Every time you fire your gun, carbon, lead, copper and plastic—if shooting shotgun—residue are left in the barrel, chamber and action. Each time you fire your gun more of this fouling residue builds up.
This fouling comes from the powder, wad and bullets. Further, moisture from weather and sweat can cause corrosive rust to damage your gun’s metal parts. Fouling built up over time can impact a gun’s reliability. You will find that a dirty gun causes many malfunctions.

Types of Fouling

Almost all bullets—centerfire and rimfire—are made of a lead core with some type of copper jacket surrounding it. Even lead-free ammunition contains copper. The four most common types of fouling are:
Carbon, which occurs as a result of the burning powder that propels the bullet from the chamber through the barrel

• Copper, caused by copper-jacketed bullets leaving residue in the gun’s barrel after firing
• Lead, caused by lead bullets leaving residue in the gun’s barrel after firing
• Plastic, caused by the plastic wads from shotshells

It is impossible to find ammunition that will not foul your gun.
Black powder, most Berdan-primed and a lot of military surplus ammunition is corrosive. This means there are salts in the ammo’s primer.
These salts will damage your gun. If you shoot a gun using corrosive ammunition, you should clean it after each shooting session. As far as the rules regarding frequency of gun cleaning go, this is where it stops.

No Rules

There is no hard and fast rule to when you should clean your guns. Some people clean their gun after every shooting session. Others never clean their guns. Truly, there is no right answer.
Retired military and law enforcement tend to clean their guns after every shooting session. Because of their training, they feel that a clean gun prevents malfunctions.
One retired police officer told me, “Clean them as if your life depends on it.” This is somewhat true. Dirty semi-automatic guns tend to fail-to-fire (FTF) and failure-to-feed (FTF) more often than when the gun is clean.
A gunsmith told me his gun cleaning routine depends on the gun. After every use, he cleans his precision rifle. However, he rarely cleans his .22s.
Copper build-up inside a gun’s barrel can effect the bullets velocity by slowing it down. Further, barrel fouling also affects the barrel’s rifling. Shooting a dirty precision rifle can greatly effect the gun’s accuracy.

The Rusty Gun Gets the Oil

Rust can cause severe damage becoming corrosive and eating through the metal. I’ve even heard horror stories of parts rusting together. Rust also will affect the rifling in the barrel causing pits to occur.
A retired Air Force veteran cleans his semi-autos after each use, but not his .22s: He says he just leaves a little bit of oil on the outside of his rimfires to prevent rust. If you are going to store your gun for a long period, you should take preventative measures to avoid damaging rust.
So can you clean your gun too much? Some say you can, but over cleaning is just like under cleaning—it’s all a matter of opinion. I know someone who ran over 40,000 rounds through his Remington 870 and cleaned it only once because he felt guilty.
Despite differing opinions on when and how often you should clean your guns, all experienced gun owners agree that a little oil and lube goes a long way. I keep oil in my range bag.
I have never cleaned my semi-auto .22 rifle, but when I get malfunctions at the range, I just add a little oil and I’m good to go.
A friend of mine who participates at shooting leagues goes one-step further by running a bore snake through her pistols when she experiences issues. One of the most experienced shooters I know says, “A gun that has no lubrication is going to fail much sooner than a dirty, but well-lubricated firearm.”
You aren’t doing anything wrong if you clean your gun after every range visit. Some find it relaxing and therapeutic. Others just love breaking down their gun and putting it back together.
On the other hand, you aren’t doing anything wrong if you don’t clean your gun after every range visit. One seasoned shooter I know says, “If it doesn’t work dirty, than it’s not a dependable gun.” Whatever your cleaning routine is, it is important to remember that guns are a machine, periodic maintenance never hurts it and will only keep it in proper working order. For the very basics on cleaning your gun, read our post New Year New Gun: Cleaning and Maintenance.
________________________________                 Me? I try and clean my guns every time I shoot them. Unless my back is acting up. Then I will clean them as soon as I am physically able to! Grumpy

Tom McHale schools us on the proper use of quick turrets and scope reticles when shooting for long distances in this continuation of his article series on long-range shooting.

 
 
 
 
 
 
USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Turrets and reticles generally compliment each other, although sometimes they can perform the same function.
On old-school rifles, one commonly used the turrets for initial zeroing and the reticle for shooting. As the “turrets” were capped and required a screwdriver or coin to make adjustments, they weren’t conducive to on the fly adjustments in the field.
The idea was that you would do a one-time set to get the rifle shooting to where the cross hairs were indicating at a certain distance. Later, shooting in the field, the user would rely on holdover to account for longer distances. 
Before we get into nuances and differences of turret and reticle combinations, we can limit the scope of turret types. Since this is a series about long-range shooting, we’ll stick to “target” or “tactical” turrets. Those differ from more traditional capped turrets that are designed primarily for initial zeroing of a rifle.
Here, we’ll focus on turrets that remain exposed and are intended to be used in the field on a shot-to-shot basis to adjust for elevation, windage, and target movement. These taller drums aren’t just big and bulky to look cool – they show you the adjustment markings so you can adjust for each different shot requirement. 
There are numerous concepts to consider when making an optics decision when it comes to turrets and reticles, so let’s try to hit some of the biggies.

Oh, one more note before we start. To keep this article less than “one billion” words, we’re going to skip differences between first and second focal plane scopes when talking about reticle holdovers. We’ll be covering that topic separately next month.

Mismatched Turret and Reticle Graduations

On far too many scopes (in my opinion) you’ll find a reticle graduated in milliradians combined with turrets that adjust in minutes of angle. Sure, they both do the same thing, but it gets confusing. A milliradian represents 3.6 inches at 100 yards while a minute of angle corresponds to 1.04 inches at the same distance.
To put that practical terms, if you choose to make a shot adjustment through the reticle of one milliradian, there’s no “exact” way to do the same adjustment with the turrets unless you resort to (brace yourself)… math!
Maybe companies do this for economies of scale so they can manufacture one scope body and offer it will all sorts of MOA, mil, and ballistic compensation reticles.

Whatever the reason, it drives me nuts. It’s kind of like having car speedometers marked in miles per hour with highway speed limit signs that only show the metric numbers. 

The benefit of using the same units of adjustment on the reticle and turret is simplicity. You can make the same shot adjustment using either a reticle holdover or a turret adjustment. That’s especially handy when you use both to make a shot.
For example, you might adjust the elevation turret for drop and use the reticle to account for wind drift. You’re always working with the same units of measurement, and that’s a good thing.
Most minute of angle scopes feature .25 MOA per click adjustments. That represents a smidgen over a quarter of an inch at 100 yards. Most mil-dot scopes use .1 milliradian per click adjustments. That’s about .36 inches per click at 100 yards. 

Standard Mil-Dot and MOA Reticles

Here comes my institutional bias. There, I warned you. 
There are infinity trillion reticle designs on the market, and at least half of those are cool and useful. To me, the most practical are those that offer straightforward mil or minute of angle increments.
The reasons will become more evident as we talk about ballistic compensation reticles next, but in short, I like the flexibility of mapping my own bullet trajectories to a standardized scale.
If the reticle shows a constant array of minutes or mils with fractional indicators between them, you don’t have to remember obscure reticle designs like “OK, so the second and third lines below the crosshair are 6.3 minutes of angle apart according to the manual,” or “that circular thing is 4.2 mils wide…”

One added benefit is that a traditional mil or minute of angle reticle can move from rifle to rifle and caliber to caliber with ease. Not being “hardcoded” to the trajectory of a single round, you can do whatever you like with it.
Give me two “rulers” in a cross pattern any day, so I can easily see each mil or minute of angle adjustment in whole and fractional increments. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ve included one here.  These reticles, in almost any style, make me happy.

Ballistic Compensation Reticles

Most optics companies offer reticles that have markings which correspond to the trajectory of individual cartridges.
For example, since the trajectories of standard .223 Remington and .308 Winchester rounds happen to be so similar, you might run across scopes that have markings for specific yardages in the reticle itself for those calibers. These work fine as long as you stick to standard ammunition and conditions.

The drawback is a loss of precision. As we’ll see when we build a long range shooter’s databook later in this series, for every combination of rifle, ammo, and weather conditions, the trajectory is different.
Ballistic compensation reticles get you close, but by definition, they can never be as precise as mapping your own rifle and ammo combination at each desired distance. Also, a change in temperature and pressure will throw off BDC reticles even more. 
If your goal is to get “close enough” then BDC reticles are great. They’re simple to use and fast to get on target. If you need maximum precision, then go with standard reticle graduations and make your own distance/adjustment map based on actual performance. 

Custom Turrets

Some manufacturers offer custom turret marking services. Here’s how that works. 
You gather and submit specific information about your gun, scope, ammunition, and normal shooting conditions. This includes inputs like sight height above the bore, bullet ballistic coefficient, actual velocity from your rifle, zero distance and average temperature, pressure, humidity, and altitude in your area.
The manufacturer uses that information to calculate the ballistic trajectory of your round and makes a reticle marked with yardage distances. So, to adjust for a 600-yard shot, just spin the dial to 600 yards and, in theory, you’ll be close to dead on. 

I’ve tested a couple of these, and they work well for applications where you’ll stick with the same rifle and ammo and where you’ll be shooting in similar altitude and temperature conditions. If you travel to places where conditions differ, then you’ll be off. 

Which to Use? Turrets or Reticles?

Depending on your optic, there may be some redundancy between the turret and the reticle. While traditional hunting scopes may have a single crosshair, your long-range ready optics will likely have a complex set of windage and elevation graduations. 
Part of the decision as to whether to hold over with the reticle or use turret adjustments depends on how much time you have. If you have time before a shot, using the turrets for elevation adjustments to account for bullet drop and the reticle to account for windage and moving targets is a great approach.
That allows you to forget about the drop and focus on reading the wind or establishing the correct windage lead adjustment. The related benefit is that wind changes rapidly, so by the time you make a windage turret adjustment, you might have to do it all over again. 

So, What to Buy?

If you want flexibility and precision, stick with a graduated reticle with standard and consistent milliradian or minute of angle marks.
For simplicity, make sure that the reticle pattern matches the click adjustments – mil to mil and MOA to MOA. Which system is entirely a matter of personal preference, as is the complexity of the reticle.
Some, like the Horus TReMoR3 reticle, look amazingly complicated, but they’re not as intimidating as they appear. The purpose of such reticles with an upside down Christmas tree of marks is merely a visual tool that allows fast holdover adjustment for both windage and elevation at the same time. It’s all about options. 
About
Tom McHale is the author of the Practical Guides book series that guides new and experienced shooters alike in a fun, approachable, and practical way. His books are available in print and eBook format on Amazon. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.