Cyborg
Member
I have an FNAR (semi-auto, sub MOA, shoots 308 win and 7.62x51) that I keep scruplously (OK, almost obsessively) clean. I was taught to clean a rifle while at OCS at Quantico (had it literally beat into my skull). The procedure was fairly simple - field strip the rifle, run oily patches down the muzzle til one comes out as clean as it went in then pass one more oily patch through followed by a dry patch. Clean chamber, bolt and trigger group to same standard. And that's pretty much what I do. Sometimes I bore snake it first with solvent but I ALWAYS run oily patches through til one comes out clean. It is no biggie to me. Patches are dirt cheap (half cent apiece) and cleaning the rifle is meditative for me.
BUT, having recently bought a .22 (Rem 597) and reading up on cleaning over at RimfireCentral forums, I have found out that some (many? most?) competitive shooters don't clean the bbl until accuracy starts falling off.
I figure there's likely to be one or two competitive shooters here and some undoubtedly shoot something bigger than .22 so it would be a good idea to ask this question here.
AM I hurting accuracy by keeping the bbl clean enough essentially to drink through. The bore is chrome lined and I keep it CLEAN. Is that a bad thing to do? I'm not shooting match grade ammo, just mil surplus German NATO ammo ($0.40/round beats $1.00+).
Now, should I keep cleaning the FNAR as I have (and as I do my to .40S&W pistols) or should I back off cleaning the bore until/unless accuracy goes to hell?
You guys are the ones who have been owning/firing/using rifles for years. I'm a total noob.
Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.
BUT, having recently bought a .22 (Rem 597) and reading up on cleaning over at RimfireCentral forums, I have found out that some (many? most?) competitive shooters don't clean the bbl until accuracy starts falling off.
I figure there's likely to be one or two competitive shooters here and some undoubtedly shoot something bigger than .22 so it would be a good idea to ask this question here.
AM I hurting accuracy by keeping the bbl clean enough essentially to drink through. The bore is chrome lined and I keep it CLEAN. Is that a bad thing to do? I'm not shooting match grade ammo, just mil surplus German NATO ammo ($0.40/round beats $1.00+).
Now, should I keep cleaning the FNAR as I have (and as I do my to .40S&W pistols) or should I back off cleaning the bore until/unless accuracy goes to hell?
You guys are the ones who have been owning/firing/using rifles for years. I'm a total noob.
Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.