As with my hunting rifle, I sighted in my AR (with hunting scope mounted) and did not clean afterwards. I always figured that I would leave everything as is, since that is how it was with my last few shots (final group of sighting in). However, I got to thinking today that maybe it is not good to let it sit uncleaned for the entire deer season (ends January 1st). On the other hand, I do not want to take the chance of messing up my zero by cleaning the barrel.

What is everybody's take on this? Clean it or leave it be? What say you?

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S&W M&P 15 Sport II

I leave 'em be after zeroing. No harm will come to the bore. The only exception is, if I carry a rifle out in the rain all day during the season I will run an oiled patch, followed by a dry patch, down the bore to be sure no water's in there.

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Pisgah

I guide for antelope hunts in New Mexico for our fam ranch. I always make sure that all hunters zero prior to hunt so the clean bores get dirty. Your barrel is only clean once.

So to answer your question, you always zero on a dirty bore. For the AR at least two mags, then zero.

This kinda depends on the barrel and what accuracy/group you expect or really need. Some barrels shoot into the group when clean, some don't.

Give it a trial, shoot for group and point of impact (POI) at a given range with the barrel dirty. Clean the rifle and try again. There might be no difference, slight difference that you can live with or major difference.

I've got a .30-06 that puts the first round from a clean bore 2 inches above expected POI at 100 yards, the next shot 1 inch above and everything else in the group. Never kept me from getting a deer.

None of the rest of my rifles have anything like this behavior and are good to go clean or dirty. I've repeatedly had good first round/clean bore hits on groundhogs at extended distances. And similar hits on distinctly different targets with other rifles.

You can make your decision to clean or not to clean based on what YOUR rifle does rather than allegedly common knowledge. Try the experiment with your hunting rifle too.

If you are zeroed for hunting, leave it alone. It isn't going to hurt anything.

Varies widely and depends on the gun. Bores on some can be thoroughly cleaned and the first one to three or four rounds might be quite inaccurate and the bullets don't land where you think they should. Then, it starts shooting as it should; accuracy and zero return.

Some guns are unaffected by a thorough cleaning and the first shot as well as subsequent ones hit the target as expected. Sometimes, you can even leave a very light (emphasis on very light) coat of oil in the bore of a cleaned rifle and shots from a clean, cold bore are unaffected.

Unless you know without a doubt whether or not a clean bore has any effect on first, second, or third shot impact, it's probably best to shoot from a fouled bore, particularly if hunting.

I don't recall experiencing this first-shot out thing with ARs, but I suppose it's possible.

Get your zero and leave them alone unless you are forced to clean them. A few check rounds if you have big temperature changes from zero day to hunting day weather is not a bad idea. 70 to 80 degree temperature change is not impossible here in Texas.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

My granddad taught me at a very young age how to clean and care for a variety of guns. I knew what Hoppe's #9 was and how to use it at age 7. Not bragging, it's just a plain fact. One of the first things he taught me about rifles and pistols was never depend on the first shot to be accurate after cleaning a gun. If you need that shot to be accurate, then shoot a few rounds after cleaning to check zero.