Oh Boy!
A lot of cleaning behaviors are advertising induced. You see ads all the time screaming "
matches are won on the cleaning bench!!" I thought matches were won by shooting the highest score, but, evidentially not.
This topic has can create a lot of discussion with competitive shooters. Most of them are obsessive compulsive in having clean barrels. But being an outstanding nut case does not mean your nut case world view is necessarily true. It could be true, but humans also see patterns where none exist. I know one multiple category F Class champion who claims that a cleaned barrel takes time to settle down, so she does not clean her barrels between 1000 yard matches. However, Hubby is a OCD clean barrel type, and that causes discord when Hubby cleans her barrel!
Several very good Smallbore Prone shooters I know only clean their barrels "when your barrel tells you". I basically clean every two days out of a four day match, mainly so ejection is good and the bolt cocking cam is greased. I see others who immediately clean right after the match, at the end of every day. These guys regularly outshoot me, but not all the time, and when I outshoot them, it is with a dirty barrel. So go figure.
Frank at Compass Lake told me that barrels do need cleaning and the discussion was about centerfire barrels. And the cleaning advice was not about chemical cleaners, but the need to clean with an abrasive. According to Frank, occasional cleaning with JB Bore paste will remove impacted material in the barrel throat. He has had barrels in the shop that the owner claimed shot poorly, Frank looked down the barrel with an bore scope, saw crud in the throat that chemical cleaners would not remove. However a JB bore past treatment did remove the crud and the barrel was shooting back to match standards.
But, use JB Bore paste sparingly and maybe every 500 rounds or so. It is an abrasive. I can tell you, JB bore paste a high mileage barrel and you will see the thing settle in. I used to see it in my M1a barrels as they were at the end of their lifetime. Start out standing slow fire with a JB bore pasted barrel and I was changing elevation till the barrel settled down around shot two to five.
I have a J.C. Higgins M50 in 30-06 and the thing has a chromed barrel. That barrel would visibly jacket foul within 20 rounds and the point of impact would change each shot. I paid a gunsmith to lap the barrel, and that helped keep the fouling down, but still, it fouled. Of all the things, greased bullets positively prevented jacket fouling. I think the last I took it down to CMP Talladega, I fired at least 60 rounds, heavily greased. Such as:
When I got back home and pushed a solvent drenched patch through the barrel, there was absolutely no jacket fouling. If I had a bore scope I could test whether blowing a lubricant down the barrel prevents jacket deposition in the barrel. I think it does.
Maybe the Swiss were on to something:
I clean hunting rifles each time before they are put up to avoid rust. Smokeless propellants leave carbon residues that attract moisture. I don't like rust, in fact, I am rather OCD about rust. So I will use a powder solvent and get that stuff out, and then oil the barrel. I will run a bristle brush down the barrel, I do feel a resistance change, but I don't know if that is because the brush is removing crud, or is wearing out! I do feel better after bristle brushing.
Other than removing rust causing material from your barrel, you should just clean the barrel to your psychological level of happiness.
Don't forget to clean the chamber, and to grease and oil the other parts of the mechanism, especially the bolt cocking cams on a bolt gun.