Sigh...
Here we go again...
This could be applied to ANY firearm, but there's seemingly more FUD involved when the firearm is a rimfire.
You should always clean your guns after every use - except when you shouldn't. Powder residue will corrode your barrel except you'll wear your barrel out cleaning it. Softer than gunmetal bronze and/or nylon brushes can't possibly wear your barrel out but never use cotton patches as they'll ruin the crown and wear the barrel prematurely. You should always coat the inside of a freshly cleaned barrel with gun oil, except that will hydro-lock your gun next time you fire it so you really should use {insert fave brand of CLP here}. Dirty barrels are far more accurate than clean ones except nothing centers like a freshly cleaned barrel. Barrel accuracy degrades, and corrosion sets in after the third round, except for the guy who has shot exactly 15,348,723 rounds since the last cleaning and his barrel looks brand new. The previous is only valid if you use {insert fave brand of ammo here}. If you use {insert hated brand of ammo here}, your barrel will tie itself into a knot, and your cat will barf on your computer keyboard. Match shooters clean their barrels every 10-15 rounds, except the champ who has never cleaned his 50 Y.O. gun. Hoppe's #9 was good enough for grandpa, its good enough for me; but its outdated and you really should use {insert fave CLP here}. You should only run patches with a loop unless you're using a jag. Never use bronze brushes, nylon ones are clearly inferior. You'll wear your gun out cleaning it, except you'll wear it out from the unburned grit and glass particles left by every shot! Don't ever let your cleaning rod touch the inside of the barrel as soft aluminum will damage a hard steel barrel, except that the aluminum oxide on the soft aluminum rod will abrade the barrel. But soft brass/bronze rods won't hurt anything except you should use stainless steel as it doesn't flex as much. Don't forget to always brush or swab from the breech to the muzzle as this is the way the bullet travels - except swabbing/brushing from the muzzle to the breech reverses the the "flow" of crud so it won't migrate from the chamber to the farthest parts of the barrel. If you shot corrosive ammo, spray Windex down the barrel but never use ammonia under these circumstances, put your gun in the dishwasher instead. A good, stiff cleaning rod is best; especially when it is a nice flexible cleaning cord. One should always use a 1 piece rod, the 3 sectioned ones travel better. Clean your gun at the range, but its OK to wait until you get home. Never use {whatever} to clean your rifle, it will cause flash rust within .0352 microseconds; its far better to use {another whatever} because it will cause buildup that will clog your barrel the very first time its used. Its best to use the {whatever military} cleaning technique except its outdated and ineffective; better to use the technique employed by {whatever police dept.} as everyone knows all cops' guns are perpetually dirty. The 15 step, all intensive, 3 hour, 18 patch method is best, just run 1 patch through the bbl and throw the gun back in the truck for next time.
That should pretty much sum up where this thread will end up going - did I miss anything?
