How Clean Should Your Gun Be? A Satire of Two Extremes

The short version: Athlon Outdoors staged a mock debate between a man who cleans his rifle in a homemade semiconductor-style clean room and a man who never cleans anything, and both extremes turn out to cost them.

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Writer Francis Macomber plays moderator for this satire. "Mr. Clean," an engineer named Cecil, scrubs a Remington 700 in .270 inside a sealed, ISO-rated clean room using chemicals bought straight from manufacturers, and won't touch store-bought solvents. "McNasty," a Kentuckian named Eugene, says firing the gun "shoots the dirt out," and his last-resort fix for a stiff action is a squirt of WD-40.

The punchline is the useful part. When pressed, Cecil admits he has scrubbed the rifling out of most of his barrels, turning them into inaccurate smoothbores, and that he rarely shoots for fear of the weather. Eugene eventually confesses to guns that sometimes don't fire and actions that get hard to cycle when packed with dirt.

For anyone weighing how much time and money to spend on gun care, the takeaway is simple: neither obsession nor neglect pays off. A modest kit and a routine that fits how often you shoot will do more for reliability and accuracy than either extreme. The debate is even set in Overland Park, Kansas, home of Hoppe's No. 9.

Key takeaways

• Satirical roundtable written and moderated by Francis Macomber
• Over-cleaning cost "Mr. Clean" his rifling and his accuracy
• Never cleaning left "McNasty" with failures to fire and stiff actions
• Moisture is a real concern: Cecil wiped down his Browning over/under repeatedly on a cold, damp drive
• The sensible answer sits between the two extremes

Summary by GunWinner based on reporting by Athlon Outdoors. Deal links are affiliate links; GunWinner may earn a commission. Prices change quickly, so confirm at checkout.