To clean a rifle or not

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rutland

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This has probably been covered countless times before but I really don't know whats the best thing to do so I thought ask ,
I have a tikka t3 synthetic and blue a tikka 595 synthetic and stainless , x bolt synthetic and stainless and the good old ruger 1022
wood and blue, apart from the 1022 I cleaned the others religiously . I recently went on a trip and missed an easy deer and the stalker said to me
don't bother cleaning the stainless barrels as it can take several rounds for the bullets to settle, Now I was using federal fusion at the time and
I am pretty sure it was these bullets giving me the inconsistency but do I still clean or not .
The stalker was also a firearms dealer aswell so I don't know :?:
 
rutland said:
This has probably been covered countless times before but I really don't know whats the best thing to do so I thought ask ,
I have a tikka t3 synthetic and blue a tikka 595 synthetic and stainless , x bolt synthetic and stainless and the good old ruger 1022
wood and blue, apart from the 1022 I cleaned the others religiously . I recently went on a trip and missed an easy deer and the stalker said to me
don't bother cleaning the stainless barrels as it can take several rounds for the bullets to settle, Now I was using federal fusion at the time and
I am pretty sure it was these bullets giving me the inconsistency but do I still clean or not .
The stalker was also a firearms dealer aswell so I don't know :?:
Click to expand...
personally on rifles next round cleans my barrels!! That said after the very occasional clean I always put back on a paper target as sometimes takes a couple to settle. Each rifle is different though!
 
Don't worry about it. I don't know how many rounds per year you shoot but I give both 270s, the 6.5 and 243 a really going over once a year. Rest of the time I use a bore snake and a squirt of Napier. Regarding the miss, you say easy deer. Is that a 100 yarder off a solid rest with a rifle zeroed for a 100 yards? Bearing in mind the size of the deer and going for a boiler room shot (I am assuming) to miss cleanly I reckon would be about a foot above and below- more so for a bigger deer. Main thing is not to knock your confidence. Maybe go to a target and go back to basics of marksmanship. Trust me, it's worse with a "zeroed" rifle and drop a leg..
 
I tend to clean mine every 30-40 shots but am careful to bring my rifles up to room temperature before putting them away. If the outing has been moist in any way then I pass a patch through soaked in lighter fluid. Haven't seen any issues with altered poi doing it this way
 
That seems to be the modern lazy way. I always cleaned my rifles after every shooting session unless I was going out stalking with it in the next couple of days then it got cleaned after the outing. Of course mine did not have a stainless barrel. Cleaning is not the hardship many seem to think it is.
 
I clean mine after every outing regardles a shot was fired or not... Shot over 20 deer since last zero check (February) never missed a beat.
 
Good Evening 'rutland'. I have hunted with rifle and shotgun for 52 years. Rifles are cleaned religiously and rigorously.........each time a round is put through ( which is frequently ) and by this I mean the 'rounds' do the cleaning! I leave my rifle barrels 'the hell alone', there are more rifle barrels ruined by putting 'stuff' down them than not! A wipe over with an oily rag is all it needs! If it has had a soaking, dry it off first and dry bore with tissue and allow rifle to reach room temp before storage.
I've hunted in Africa and have a number of Outfitters and PH's as friends there and they tell me there is little that makes them more nervous than a hunter paranoid and 'hung-up' about stripping down and cleaning his weapon after every shot fired!
I'm not suggesting this is the only way or the right way, it's what I do and I've had no issues with accuracy or dozens of missed animals!

Regards,

'Camodog'.


Don't be too worried about your missed 'easy' deer, try and not let it knock your confidence. Check your zero, if it's ok, then fine. We all miss occasionally.
 
Can't say any of my rifles lose zero after cleaning. But then I zero with a clean barrel to start with.
The centrefires get a boresnake after each outing and a proper clean two or three times a year depending on usage. If they've had heavy use, on the range for example, they'll get a full clean afterwards regardless. The HMR gets a proper clean every 100 rounds and the .22 stays leaded up.
All get an external clean after every outing, including muzzle threads - mods always removed.
 
I clean both my rifles after 10 rounds, but ALWAYS if they get wet. Calum Ferguson has something on the Precision Rifles website about cleaning regimes. No one else seems to have mentioned the ammo - search threads for Federal Fusion as the topic has cropped up recently. They don't seem to be as well made as some think they are.....
 
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