Thread: .22lr rifle sighting questions

If you don't clean a .22LR bore eventually a carbon ring will form just at the end of the chamber in the start of the leade of the lands. This will degrade accuracy and once the ring is there it's difficult to remove. The average .22LR hunter who never cleans the bore probably won't notice that accuracy has dropped off until many, many thousands of rounds have been shot. Mainly because their rifle is not particularly accurate to start with (compared to a really accurate .22LR) and also if you're rabbit shooting, how steady can the rifle be held most of the time to determine that accuracy has degraded?

Most .22LR competition shooters clean the bore after every shoot. Of course some don't and only do so after a brick or two. Never met one who never cleaned the bore though. Even so, bore cleaning can result in barrel damage if it's not done correctly. There is a lot of information on correct cleaning methods and the pitfalls of incorrect cleaning on the net. As the old saying goes, " more barrels are ruined by incorrect cleaning than not cleaning". So you should to be aware of that.