Thread: .22lr Barrel Cleaning

I’ve always had a proper barrel cleaning regime on my Centerfire Rifles but when it comes to my .22lr Rifles I just put them away with a bit of a wipe down externally.
My Tikka T1x has had at a guess maybe 3500 - 4000 rounds down the tube and hasn’t been cleaned once.
I honestly have never considered the condition of the barrel until a Mate mentioned that he had gone through a real drama with his CZ rifle recently when its accuracy just dropped off suddenly.
Anyway he invested in a barrel scope camera and found that there was a serious buildup of Carbon and other stuff particularly in or near the chamber area .
A serious clean and it reverted back to its old normal accuracy.
So I took my Tikka around to his place this morning and yes my old faithful has a big buildup in the same area .
About an hour of huffing and puffing and much scrubbing of my barrel and it’s now back to factory specs

I have no idea if it will improve things , but at least I know it’s clean and will be good for numerous more Bricks of ammo .

What is everyone’s .22lr barrel cleaning regime ?

Tikka owner also. I try to clean the carbon ring/ chamber out every 500-1000 rounds. I think it helps a little bit with accuracy. Dry patches only down the barrel, and liberal application of oil on the outside ( mine seems to rust like Howa….. wish they made a stainless T1x).

I'll clean the 22 chamber before a comp shoot with a brush, then re foul it just prior (i.e. out 10-20 rounds down it).
Barrel I only tend to push a dry cloth through on the rod. As I'm only using lead subs. No copper plated.
So that's around every 300-400 rounds for me at the moment.

The carbon ring can be not only an accuracy issue, but an extraction issue in semi-autos. And semi-auto chambers often a bit trickier to access from the breech end to do the combo of carbon ‘solvent’ and mechanical brushing required.