Wait, why have I never heard this before? Don't clean it ever? Not even a quick bore-snake?
John, you keep spoiling my OCD gun cleaning fun. First you tell me not to detail strip my K9 every range trip, now I can't clean my 10/22 barrel? What the heck am I supposed to do after the range? Relax like normal people? Thanks a lot fella...
So true.
Check it my friend.
What GSRswapandslow wrote above is 1000% true. This is where sports shooting like rimfire benchrest, and others like F-Class, and so on come in to help us non-sports shooters understand the art of the rifle.
The barrel of all firearms is only so big ok, the room in that barrel is consumed with lans and groves. The extra room is where the bullet travels down. to get a mirror finish or to swag a barrel ever wanted to know how the top barrel makers do that? One way (and most used) is to plug the barrel with a cotton mop, with a jag extended forward, poor lead down that barrel and drive that lead button down the barrel. During this process you polish the rifling.
Anyhow, when you shoot the cartridge, the brass casing expands fills the chamber and forms a seal. This seal sends the projectile down the bore, the bore hole is rifled and the lands cut a grove in the projectile, dependent on the twist, length and projectile weight; the hope is to stabilize the projectile after it exits. Anyhow, the gas that is on FIRE has residue from a solid turning to a vapor, also from the heat of the vapor the heal of the projectile might melt some. If it does, this melted lead or copper (dependent on the jacket) will turn into a vapor also.
Once the projectile enters the atmosphere, the pressurized vapor has a exit and releases out the crown, dependent on the end contraption this vapor goes in some direction, or muti-directions.
Anyhow, the vapor leaves some of the residue in the barrel and the vaporized jacket also (the last to cover the rifling) (first to see). So this residue will fill in nicks, divots, ruts, and all that stuff in the barrel. How? well like I posted you only go so much "room" in the barrel. Once all these spots are filled, you will have a barrel that is constant in how it affects bullets as they move down range. The barrel only gets so full or dirty. After that point it stays at that level.
Have you ever gone and zero'ed your rifleat 100yds, a great grouping and call it quits. Go home clean the barrel and the next time you go to the range the zero has shifted? And you start all over again, zero the rifle, good group, go home clean the barrel, and go back to the range, and guess what? Yes re-zero the rifle all over again, and again, and again. Never getting past ZERO'ing that $%^&ING RIFLE!!!!
I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!
So if you quit %^(&ing with the the barrel, and zero it, clean the action, stock, chamber with a mop. The next time at the range, the rifle will print at the same spot. Unless you screw with the optic. LEAVE IT ALONE!!!
So, do not clean your barrel. Its not a good idea.
John
