Do you clean your guns after each time you shoot?

[Walt]

John Taffin has said he doesn't clean his guns after every use. After all, he states, you don't change the oil on your car after every time you drive.

Since I shoot only cast bullets I do clean after each shooting session, also taking the time to tighten the screws on single actions, oiling the front and rear of cylinders and the base pin and wiping down the guns before putting them away.

I'm also curious how everyone cleans their guns. I still use tried and true Hoppe's #9 applied with nylon bristle brushes, let the guns soak for half an hour, then use a piece of paper towel wrapped tightly around an appropriate Montana Extreme jag to remove powder fouling and lead. If leading persists I use Chore Boy all-copper dish scrubber wrapped around an old bronze bristle brush to get the bore perfectly clean. Works for me.

[GunnyMack]

All depends, my trap guns get the bores swabbed out probably twice during the shooting season. Then cleaned and put away when hunting season opens. My bird guns get cleaned if I hunt in damp conditions. If I hunt in the snow I dry by the stove. In both cases I'll swab and oil. Get cleaned at the end of the season.
As for rifles or pistols if the accuracy drops they get cleaned. If im putting in the safe for long periods they get cleaned and light oiled.
As for rimfires I only clean when they quit working! And I never clean a rimfire bore to ' squeaky clean ' .

[Walt]

No, I only seldom clean rimfires as well. Same with rifles shooting jacketed bullets. I do swab them out (infrequently) to remove powder residue but do not attempt to get them squeaky clean.

I shoot handguns weekly but shoot rimfires and rifles only rarely. And I confess that although I have several black powder guns, I very rarely shoot them.

[Ysabel Kid]

I was raised on the mantra that "a clean gun is a happy gun", and used to clean guns immediately when I returned home.

"Used to" being the key words.

I do clean my black powder firearms immediately. But I clean modern guns when needed. .22 rimfires a bit more often since that is a generally dirty round. Guns shooting cast bullets also a bit more frequently. But others when they stop functioning 100% reliably.

[Streetstar]

I do clean my black powder firearms immediately. But I clean modern guns when needed. .22 rimfires a bit more often since that is a generally dirty round. Guns shooting cast bullets also a bit more frequently. But others when they stop functioning 100% reliably.

Pretty much this

[Rimfire McNutjob]

My father had me clean the guns after every shooting outing. I still do. Perhaps not strictly necessary, but I'm still doing it his way.

[Sixgun]

More modern guns have been destroyed by over cleaning than under cleaning, especially target guns.….it’s an old way of life left over from the days of corrosive priming along with black powder. Corrosive priming was generally eliminated from commercial ammo by the late twenties and the fifties with military ammo, depending on caliber.

Use common sense….a.22 with a nice shiny bore does NOT need to be cleaned in the bore after every shooting……USE QUALITY ammo not the $10 a brick junk ….well, when it used to be $10 a brick. It’s OK if you’re blasting with a cheap gun or a simple rugged gun like a single action r.f.but never a quality target gun. Never. Just wipe down the outside.

On a quality gun with quality ammo, just wipe it down and blow out the innards with compressed air.

You can get by with most revolvers the same way if you just shoot a few cylinders…….I still like to use a wet patch through the cylinder and on the front of the cylinder.

Semi auto AR’s should be field stripped and cleaned after every range session…..takes me over an hour with the BAR

Don’t know nothing about shotguns except wiping the few I have down.

More common sense…ALWAYS wipe down on the outside EVERY gun after handling or shooting a little.

Guns with pitted bores should always be cleaned in the bore and after a day or so run another wet and dry patch through it.

Compressed air is a gun owners best friend especially if you use slow burning powder. Those unburnt flakes are more detrimental than a black film.

That’ll be $10 please.—-006 and 3/4………thanks Walt on the Ruger flatgates.

[RIHMFIRE]

No, depends on the powder and how much of mess I have made.
and what a mess bullseye makes.........
I shoot shotguns the most, and a quick cleaning on the outside for o/u, semi-auto yes.

[Pisgah]

I am obsessive about clean guns -- but not obsessive-compulsive. They get cleaned when they need it. And if I am firing lead-bullet handloads, and the fouling is bad enough to require cleaning after each shooting, then I know I have done something wrong with the load.

[marlinman93]

I do clean my everyday guns after each shooting session, unless I plan to shoot them again soon. For BP loads in rifles I definitely clean after every outing, and very thoroughly too!
When I shot .22 bullseye or adult smallbore matches I never cleaned unless it was the end of the season, or I had cycling issues on my .22 match pistol. Once the season was over and we changed to once a week practice matches I cleaned my guns thoroughly. Then again just before the season started again, so I had time to get 50 shots down the bore before starting up again.
I always wipe down the exterior of my old guns after even just handling them though. Whether they get shot or not.

[Tycer]

My answer is still the same as before: No. Not the bore. Black powder excepted.
https://levergunscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=16222
I still miss Junior

[jeepnik]

Yes. That’s the way I was raised.

To add fuel to the fire, I sight in with a cold bore. It takes longer but the first shot is the one that counts.

[765x53]

Gun cleaning is another excuse to mess with my guns which, I enjoy almost as much as shooting and hand-loading.
I seldom take the same gun to the range twice in the same year. I don't believe I will ever wear out a gun by over cleaning.

[samsi]

I'm fortunate to live in an arid climate, and I also don't seem to have acidic/corrosive perspiration like some folks so I usually just punch the bore and wipe them down when they get put away. Revolvers get the chambers swabbed out and my rimfires pretty much only see a bore snake these days.

I used to clean thoroughly and religiously but a couple examples where I neglected to clean something for periods of years showed me that they won't rot away instantly.

[Bobshouse]

Do you clean your posterior after every use....always keep my guns cleaned, oiled, and safely stored after each use.

[Griff]

Well... after that ↑↑↑, anything I say will just sound like I'm full of stuff!

But, in response to the OP, except in the case of my BP guns, no. And even with the BP guns, if I'm in a multi-day match, they generally don't NEED to be cleaned at the end of each day. Wiped down, yes... but in the case of my BP revolvers, unlike many competitors I charge all six chambers so I have still have a charged chamber at the end of the day. Sometimes, I even take the opportunity to charge the other 5 in readiness for the next day. Like the revolvers, the rifle gets wiped down and the shotgun gets a wet mop thru the bore, that's the extent of my day's end cleaning. At the end of the match, they're likely to sit till the next day before a thorough cleaning... which involves a complete tear down and cleaning. New grease, etc... before stowing. Heck, I'm a procrastinator, maybe one or two have wait a couple of days! Never rush into anything! And what can be put off until tomorrow is even more rewarding when put off til the day after!

None of my current loads produce any leading in bores, so letting smokeless firearms sit between shooting sessions (sometimes a few months between), isn't a problem. Hunting rifles and my EDC see almost exclusive use of jacketed ammo, and therefore get cleaned more frequently than do my cast bullet guns.

[JimT]

That was a clever way to express it .. but I fail to see the correlation. Whatever fouling is on my firearms has nothing to do with the fouling that humans expel. I have a Ruger Single Six .22 that has had 500 or more rounds run through it in the past few weeks. Before that I cannot say how much it has been shot. I wiped down the outside before I hung it in the safe, but I have not cleaned it in months. Doesn't need it. The bore is clean as are the chambers. It does not drag when the cylinder is rotated. I will clean it when it is needed but not until. Just my way of doing things. I am not trying to convince anyone else to do it that way. I have only been shooting for going on 70 years so I am still learning.

[COSteve]

I run a bore snake through all my arms after I fire them, both before and after I crank the air compressor to 100 psi and blow out the action thoroughly. The air compressor is very effective in cleaning out any carbon deposits and/or other grime.

I then check that the action still has grease/oil where it needs to be and touch it up if necessary. Finally, I wipe down the outside with a lightly oiled clean rag and put them away.

Once or twice a year, depending upon how much I shoot that particular arm, I field strip it and thoroughly clean it and then grease/oil it before wiping it down and putting it away.

[6pt-sika]

My shotguns I run Tico rods in and out each barrel a dozen or so times and wipe all the metal with a silicone cloth . Rifles I shoot a lot are a bit more time consuming . When at the bench shooting groups I’ll generally take a clean bore foul it then shoot two five shot groups or four three shot groups letting the barrel cool between groups and the do my cleaning process foul let cool and repeat. Hunting rifles get cleaned after sight in and fouled then they get theu deer season and maybe cleaned at the end of the season . I’m not as anal about cleaning as I once was .

[OldWin]

Depends on what it is for a firearm.
My carry handguns, no. For me, this is part of a reliability check. Revolvers will get a little more attention, but autos I may only reapply a couple drops of lube and wipe down the outside. A freshly stripped and cleaned pistol is untried. If its had 50 rounds through it, its been "function checked". My old Colts and such get a cleaning. I don't know how long it will be before I shoot them again.

My old Winchesters I usually clean. See "old handguns above".
Modern rifles I usually just swab the bore and make sure lube is where it needs to be. Outside gets wiped on blued guns. Parkerized or phosphate, etc, I don't usually bother.
Older semi's, like an M1 or carbine will get cleaned and re-greased so the gas system is clean. Especially if fired in the cold. The gas system will have moisture in it. They also may be sitting awhile before another use.
If I had an AR, they would see more abuse and neglect than any other firearm (except for Glocks). With a chrome bore, it gets little attention. Dump a little Mobil 1 on the BCG and walk away. It would get a strip and clean twice a year unless it saw a LOT of use.
My .22s don't get much more than a wipe down until they are pretty dirty. The exception is old guns or rarely shot examples.
I rarely use shotguns. Usually only for bird season. I will run it through the season and give a thorough clean after it's over.

I agree on the use of compressed air. However, an important caveat that nobody mentioned is the use of a moisture separator / air dryer. Without this, I would refrain from using air. It will only drive moisture into every crevice in your action and rust.

[new pig hunter]

As my Navy Chief said, "When In Doubt, Clean It Out"

one never argues with the Chief.
.

[lonesome dave]

my understanding is that eley has something in their primer that will eat you'r barrel up so i clean my cooper regularly during and after a match...

[MS 9x56]

Depends on when I am going to shoot it again. I clean all my guns that have been fired at the end of hunting season. I wipe down the outside with an oily rag after every use.

[Ji in Hawaii]

If I know I'm not going to shoot it for a while I will clean it, but on a week end hunt shooting several days consecutively I won't clean the bore, but I will wipe down the exterior. Hawaii has salty air, so any dust tends to absorb that moisture which encourages rust.

[buckeyeshooter]

It depends on which guns I am shooting. For guns I am hunting with and shooting smokeless, generally, as needed. For the guns I cowboy shoot with and use black powder. I clean them within hours after use.