"You never clean a .22 rifle"

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Trey Veston

Trey Veston

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I told my dad that I got grandpa's Remington Speedmaster Model 241 .22 Short semi-auto all scrubbed and cleaned and ready to shoot and he had a fit.

He said you never clean a .22 rifle, or at least, you never clean the barrel. He said a .22 barrel will get "seasoned" like a cast iron pan, and is more accurate the more you shoot.

He also said it was fine to clean the action, but running a rod down the barrel likely ruined the accuracy of the rifle.

I took it to the range and got 1" groups at 25 yards with open sights, which seemed fine to me.

Has anyone else heard of this? My dad is a former USMC sniper, gun mag writer, and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to guns. He was completely shocked and disgusted that I didn't know not to scrub the bore of a .22 rifle.
 
That's a new one on me. I don't clean mine enough but they do get it. I've never seen any loss of accuracy.
 
Tend to agree -- if shot regularly 22's leave a protective lube coating in the barrel.
Let sit for years ? ... well, ... patch it out with BreakFree/dry and a 17 caliber rod.
 
I didn’t clean my sons after several hundred rounds once, and a carbon ring developed in the chamber. The gun wouldn’t function properly until I scrubbed it out with Kroil and JB compound.

My grandpa used to tell me the same thing as your father. My OCD takes over and I have to clean mine after a while. I don’t do it every time we shoot, but at least every few sessions.
 
Never hear that regarding .22's. Seems to me if the barrel gets leaded up over time, it would become a smoothbore, but thats more of a guess than a statement.

That said, I don't clean my guns very often. All get a good clean and lube at least once per year, shot or not. But I no longer use metal brushes...all nylon with the exception of a bore snake.
 
A heavily pitted, worn, or oversized bore will gain some accuracy after a few "fouling" shots- but may become excessively fouled over time and need cleaning- in which case just recognize that it may shoot all over the place until fouled in again.

A clean, in-spec barrel shouldnt be harmed by regular, gentle cleanings with the proper tools and chemicals.
 
To add to my earlier post, when I do clean the bore, I very rarely worry about getting it scrubbed perfectly clean. Just some Hoppes #9, run the brush through it a few times, then another patch with Hoppes, and a few clean patches.

Just knock the worst of it out.

The action will get cleaned immaculately though.
 
Trey Veston said:
I told my dad that I got grandpa's Remington Speedmaster Model 241 .22 Short semi-auto all scrubbed and cleaned and ready to shoot and he had a fit.

He said you never clean a .22 rifle, or at least, you never clean the barrel. He said a .22 barrel will get "seasoned" like a cast iron pan, and is more accurate the more you shoot.

He also said it was fine to clean the action, but running a rod down the barrel likely ruined the accuracy of the rifle.

I took it to the range and got 1" groups at 25 yards with open sights, which seemed fine to me.

Has anyone else heard of this? My dad is a former USMC sniper, gun mag writer, and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to guns. He was completely shocked and disgusted that I didn't know not to scrub the bore of a .22 rifle.
Click to expand...
If I was going to "season" a gun barrel I'd stick with the basics, salt and pepper. Seasoning gun barrels in such a fashion is a myth that's been with us for quite a long time.
 
My great-grandmother was a champion smallbore shooter, and set a world record in 1941. She lived to the tremendous old age of 107, and was around to take part in my early gun-handling exposure. A lovely woman known to many old time Camp Perry types.

The story is her Remington Model 37 had over 200,000 rounds on it, the bore was NEVER cleaned, and the barrel was never replaced.

Take that for what you will. Just one anecdote.
 
I am not sure about the cast iron analogy. Cast iron is very porous and it absorbs the oil of the food you are cooking when it is heated. You don't however leave pieces of food in the pan after you are done cooking. You wash it in a way that leave the oil in the pores but still leaves the pan clean. I don't see how even a heated rifle barrel would absorb the particulate matter from a fired 22LR. So it would have to just leave a coating of burnt powder, lead and copper fowling in the barrel. I can't see how that is helpful.

Also the steel that is used in modern firearms is much different than the steel used in the 22LR rifles that our fathers and grandfathers used. I do not see how cleaning a gun can diminish it's accuracy unless you are going to cram something harder than the barrel steel down the bore to clean it. And then why is this only true for 22LR and not for all other rifles?

For me I will continue to clean all of my rifle barrels and leave a light coat of penetrating oil in the barrel.
 
Dad was right. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, fouling does not continue to "build up". It's not a sewer pipe. I have rimfire bores that have not been cleaned in 30yrs. They simply do not need it. The actions and chambers get cleaned periodically.
 
It's your rifle -- do what you want. I've cleaned every gun after every session for the past 48 years, and my observation is that on a rifle that's already seen some use, the first couple shots will nicely 'season' a clean bore.
The US Army (among others) determined conclusively that excessive abrasive scrubbing of a rifle bore will destroy accuracy so don't do that.

I don't use ammo with corrosive priming if I have a choice. After shooting I'll make a couple of passes down the bore with solvent and brush. A few passes on the breechface with solvent and a toothbrush. On a blowback or delayed blowback semiauto, the action gets a pretty thorough cleaning between uses cause they are dirty beasts. On rimfires, the chamber gets regular attention to prevent bullet residue from caking and interfering with chambering. On revolvers, I remove the cylinder and use Flitz paste and an old toothbrush to clean the powder and lead residue off the front. Cleanup with dry patches and Q-tips, a light oiling with G96 on the outside or Mobile One on the working bits, then into a silicone wrap or case in a dehumidified safe. Every year or two I'll remove stocks and put a thin coat of protective lubricant on those metal surfaces covered by the stock. I take care not to let lubricants soak into wooden stocks, particularly at the grip.

BTW, a friend actually managed to choke the Glock he never cleans due to accumulated crud in the magazine. The same guy keeps his car interiors like surgical theaters. Go figure.
 
Philosophically, I agree with Mr. DeLaurant.

Personal confession: I am a bit lazy when it comes to cleaning.

I rarely clean the bore on 22's. The action will get a cleaning with the spray/dry lube stuff when it gets a bit rough. The bore gets cleaned when ejection starts getting a bit sticky. Mr. DeLaurant has it exactly right on the chamber. A sticky chamber is a bad thing, especially on a lever or semi-auto. When the chamber gets cleaned, the bore gets a swipe.
 
The Clerke barrel on my 10/22 has never had a bronze or plastic brush through it. I have a 22-caliber bore snake that does not have a brush integrated and I have used it to give the bore a gentle cleaning after putting a few drops of Break-Free CLP down the bore in cases were its gotten wet. I do occasionally stripe the action down and clean it and re-lub but the bore never gets anything more than a few drops of CLP and that bore snake pulled through the remove the excess. Its been years since I did that last.
 
I have long heard that a thoroughly cleaned .22 barrel will have to be shot some to restore its "condition" before it resumes its previous accuracy and zero. Assuming the gun is accurate enough to tell.

I know that my good .22 auto pistols will fail to extract/eject when freshly cleaned. They apparently need some bullet lube and soot to lubricate the chamber. I have put a drop of oil on the top round of the magazine of a clean gun, I need to try that more systematically.
 
I have seen carbon rings develop from lack of rimfire cleaning. My best rifles seem to like cleaning after a certain round count. Then 5 or 10 fouling shots. I wish not cleaning worked for my guns. Cleaning has restored accuracy in a couple old guns for me. Maybe it does work for some. I don't know.
 
The cleaning or not of 22 rifle Fable has been discussed ad nausea for generations!

It's a gun, it shoots really dirty ammo why would it be any different from any other gun??
Does it apply only to rifles? What about pistols?
Is 22 ammo a miracle that it does not leave lead or traces of lube and carbon?

True some shooters say a few "fouling" shots are need to get the best accuracy but you still need to clean the darn things!
Are new guns shipped with the barrels all fouled out and full of carbon lead and lube?

Shoot the heck out of it, get it filthy and Dad will be happy again!
 
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