How necessary is cleaning a .22LR?

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Alpheus

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I know for centerfire, not cleaning can be very beneficial for laying down copper and getting good groups, but what about soft lead .22s?

I normally clean after shooting, but a strange result in some ammo testing has me questioning that. I shot a couple of boxes of Eley and RWS match at 50yds, average group was .75" for both. Both started with a clean barrel. I then did the same thing for some RWS Club but with a dirty barrel and my average dropped to .58" Could the not cleaning have made the difference, or is it simply a matter of my .22 "liking" the Club ammo?

I'll probably end up redoing the Club with a clean barrel just to see, but was wondering if anyone has an opinion on it.
 
My "Match" 22's take awhile to shoot good again after cleaning. I shoot SK and Lapua ammo mostly, clean when accuracy starts to fall off. This can be 300 to 800rds depending on the rifle and ammo. My suggestion is to shoot it;)
 
When I clean the barrel of my 22's, I get a temporary drop in accuracy due to a shift in point of impact. Then as I shoot more, it walks back into the old point of aim, and the groups tighten. I have noticed a loss in accuracy as well when I change ammo, but it eventually settles back down to what that ammo used to shoot. This is with a Cz 452 and a lake field Olympic type single shot that shoots groups below 1/2" at 50 yards when all is right.
 
When I first started buying guns as a teenager, the first few were .22's, including a 10/22. I cleaned them after every shooting session, just as carefully as I cleaned my hand-me-down 12-gauge Ithaca 37 and my .303, i.e. thoroughly to the point of fanaticism. After reading an article about it, I decided to stop cleaning until function or accuracy began to suffer. The 10/22 went several thousand rounds before it started to gum up and misfeed. I cleaned the action thoroughly, and it went on to go another few thousand before it needed attention again. The barrel was never cleaned again...ever. That gun's accuracy never, ever declined in all the years I owned it (roughly 22 years). I sold it to a guy who still owns, uses and loves it.

Today, I have around 15 assorted .22's...bolts, levers, semis, single shots. I clean the actions when they need it, which varies from gun to gun and from ammo to ammo but is almost never more frequently than every thousand rounds or so. If a .22 needs cleaning more often than that, I'll stop using that particular brand of crappy usually-imported ammo...after I use it all up in practice...and the problem always goes away. Keep in mind that I'm talking here about cleaning the action, bolt, etc...I am not cleaning the barrels...EVER. The only exception would be a hunting gun that has gotten wet. That will get swabbed out, oiled, and then dry-patched before the next firing.

I shoot a fair bit, at least a couple of times a week, usually every day in good or even fair weather, and most of it is with .22's...I would estimate that 98% of the rifle shots I fire are with .22's...whose barrels are never cleaned. Accuracy has never suffered. My Anschutz 54 Match rifle, the same specimen that I shot at the Hart House Rifle club at UofT in the 1970's, shoots as well or better now than it ever did. My BSA target rifle has somewhat fewer rounds through it (fired by me, anyway) than the Anschutz, but it currently holds the record for lack of barrel cleaning. I got it in 1980 or 81, I shoot it regularly, at least once a week...and I have never, ever cleaned the barrel. It wears the same BSA aperture sights that it came with (the Anschutz now has a scope) and it has only gotten better and better.

It's just another, slightly less-publicized reason for shooting rimfires, and it ranks right up there with low cost, low noise, accuracy and all the others. :)
 
I would imagine that more perfectly good barrels are worn out each year by overzealous "Cleaning" than anything else..
Once a year I'll do a deep clean, unless they have been drenched in the rain or brought in from very cold conditions.
 
I dont clean my 10/22 until it has stopages. Actually I dont clean any of my guns until they have issues, unless I shoot corrosive.

Shawn
 
In .22LR they talk about barrel "seasoning". If you switch ammunition you may have to re-season it with the new brand.

In .22LR I primarily clean the action and chamber unless there is an issues with exposure to moisture.
I'll dry brush the bore with a nylon brush, which is not very aggressive just to get rid of "the big chunks" :)

ht tp://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/brushes-amp-bore-snakes/bore-brushes/standard-line-nylon-bore-brushes-prod1280.aspx
 
Changing ammo brands kills accuracy. Eley Match, Team and Tenex use the same lubricant and those are fine.
CCI MiniMags are the same for solids and HP's.
An Anschutz rep told a friend "5000 rounds between cleaning the barrel".
A Ruger MkII bull barrel was cleaned when it failed to function although I doubt the barrel needed cleaning.
There is probably more action cleaning required than bore cleaning.
 
Also, when I do clean the bore it's just one wet patch followed by usually two dry patches, just to get the gunk out. I don't try to get a rimfire super clean.
 
On my CZ455 I clean the bolt face and chamber about every 400-500 rounds. The barrel only if a drop in accuracy is noticed, but I haven't shot it enough to have a definite point for that. Guessing 1000-1500 rounds with CCI SV.
Most of these rounds are fired off-hand for silhouette so it's hard to tell exactly when the accuracy starts dropping off. More important is that the groups stay centered on the same POI as the rifle is much more accurate than I can hold.

-Grant
 
I find with non jacketed ammo that the barrel leads up very fast. Especially if the barrel is newer and rifling still crisp I've noticed quite high concentrations toward the chamber end. Some of my older 22s can do thousands without any leading so it all depends on the gun and ammo.
 
Kidd recommends you go at least 500 rnds before cleaning. I've been following this schedule and it's been working for me. My cooey model 75 hates being cleaned. Groups are all over the place for the first 40 or 50 rounds. I was wondering however if never cleaning the barrel like some of you guys do could cause any corrosion issues after a while?
 
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