There is a school of thought that a rifle should be cleaned every few shots, or after every shooting session. But there are certain conditions to take into account.
Have my group sizes opened up? is the barrel less accurate than the last time I fired? Has it been a long time since I put copper cleaner in the bore? These are reasons I would clean, and I don't clean every time I shoot. UNLESS:
Have I been hunting, and there has been heavy rain, snowfall etc. Or have I dropped my gun in a puddle or something. Water causes rust. I have sometimes cleaned my rifle or shotgun (oiled) even after taking it out and not shooting it, but I was because I was afraid of rust. Long time ago I had a gun or 2 get some ugly surface rust on them when I put them away. Took them out the next weekend and was amazed at the rusty film on the guns. And I will never ever put a wet, or cold gun in soft storage case.
Ive been at the range and there was a guy with a really old rifle. it shot cartridge ammo, but he swabbed the barrel after every shot. At first I thought he was shooting BP, but it was lead reloads. I saw his targets, like a 3 inch group.. so I don't really think the cleaning was helping!
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