What caliber? Clearly not one of the zippier ones. 3k on a 308 or a 223 is still a new barrel. A hot 6mm will not see 3k.
Good guess, the example picked is .223. I'd say 3k rounds is what, maybe around 1/3 of the service life I expect to get from it. It's in the prime of life; which is why I picked it as an example to speak to your suggestion that
"How long you can go between cleanings will get shorter as you put more rounds on the barrel."
If you were saying that
at the end of a barrel's service life, throat cracking will lead to copper deposition which requires more frequent cleaning, that I wholeheartedly agree with. But the way I read what's written is that you're saying there's a sort of linear, continual decrease in cleaning times as the barrel ages which is not my experience. Even with barrel burners if you want to use one of those as an example; the principle holds true.
At the beginning of it's life it can go hundreds of rounds between cleanings. By the end, if you're shooting the long shank heavy bullets at high velocity, some of them will turn into a puff of smoke half way to the target if you let the barrel get too fouled. I've learned that one the hard way... many F-Open shooters have too, pushing long bullets at high speeds.
Well, then, that's a very good data point - if we've narrowed it to shooters using long for caliber bullets pushed to high (so let's read that as wildcat, if we can presume factory chamberings would be "standard") velocity as those who require cleaning after every session, I guess that means folks shooting outside of that will get by fine with interval cleaning.
Throats crack over time, cracking strips off copper, rough copper sticks to lands and the copper on the lands tears more copper off the next bullet,
pressure and friction rise.
Absolutely. I guess I just consider that the point to replace or set back and re chamber, not engage in more aggressive cleaning.
A maintenance routine is fine for casual shooters.
Ok, so then we're in agreement that this answer's the OP's question, and it's the appropriate advice to follow. Casual shooter is sure what he sounds like to me, which is why I suggested it. It's also almost certain that a casual shooter more likely to wear the barrel from over cleaning - as I would submit cleaning every 60 rounds on a .308 is - than they are overshooting.
I've never shot a custom barrel that required two applications of Wipeout to clean it. Most will come clean after a few patches with Butche's once they're broken in.
Me neither. We're not talking about a custom barrel though. Given that the OP is asking about a factory Savage 10, I figured something in the same ballpark was the most relevant comparison to use. In any case, for me, two Wipe out applications means it takes one to clean and one to confirm you got it completely clean; I guess you could get by with just the one, but given that merely squirting it down the bore takes no toll, and three or four patches to dry is no drama, it's a small price to pay for the piece of mind. If it took more than one to clean, that would make it a minimum of three applications.
I can't imagine a barrel that needs two applications of Wipeout to clean would shoot very well to begin with...
Well, I guess it all depends on your definition of "very well" - I'm sure a BR shooter would be disappointed. For a factory off the shelf practice & varmint rifle, I'll consider consistent .6 to .7 with factory ammo and consistent .4 - .5s with handloads as more than sufficient. Certainly it can't hold a candle to a custom rig. That's why custom rifles exist I suppose, otherwise there wouldn't be much need to buy them.
