Should you clean a target rifle?

Your club informants were telling the truth. Most smallbore shooters don't clean the bore often at all. Cleaning the bore just means more fouling shots to get the rifle back to its true zero and does nothing to enhance or protect accuracy. All .22 Long Rifle ammo has been reliably non-corrosive since before WWII. With the plain lead bullet at low velocity, there's no leading unless the bore is rough, in which case you have bigger problems than cleaning.

Centerfire rifles are a different matter. They DO need cleaning because of the copper fouling and the consequent possibility of corrosion.

I shot entire smallbore seasons as a junior and in NCAA competition without cleaning the bore. My Anschutz was just as accurate at the end of the season as it was at the beginning, so I'm speaking from experience. If accuracy had fallen off, I would have known immediately as I was intimately familiar with the capabilities of the rifle. A drop in accuracy would have been instantly detectable in the prone stage, if nowhere else.

I'm sure some competitors do clean regularly. That's their choice, but I seriously doubt that it does anything other than burn more ammo and increase expenses for solvent, patches and bore brushes.

I did clean the action, where unburned powder mixes with lubricant to make a nice mess, and I made sure the trigger stayed clean. You seem to think that not cleaning will cause some sort of catastrophic failure. Sorry, no. I see no way for that to happen. What would be the cause? There isn't one.

I clean my .22 target guns after every trip to the range, but it's a much less intensive process than centerfire rifles. I wipe them down and snake the bore. The first time is with something like G96 sprayed on it and the next few times I don't add anything to the snake. I'm not a competetive shooter anymore, and I have a fairly large collection of .22 rifles, so after a trip to the range, I don't know when a particular rifle will be used again. It might be the next day, or it might not be for months. I think you are better being cautious. Plus, the enire process only takes under a minute.

It won't cause your rifle to blow up. It probably won't hurt accuracy. I agree with you though. Just clean the thing. There's no upside to neglecting an expensive piece of machinery.

You've taken this out of context.

They are not saying that cleaning is unnecessary.

Once the rifle has been zeroed it should not be cleaned again prior to competition because the point of impact will change. This will also happen to a scoped hunting rifle and will cause flyers or a spread pattern when zeroing a clean rifle.

Rule of thumb is that you should fire up to 5 rds thru a clean barrel before firing for accuracy.

Glad you clarified and said this is a .22 rimfire. Target rifles do not need to be cleaned WHILE you are using them regularly. Lead is in fact a lubricant. It also laps in any imperfections in the bore. ( fills them ) Now at some point you WILL notice the accuracy go away, that is when you clean the bore. I also remove and soak out the bolt without dismantling the bolt. Hang it and wash it down with solvent, like WD40, till it run clean. You will notice an accumulation of gunk ( that is the technical term of course ) around the feeding area of the chamber, and the bolt face/extractor. Wash it out. Beyond that most shooters do not clean a small bore rifle nearly as often. Our team rifles used by many shooters get cleaned once a year. ( Yeah I think that is disgraceful, I have been known to sit in the club house day after day cleaning them, BUT I AM a fanatic :-) )

Now a center fire rifle is completely different. They like to be clean. Just do it properly, and take your time. Any method that is quick, is likely being to harsh on the bore to accomplish being quick.

I think you misunderstand. You clean as any gun. But if you are going to shoot in competition you fire a few rounds for zero and it is perfect. Do not THEN clean it! I do not think you could get enough carbon build up in a modern .22 target rifle for the bolt to fail even after years of not cleaning it. You do not need to clean it after every outing anyway. It is not Black Powder. Same as any firearm, Clean it, light oil for sure if it is going to be stored away for a long period of time.

There are two main parts to a target rifle. The bore and everything else. Everything else needs cleaned frequently. The general consensus for cleaning the bore, is to clean it when the groups open up. That would be for jacketed bullets. I am not sure about lead bullets and how they effect the bore.

Of course you should clean a .22 target rifle. Now you probably don't have to clean it as often as you think (at least the barrel) but the outside needs to be wiped down every time you finish shooting for the day.

That said, during a multiday match I would clean it between days and I would shoot it in competition after cleaning it until I had fired several rounds through it.

you clean the gun. only an idiot wouldn't.

but for competitions it's better to shoot a dirty gun than a clean one... i've seen this before. a clean gun will group less consistently than one with a bit of lead and soot in the bore.

most competition shooters clean their guns after each range trip, but before they compete they'll put about 50 rounds thru the clean gun to 'dirty' it up.

Clean it after every shooting session.

Clean. Whoever told you that is full of crap.