my barrels don't so much as put any gray onto a cleaning patch when I clean my barrels. My AK usually gets about 1000 rounds between cleanings, while my SR16 gets about 400 rounds between cleanings.
1000 rounds? 400 rounds? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I understand it's Arizona, and sand gets everywhere, but 1000 rounds? 400 ROUNDS? Really? Anal much? I went 50,000 rounds before cleaning any of my AEG's in my breif stint in AZ and they where not that dirty... Less than 15000 rounds and I worry about your hop up bucking wearing out prematurely from having a cleaning rod jammed down it that often. I take it you dont go through very many rounds in a game then?
Correct on all points. And remember... up here in Northern AZ... there's not nearly as much dust.
I'm anal about my barrels/buckings/nubs (and YES, nubs DO wear out... just takes a loooong time, approximately 1500 cleaning intervals
. Less time for h nubs though)
I don't generally go through more than that many rounds in a day in either gun.
For the SR (400rds), I remove the barrel/hopup/bucking to clean that. Just clean the barrel by itself, only clean the bucking if it needs cleaning.
The AK... well... I'm sure the bucking will wear out eventually. I'll let you know. It's still a baby. Under 10k rounds total so far... gun bucking and barrel are included in that.
I might also add that it's just the externals/barrels that get cleaned that often. It's usually at least 5 or 6 of those cycles before I open a gearbox to clean. Better to be clean than crunchy!