Just for the record I don't think cleaning a gun is bad for the gun unless you do what I've seen too many people do which is flood the action with WD-40. Another bad idea is sticking a steel brush on a cleaning rod and attaching it to a drill. It will sure make a bore nice and shiny. I wonder if it also wears the grooves down too. I don't know but I won't be doing it.
The main reason I go a long time between cleanings is I have seen accuracy drop when guns get cleaned. Not always but sometimes. If I have a gun shooting really accurate I just don't want to take the chance that it won't shoot that way after cleaning. I have one pistol that shot great until I finally took it apart and gave it a good cleaning. Now it won't shoot accurate at all and it's been at least 15 years since that happened. I gave up on it in fact. It wasn't exactly a high quality gun. I bought a Raven when I was a broke college kid. It actually shot great until I cleaned it good. It took me forever to figure out how to take the thing apart and when I did finally get it broke down it just never shot right again. Before I could shoot a 12" group at 50 yards with that thing which is amazing considering what a piece of junk it is. I never saw another one shoot like that and doubt I ever will. My dad was laughing at me for shooting quick rounds at his pond behind his house a good 60 yards away. I was aiming at a leaf and hitting close to it every shot but dad didn't see that. That's when I told him, "Watch this." I sank that leaf I was shooting at with the next shot. That pistol was amazing for a paper weight with a firing pin. Was is the word.
I've seen lots of .22's shoot worse after cleaning. I know the top guys clean very often. But they are using barrels that are tighter than the off the shelf stuff most of us use. I have two .22 rifles that shoot very well. Both lose accuracy if I clean them. I let them go about 2000 rounds between cleaning usually because accuracy starts to drop at that point.
I have guns that have only been cleaned good once in 25 years and they still work perfect and still shoot accurate. I have some guns I clean a lot. Shotguns especially need it IMO. The powder used in the shells is dirty. I have semi-auto .22's that just won't feed unless they are cleaned fairly regular. But my 629 has never given me the slightest problem. I don't really shoot it a lot but I sure don't clean it every time I shoot it. I guess I do that for my shotguns. I was taught that by my DI. We called him dad.
I started shooting when I was 7. That was 54 years ago. I've shot a lot since then. I'm not new to this. I was taught how to clean a gun before I ever shot one. I have just learned some things over the years and one thing is not every gun needs to be cleaned often. In fact it can hurt their accuracy. Until I have a problem with most guns I won't clean them. Again shotguns are the exception. And most semi-auto pistols.
The main reason I go a long time between cleanings is I have seen accuracy drop when guns get cleaned. Not always but sometimes. If I have a gun shooting really accurate I just don't want to take the chance that it won't shoot that way after cleaning. I have one pistol that shot great until I finally took it apart and gave it a good cleaning. Now it won't shoot accurate at all and it's been at least 15 years since that happened. I gave up on it in fact. It wasn't exactly a high quality gun. I bought a Raven when I was a broke college kid. It actually shot great until I cleaned it good. It took me forever to figure out how to take the thing apart and when I did finally get it broke down it just never shot right again. Before I could shoot a 12" group at 50 yards with that thing which is amazing considering what a piece of junk it is. I never saw another one shoot like that and doubt I ever will. My dad was laughing at me for shooting quick rounds at his pond behind his house a good 60 yards away. I was aiming at a leaf and hitting close to it every shot but dad didn't see that. That's when I told him, "Watch this." I sank that leaf I was shooting at with the next shot. That pistol was amazing for a paper weight with a firing pin. Was is the word.
I've seen lots of .22's shoot worse after cleaning. I know the top guys clean very often. But they are using barrels that are tighter than the off the shelf stuff most of us use. I have two .22 rifles that shoot very well. Both lose accuracy if I clean them. I let them go about 2000 rounds between cleaning usually because accuracy starts to drop at that point.
I have guns that have only been cleaned good once in 25 years and they still work perfect and still shoot accurate. I have some guns I clean a lot. Shotguns especially need it IMO. The powder used in the shells is dirty. I have semi-auto .22's that just won't feed unless they are cleaned fairly regular. But my 629 has never given me the slightest problem. I don't really shoot it a lot but I sure don't clean it every time I shoot it. I guess I do that for my shotguns. I was taught that by my DI. We called him dad.
I started shooting when I was 7. That was 54 years ago. I've shot a lot since then. I'm not new to this. I was taught how to clean a gun before I ever shot one. I have just learned some things over the years and one thing is not every gun needs to be cleaned often. In fact it can hurt their accuracy. Until I have a problem with most guns I won't clean them. Again shotguns are the exception. And most semi-auto pistols.
Last edited: