole in the receiver, BEFORE chambering, such that it can be pressed in snugly by hand when both surfaces are cleaned and lightly coated with anti-seize compound, and the barrel will "pop" slightly when pulled out. The barrel is then chambered, headspace set and the barrel coated with anti-seize and reinstalled with no stress on the shank when the barrel pin(s) are set. On autopistols or semi-auto rifles a service-removable Loctite 242 is used.

With a semi-auto rifle or pistol it only takes about half as many rounds to complete this cycle, because the rate of fire and barrel heating is greater. George Stidworthy wrote an article about this in American Rifleman and other noted shooters, Wigger, Kaiser, Kendall, Gary Anderson and LTC Elis Lea (USA, Ret.) of the USAMTU all related similar experiences to me in beer garden discussions at Camp Perry.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I clean them and treat with FrogLube, then clean them every three or so years whether they need it or not and that pretty much goes for my centrefire handguns as well.

[rollmyown]

I clean just like shooting lubed cast lead bullets with smokeless. Loose dry patch only. No issues. Cleans away powder residue that may absorb moisture and lead to rust. I keep a close eye and don't have any problems. Like 35remington says, the wax lube protects. Jacketed bullet rifles get a protective film applied.(after a proper cleaning with copper solvent etc)

[Forrest r]

Sounds like an effective routine. With the Kroil you don't need the Hoppes.

On a match rifle I would avoid the bore snake, because it will pick up, imbed and accumulate the ground glass contained in rimfire primer residue, and believe me, for the cost of what it takes to professionally, refit/rebarrel/rechamber an Anschutz or similar high grade target rifle you DO NOT want to wear it out cleaning it.

I have seen more rimfire match rifles and target pistols with barrels ruined by improper cleaning than by the lack of it or by shooting. For those who want to know, at about 20,000 rounds a bolt-action .22 match rifle begins to get a "frosty" spot at the origin of the rifling starting at the 6:00 position. With continued firing this spot widens gradually until it meets at the top and forms a "ring" at about 100,000 rounds. At this point if done skillfully, the barrel can be set back one inch, be properly refitted and rechambered and you are good to go again.

You don't want a tight interference fit of a rimfire barrel with the receiver, because a force fit causes a constriction. The barrel shank should be carefully lapped in to a "ring fit" about 0.001" smaller than the barrel hole in the receiver, BEFORE chambering, such that it can be pressed in snugly by hand when both surfaces are cleaned and lightly coated with anti-seize compound, and the barrel will "pop" slightly when pulled out. The barrel is then chambered, headspace set and the barrel coated with anti-seize and reinstalled with no stress on the shank when the barrel pin(s) are set. On autopistols or semi-auto rifles a service-removable Loctite 242 is used.

With a semi-auto rifle or pistol it only takes about half as many rounds to complete this cycle, because the rate of fire and barrel heating is greater. George Stidworthy wrote an article about this in American Rifleman and other noted shooters, Wigger, Kaiser, Kendall, Gary Anderson and LTC Elis Lea (USA, Ret.) of the USAMTU all related similar experiences to me in beer garden discussions at Camp Perry.

Excellent answer and explanation!!!
I've said/done the same thing for decades, clean the chamber and leade then 1 wet & 1 dry patch down the bbl and then clean the crown. When you start taking a good hard look at the bbl's chambers before and after cutting & re-chambering. The difference is night and day. Most people wouldn't know if their favorite dirt clod killer was ruined or not from lack of cleaning. The rifles were never good to begin & add to that wal-mart can't keep the blammo ammo on the shelves for a reason. Let alone as anyone should know, the 1st step in rimifre accuracy is consistent ignition. No clean bbl ='s no clean bolt & no clean bolt ='s I can shoot 1/2" groups all day long @50yds with walmart blammo ammo and my favorite $50 beater that hasn't been cleaned since dirty little billy used it for his worm box back in 1961.

Most shooters don't realize there's ground glass in the rimfires priming powder. The worry about it being corrosive or not and omit the ground glass/silica being deposited in the leade of the chamber and the 1st couple inches of bbl after every shot. Coupled with the nitrogen (gunpowder residue)/h2o thing that deposits moisture in the leade/beginning of the bbl along with making an acid that the "wax" coat on a bullet couldn't ever keep that area of the bbl looking shinny and new.

A side note:
A lot of rimfire shooter like to use aguila rimfire ammo because it has been "eley" primed.

[IMG][/IMG]

This type of discussion comes up all the time to clean/not clean or oil/not oil. What I've found over the decades is:
The more $$$ the rimfire costs, the more likely the bbl is to be properly cleaned and taken care of.
The higher the level of competition with rimfires, the more they get cleaned.
The rimfire shooters that are competing with high $$$ firearms & high $$$$ ammo (namely bench rest) clean their rifles more in 1 outing then most people bathe in a week.

One of the best lines I ever read was on another website. They were asking another member (long time shooter on the us army rifle team) if he cleaned his rimfire bbl's. His reply was, "I've made a living off of the people who didn't".

One of the best in the business right now when it comes to rimfires, Steve Boelter of Rimfire Research & develipement. His article on rimfire bbl's and cleaning them complete with borescope pictures. The pictures clearly show what's in your bbl and what it does to those bbl's.

http://www.rrdvegas.com/rimfire-cleaning.html

To the OP:
Take the time to click the link posted above and if nothing else look at the photo's. You'll get the picture real quick (no pun intended) and at least break out the oil.

A Anschutz 1712 manual, page 25 maintenance intervals states "after shooting", Clean the bbl with a plastic brush and gun oil.
oil.
http://jga.anschuetz-sport.com/downl....pdf?downloads

A ruger 10-22 manual, page 28 "care and cleaning", at regular intervals.
https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/1022.pdf

The anschutz 1712 is extremely popular in the silhouette community and the 10-22 is extremely popular in the killing dirt clods @ 10 paces community. And their manuals reflect just that.

Anyway, do a little reading and use what you've learned/know. Just because someone has done something wrong for decades doesn't mean you have to.

forrest r

[Blackwater]

This is really a pretty interesting discussion. Count me in with 35 Rem., Tazman and the others who don't regularly clean their .22 RF barrels. I used to, but first round fliers, and sometimes a couple more after the first, was the rule, and I was young and didn't much like wasting my precious ammo supply, so I quit cleaning and just watched the bores closely for any signs of rust. Never found any, so ... I just quit cleaning the bores, but always wiped them down after use. If I had it in the rain or it otherwise got wet, then I'd clean the bore too, and just reconcile myself to having to suffer through a few fliers when I took it out again. And I shot everything in it, plated and waxed, and never saw enough difference in POI, other than the permanent differences due to differing ammo, so I still stick with that proceedure today.

However, I WILL say this: That wasn't match shooting, and guys who shoot .22 LR matches mostly, in my experience, are the most ticky shooters I know. And they can have widely varying techniques, but they let their guns teach them what the gun wanted as an individual firearm, and didn't look for "general rules" to guide them. They just went out and tested them, and did so very thoroughly. .22 RF matches can be won and lost due to tiny differences in groups, and the better shots always strove to eliminate ANY and ALL variances. Some cleaned, and some would have shot you dead if you'd touched their barrels! So .... it's always seemed to me that, like so many other things in shooting, the real answer is "it depends on the gun." Just my take on it, anyway. Sure makes for some interesting arguments and anecdotes, though.

[victorfox]

Well I might be kicked in the rear for this but we cleaned last year the barrel of that .22 pump my father bought used in 1988/89... For the first time! It's quite ugly outside (farm gun...) but the bore was pristine. Only explanation would be lube deposits. Accuracy is also the same it always been. Used hair brush with kerosene and wiped some patches. I believe he didn't shoot it since then. On the other hand in my .22 pistol I run a hair brush dry on the range then at home run a dry patch then one with motor oil then another dry. It's comes clean. Then I clean and lube it with same oil. Gun looks like the day I got it. Same procedure with my other guns save I use kerosene in their bores and a brass brush to remove leading (shotgun and judge smoothbore).

[rfd]

always clean and oil after a shooting session, whether smokeless or black powder. it's really the right way to take care of all firearms if you care about them. ymmv.