I used to clean religiously when i didn't know any better. What I thought was a good thing (cleaning regularity), actually, made things worse off.
Every time your ram something down your barrels throat, you run the risk of scarring or doing something to damage it along the way. chemicals used are sometimes potent, and are hard on finishes, because sooner or later some will get on that nice shiny hardwood stock and leave its mark. I've seen so many overlubed guns its not even funny, and over oiling can be worse than not enough. And those 3 peice rods that come in a kit are your barrels worst enemy.
I have pretty well dropped cleaning to about a once a year ritual now, unless something has reared its head to say otherwise. Shotguns, .22's, hunting rifle, and the level of cleaning will vary with the use of the firearm. IE, my hunting rifle only see's a boresnake or an almost dry/very lightly oiled patch down the barrel pre-season, as it's not fired a whole lot and the barrel needs to stay fouled for shots to count. My .22 might get 5000 rounds in a summer, so it's gets a complete breakdown. Shotgun may vary if it's been in the swamp or not, usually just a strip down and blow out with an Airgun. Got an SKS that shoots corrosive ammo, think I cleaned it once, ever. Still has yet to seize up.
For my precision rifle, it also falls under the once a year program for a though cleaning, and the barrel only when needed during the season. I find it shoots well into the 400 round count before accuracy begins to degrade any. Even then it's not much, and could push it to 500 I'm certain and still be inside the 1" circle.
Cleaning is always done with a coated one peice rod, proper sized jags and brushes, bore guide and known solvents like butch' bore guide, hopp's oil and rem oil. Always wipe stuff down with a silicon cloth when I'm putting things away for an extended time or they have been exposed to moisture (ie hunting rifle).
