Can you clean a gun too often?

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tmntdude84

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Just curious if any if you pros out there had any insight on how often to clean a gun. Is it too often to clean after every hunt if the gun gets shot or maybe sees the weather a little bit. Im more looking at shotguns when being used for duck hunting or skeet shooting.

Thanks
 
I always shoot my rifles with clean bores.. shot guns and rifles
Your rifles will thank you after a rainy hunt. I didnt notice any difference in accuracy when it comes to my shotguns.

Research cold bore mapping ..
Cold clean, oiled bore is how a shoot my hunting rifles, not target guns..
My first shot is always the most important.. I dont want to leave my barrel wet and fouled , inorder to maintain accuracy.
 
It depends on what you mean by cleaning. Yes, you can overdo it with a bore brush, but to run a patch down the barrel and a wipe down with an oiled up rag after having it out is just good practice.
 
I wipe my duck gun down with an lightly oiled rag after every hunt to prevent rust and run a bore snake down the barrel. especially if it was raining hard that day. no harm done.
 
tmntdude84 said:
Just curious if any if you pros out there had any insight on how often to clean a gun. Is it too often to clean after every hunt if the gun gets shot or maybe sees the weather a little bit. Im more looking at shotguns when being used for duck hunting or skeet shooting.

Thanks
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For my shotguns, if it's been fired I take a paper towel, roll it up to the size of a 12 ga. shell, then push it through the bore. It comes out black and damp.

For rifles, once it's sighted in I don't touch it again until I'm done with it for the season.

I'll wipe the metal surfaces down with an oily cloth or one of those silicone cloths.

If the stock has a varnish finish it shouldn't need any help. If it has an oil finish I'll wipe it down with tung or linseed oil. That can wait till the end of the season.
 
I was chastised by a gunsmith for a particular cleaning rod I was using once. I found a multi-section stainless steel rod that was long enough to run the length of a target barrel in one stroke from the breech. The gunsmith was also a shooter, and he reminded me that dirt or fouling particles on the outside of the rod would contact the bore like a lap and change the rifling. He might have been right because I never could get that rifle to shoot well.

Secondly, there is a British army technical inspection for "cord wear" on the muzzle of rifles cleaned with a pull through. It is wear on the crown from the cord being pulled across the sharp edge.
 
My shotguns get cleaned at the end of the day after they are fired, whether that's 200 rounds on the skeet field or once in the field. My rimfire and centrefire are cleaned once, at the end of the season. You won't harm a shotgun barrel by cleaning it, you may wear the rifling on a rifle by excessive cleaning.
 
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Clean everything once a year. Even if not used, just to prevent rusting. 22lr get cleaned when they get too dirty to be reliable...usually after 2 or 3k rounds.
 
Military firearms can be prone to this. A military issue firearm during service will probably see less rounds through it than people realize apart from live fire exercises, range qualifications and the odd war is the only time they are fired which might only be a couple of hundred rounds a year.
They are removed from the armoury a lot more and every time they are removed for things like parades, guard duty, dry fire exercises maintenance inspections and are expected to be returned clean and daily cleaning while it's on exercise.
That means they are being constantly being striped down, cleaned and dry fired. That does a real number on any where there is metal to metal contact even with oil and as Maple Leaf Ah mentioned the pull string wear as most military's do not issue pull rods, to much weigh and awkward to use in the field.
Almost every surplus fire arm most people see goes through a base overhaul before being sold on. if you have handled real issue weapons you would see some that are just falling apart from excessive cleaning.
You your normal civilian shooter a good cleaning after a range period is not going to affect your firearm in fact it's generally recommended.
 
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Everything gets a quick surface wipe before it goes back in the safe.
Shotguns: get a snake on the dry days, complete tear down if it was rainy.
Rifles: usually just the surface wipe. If it was rainy, then patch the bore to get the moisture out, might strip the bolt depending on how rainy.
YMMV
 
I know of an 870 Wingmaster that has seen many days in the field (43yrs) that has very little bluing left.
All it has ever seen is the trigger group removed and dowsed with wd-40 and after a quick wipe of the other parts and a dowse of said wd-40 it is reassembled teady for another round.
I wouldnt recommend that treatment with an express model mind you, but I woulgnt over think it either.
Rob
 
Maritime Storm said:
My shotguns get cleaned at the end of after they are fired, whether that's 200 rouds on the skeet field or 1once in the field. My rimfire and centrefire are cleaned once, at the end of the season. You won't harm a shotgun barrel by cleaning it, you may wear the rifling on a rifle by excessive cleaning.
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I do exactly the same
take care
 
FLHTCUI said:
I know of an 870 Wingmaster that has seen many days in the field (43yrs) that has very little bluing left.
All it has ever seen is the trigger group removed and dowsed with wd-40 and after a quick wipe of the other parts and a dowse of said wd-40 it is reassembled teady for another round.
I wouldnt recommend that treatment with an express model mind you, but I woulgnt over think it either.
Rob
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I quit yewsing Dubbyah-D awn ker-pows many years ago.
Better chit owt there.
 
Guns get oiled regularly, bolts, slides, action bars. I wipe the exteriors down after they dry off and before they get put away. I’m more concerned with things the move being lubed than I am with bore and barrel being shiny all the time, accuracy seems to be better with a bit of fouling. My guns do more hunting at the moment than target shooting so round count is low, shotguns see more volume but they’re smooth bores.

I fully clean pistols around the 500-1000 round mark, hunting rifles get cleaned after the season is over. Shotguns pretty much the same, I will pull a dirt snake through them periodically to remove plastic wad fouling when needed. .22 gets cleaned when accuracy suffers or it starts failing to extract regularly. Any rifle that shoot surplus ammo get detail cleaned after shooting, clean them when they absolutely need it otherwise it’s just regular lube and wipe down the exterior.
 
There is a gunsmith near Bisley that target rifle shooters use to install new barrels. He has a bunch of barrels tubs for us to look at, while waiting for the install. They are barrels ruined by the cleaning rod rubbing on the chamber side. You can see a groove worn into the side of the chamber throat from the rod.

So excessive cleaning without a rod guide can ruin a barrel.
 
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