How many rounds before cleaning?

As the common saying goes that more barrels are worn out by cleaning than Shooting them. How often should you clean your .22 pistol? I am using a Hammerli 208 International . I read the article by Larry Carter on caring for the Hammerli, but he doesn’t say how often to clean them. Can someone chime in?

I dont have a 208 but in all of my .22's  I clean the chamber when i feel like my groups are opening up, probably around 500 rounds. I push a jag through with a wet patch and then several dry about twice a year. A brush never contacts my barrel. I should add that I just detail stripped my 41 after 18 months and probably 10k rounds. Its never had an alibi.

I shoot a Ruger. With good clean ammo like CCI or SK, a bit of oil on the bolt every 200 rounds is all it needs. But when I shoot Remington or Winchester, I like to clean the bolt and receiver to remove the crud that builds up, every 2-300 rounds. I never clean the barrel.

I shoot a Nelson. I take the barrel off and clean all the crud off the feed ramp and off of the breach face when it looks like it’s building up. I use a chamber brush and a bore snake about this same time since I’ve gotten into cleaning the gun party I might as well address the chamber and bore. The bore snake it to just pull forward and out anything I’ve loosened up in the chamber. I don’t focous on the bore. I’ll definately clean a few days before a match, but I shoot a 600 or 900 for practice/foiling with the 22 and to confirm everything is as it should be.

I have taken apart my 215 to clean after several thousand rounds and it looked so good I put it back together and decided I would not need to worry about the internals much.

I am probably due to send a patch down the barrel, but don’t worry about that much either.

As for the chamber,  I will use a round wire brush and roll it in the chamber about once a month, but not too aggressively.  Just a couple of seconds.  I will also pass the brush lightly over the breech area surfaces to knock off any crud or I will use a plastic tool to scrape off any tough stuff.

 I feel like this is the one area that can cause a refire if it becomes too dirty to allow the round to properly chamber, so I will look after it.  The rest of the pistol stays pretty clean.

To reiterate what most manuals state: "Major cleaning should be performed after about 1000 rounds, or once a year, depending on the ammunition used".  Since most never read the manual, I included those words in this post.  Ignore it, take it to heart, treat it religiously, or scrutinize and question their motives.  It's good to have options. 

Personally, I think it depends on what you shoot and how much.  I've seen old-timer Bullseye shooters with Citations or Victors who only used a M16 brush on the bolt face and the top of magazines.  Then there was the doofus who owned one of my older Citations, who cleaned the barrel religiously from the muzzle with a steel rod and wore out the crown. 

With the modern advent of the bore snake, it's much safer to clean the barrel IMO.  In case this needs to be stated: "only clean barrels from the breach".  I took out the bronze brushes in my pistol bore snake so it would act as a cloth patch.  I've never heard of or seen a .22lr target pistol with lead fouling, but I'm sure someone has found a way to make that happen.

p.s. I also like the patchworm kit for an occasional thorough barrel cleaning: http://patchworm.com/ Alternately, some catfish line, a lead sinker or two (shaped with pliers so they fit down the barrel on the line) and a piece of cotton cloth works well.  One of my brothers showed me that cleaning 'kit' and I still use it some today - the patchworm (or one of it's variants) is quicker and easier to use.

i like to clean my gun from the muzzle end with a brass muzzle saver...but i think i've only cleaned by barrels once.

On my Nelson:

After every team session : wipe all around the action and clean what i can with a brush and Qtips.  When i start to have light strikes, which is once a year, i send a brush down the barrel from the chamber end.  Could probably just brush the chamber and will work just as good.

Here is the link to the article the OP probably referred to. http://www.bullseyepistol.com/22care.htm

Here is my Hammerli chamber cleaning tool. I think I made it from a .223 or .25 cal brush. It is slightly over sized, but self adjusts after a cleaning or two. It gets used for my Nelson conversion too.

all this talk of not cleaning barrels reminded me of one of my first buys,

I was working tables at a local gunshow and had a guy come by with a nice used Winchester 75,
I was interested and eventually bought it
had shot a few small bore guns , none in comps,

when looking the gun over I commented to the guy that the barrel needed cleaning,
he said why?
I say, cause it has stuff in it, (barrel looked good, was obviously shot , some residue etc)
he got a bit crusty, told me his barrel was seasoned and he was not going to clean it until accuracy dropped off,
give me that 'look' like I had 3 eyes and a horn coming out of my head,

needless to say, he was a small bore shooter, I was just a plinker, and he politely gave me a lesson on seasoned barrels,
a lesson that has helped me thru the years when buying, selling and shooting vintage match guns

bought the gun,  sold it to a friend a year or so later, and he still shoots it with his daughter in local matches on occasion

I shoot a 208s when I'm done shooting for the day I run a oiled patch through the barrel with a patch worm then a dry one. If you look down a barrel after you shoot it you will see unburned powder in it. Gunpowder likes to absorb moisture from the air and this causes rust spots in the barrel. If you do not mind rust in your barrel don't clean it maybe rust makes your gun shoot better. I also clean the chamber after about 500 rounds with the bent brush method. This keeps the carbon ring from forming in the chamber.

I just run a bore snake with solvent once or twice thru the barrel and it's sparkling clean.  Might add a little oil once in a while to the snake.

http://riflebarrels.com/support/22-rimfire-maintenance/

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2016/10/28/rifle-bore-cleaning-and-barrel-break-in/

http://www.odcmp.org/0607/default.asp?page=USAMU_MAINT

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2018/03/tech-tip-when-and-how-to-use-bore-snakes/

I have a 22 bore snake with the brass brushes removed that I run down the bore about every 500 rounds or so.  I clean the bolt & chamber face when I can see a buildup of crud.
- Dave

When I start getting alibis. I admit, I’m kinda lazy about it.

willnewton wrote:Here is my Hammerli chamber cleaning tool. I think I made it from a .223 or .25 cal brush.  It is slightly over sized ...

My Benelli MP90 came with one. Don't know if it was included by the factory or if Larry put it in there.

The chamber cleaning brushes typically sold by Outers, etc are a steel core with a bronze wire brush.  Having collected some expensive .22's, I learned there are brass core with bronze wire brushes for sale by Brownells (and probably elsewhere).  Since brass is softer than steel, it's less likely to damage the rifling (which, technically, the brush core shouldn't engage).  This probably may not matter, but I'm very detail oriented about some things.

Here is their .245/25 caliber brass core bronze rifle brush: 084-405-024WB
.243/.25 Rifle, per 3




I also have a similar .50 caliber brass core bronze rifle brush for my .45 (I am using Bullseye powder): 084-405-250WB .50 Rifle, per 3


The .243/.25 wire brush is bent as described and the wire brush encased in heat shrink tubing.  I don't have heat shrink tubing large enough for the .50 caliber brush yet.

Did you ever look at your 22 bore with a bore scope? Don't!!

I've had my Pardini now for three years.  I think i can remember pulling a patch through the barrel once.  If I did it was a couple years ago.  Didnt shoot the Pardini this week but the two weeks prior I shot 3 clean slow fire targets in competition with cci sv.  I think ill leave it alone for a while longer.

hammerli manual says clean at about 1000 rounds, I wipe out the breech face and mag well every hundred or so

I do have 1 rule about cleaning a gun, when I do clean it I make sure to have at least 1 practice session (50-100 rounds) through it before I go to a match.
- Dave