how often do you clean stainless barrels?

[Click Boom]

I know this has been talked about a lot, but Im curious if there are any special considerations for SS. I have a few hundred rounds down my stainless barrel since I last cleaned it. It looks to have a slight copperish hue when looking down the pipe, but is shooting good. Is there any real risk of corrosion damage, or should I just keep ignoring it. I clean the bolt and bolt face, but the barrel is shooting good... should I just keep ignoring it?

[Thorax]

in before all the know nothings that say you don't have to clean it....like, ever, because you'll never notice a degradation of accuracy because we can't shoot well enough to tell.

What you're seeing is classic copper fouling.
Clean it now or it will become so imbedded that it will never come out....yes, I'm serious and have seen it before where nothing would remove it and the barrel had to get tossed.

BTW, it's not stainless, it's stain resistant.
It will rust, just not as easily.
If you use anything containing carbon steel on it, the carbon WILL transfer and allow it to rust even easier than regular carbon steel. Make sure if you use a brass brush it is actually brass and not brass plated steel (yep, the brass plated units will ruin a perfectly good barrel).

[357magnum]

I clean every time I shoot, just a habit.
Probably not needed, but then I have never had a problem or an issue due to a dirty gun.
If you take care of them, they will take care of you.
This goes for stainless or blued guns.

[HK Dave]

I only clean when accuracy starts to noticeably fall off. Sometimes it's a few hundred rounds, sometimes 500+.

[Sanderhawk]

I have always cleaned all my guns after shooting them. Don`t have to worry about dirt or accuracy if its always clean

[E Michael]

So it's more obvious when they are a little dirty so i clean them after shooting,especially since i use cowboy loads In my single action revolver.

[milotrain]

In an AR I clean the bore every 2-500 rounds. I don't use a particularly carbon heavy powder like Varget and I've never found a "carbon ring" in my chamber. I use wipeout and let it soak, I've only gotten a blue patch once or twice

Cleaning frequency will depend on powder, bullet, bullet speed, rifling method, rifling profile and number of grooves.

[Fjold]

It depends on the barrel, some of my match rifles get cleaned every couple of hundred rounds but I have a Ruger SS barrel that is rougher than a cob. If I clean it, it takes over 20 rounds to get enough copper to fill in the rough spots before it will group again so it gets cleaned very rarely.

[xjdesertfox]

I run a stainless barrel on my hard use, carbine class rifle. It gets cleaned about every 800-1200 rounds.

[Click Boom]

So is it bad to let the copper tint sit in the barrel for a few weeks or a month or two? Some say it will be harder to get out, some say it fills in the pores and helps accuracy. it's 416r SS if that makes a difference to the metallurgical folks out there

[ExtremeX]

I only clean when accuracy starts to noticeably fall off. Sometimes it's a few hundred rounds, sometimes 500+.

This ^^

It depends on the barrel and load too when it comes to frequency of cleaning.

I try to go as long as I can before a cleaning, and only clean when my groups start to open up.

After a good cleaning, it takes a handful of fouling shots before I starts to get back into the grove.

[highpower790]

In an AR I clean the bore every 2-500 rounds. I don't use a particularly carbon heavy powder like Varget and I've never found a "carbon ring" in my chamber. I use wipeout and let it soak, I've only gotten a blue patch once or twice

Cleaning frequency will depend on powder, bullet, bullet speed, rifling method, rifling profile and number of grooves.

ditto .About 200rds for me!

[postal]

This ^^

It depends on the barrel and load too when it comes to frequency of cleaning.

I try to go as long as I can before a cleaning, and only clean when my groups start to open up.

After a good cleaning, it takes a handful of fouling shots before I starts to get back into the grove.

Same here too-

When I do clean it's very thorough.

I do have to pull of my brake and remove carbon buildup from the brake and muzzle crown more frequently.

The carbon buildup on the crown/in the brake will actually throw off shots while the barrel is still shooting fine.

[eric n]

When you guys clean ''when my groups open up'', how much do they open up before you clean?

[russ69]

So is it bad to let the copper tint sit in the barrel for a few weeks or a month or two? Some say it will be harder to get out, some say it fills in the pores and helps accuracy. it's 416r SS if that makes a difference to the metallurgical folks out there

The data suggests (as in do it dummy) that clean barrels are the most accurate. There is no argument about that. If your barrel is loading up with copper, you might want to have the barrel lapped to smooth it out a bit.