So I recognise that this has been done to death for as long at the .22LR has been with us. All of 136 years...
I've lost count of the number of times I've read "I never clean it" or "only after 5,000 rounds" or such like. I guess I've always struggle with that concept.
I have a CZ455 which I've shown you fellas before. It's a varmint barrel, pillar and epoxy bedded into a Boyds laminate stock. I use it exclusively for pest control, shooting CCI Standard Velocity at a long term average of 1065ps, which handily is very close to what it says on the box (1070fps).
Ranges vary - rarely sub-40m and often around 70-80m and sometimes out to 120-130m. I take my time and range my targets very carefully, and use a detailed MRAD reticle for holds, and I rarely miss. However, after a period of time, say 200-300 shots, I'll start missing the occasional magpie or rabbit. Then I'll start getting the occasional crazy flier which in summer is easy to see because I can spot the splash behind the target. OK, time for a clean.
Here's a good example of what a good old fashioned scrub with Sweets 7.62 and a bronze brush does to my CZ. The first two fouling shots are marked #1 and #2, then shots 3-10 are into one ragged hole measured ~12mm across centre-to-centre of the two most divergent shots. That equates to 0.69MOA at 60m.
So not looking to start the debate again, just observing that a good scrub doesn't do my CZ any harm and it reigns in the fliers pretty much completely. Looking at the two tables below, you can see how the clean has flattened the extreme spread from around 37 fps to 19fps, i.e. halved it, and cut SD from 11.6 to 7 whilst maintaining a pretty close average velocity. I can live with an ES of 19 for cheap ammunition, as that is only 1/4" at 100m, and the bunny is still dead.
This kind of outcome is mirrored by my mate Phil's identical CZ455 with the same ammo.
Dirty on the left, clean on the right.
I've lost count of the number of times I've read "I never clean it" or "only after 5,000 rounds" or such like. I guess I've always struggle with that concept.
I have a CZ455 which I've shown you fellas before. It's a varmint barrel, pillar and epoxy bedded into a Boyds laminate stock. I use it exclusively for pest control, shooting CCI Standard Velocity at a long term average of 1065ps, which handily is very close to what it says on the box (1070fps).
Ranges vary - rarely sub-40m and often around 70-80m and sometimes out to 120-130m. I take my time and range my targets very carefully, and use a detailed MRAD reticle for holds, and I rarely miss. However, after a period of time, say 200-300 shots, I'll start missing the occasional magpie or rabbit. Then I'll start getting the occasional crazy flier which in summer is easy to see because I can spot the splash behind the target. OK, time for a clean.
Here's a good example of what a good old fashioned scrub with Sweets 7.62 and a bronze brush does to my CZ. The first two fouling shots are marked #1 and #2, then shots 3-10 are into one ragged hole measured ~12mm across centre-to-centre of the two most divergent shots. That equates to 0.69MOA at 60m.
So not looking to start the debate again, just observing that a good scrub doesn't do my CZ any harm and it reigns in the fliers pretty much completely. Looking at the two tables below, you can see how the clean has flattened the extreme spread from around 37 fps to 19fps, i.e. halved it, and cut SD from 11.6 to 7 whilst maintaining a pretty close average velocity. I can live with an ES of 19 for cheap ammunition, as that is only 1/4" at 100m, and the bunny is still dead.
This kind of outcome is mirrored by my mate Phil's identical CZ455 with the same ammo.
Dirty on the left, clean on the right.
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~Muir
You are, of course, free to clean what you wish, how you wish, but I wanted to illustrate the difference between a rifle that has never been cleaned, and one that was just cleaned. As the example you posted, it is best illustrated by shooting a group cold. My rifles don't require a few shots to get on track. For vermin pest control, I would think you'd want a little better than having your first shot hit someplace within two inches of where you were aiming. I try to never clean my .22 bores but if I get foreign matter in there such as dust and field debris, I use the old Anschutz method recommended for their match rifles. A scant drop of oil on a patch pushed through the bore and followed by a few dry patches. That's it. You might try it as an alternative for that nice CZ -which is being prevented from giving you it's best accuracy by such a harsh cleaning regimen. 
