How many rounds (ballpark) do you put through your 500/590/870 before you SHOULD clean it..
I understand that it will shot 3k rounds without a failure, that's not what I'm asking.
I also understand that some people clean it after each day at the range. Not asking that either.
When is a good time to clean it. I know this number will vary, just looking for a rough estimate of how many rounds through it.
Before you even fire the shotgun, strip it down and clean it. Then take it out and shoot it.
After the initial cleaning, I have to agree with SSGN Doc and Axxe. All of my guns get cleaned, regardles of use, about every 3 months when they just sit in my safes. They get cleaned after EVERY range session (anywhere from 200 rounds to 900, give or take a couple hundred), hunt (regardless of if they were shot or not), and my EDC gets cleaned once a week for obvious reasons. In the words of my father, a 22 year Marine): "A dirty gun is more likely to fail, Keep it clean, because someday your life may depend on it working right." In other words, just because a salesman, (who in all likelyhood does not own the make and model he is pitching to you.) tells you the gun can go 3K rounds without cleaning, that doesn't mean that doing so is a good idea.
Think of it like you would changing the oil on a brand new truck. The manufacturer says to do it about every 6 months or 6, 000 miles in a non-extreme enviornment, but it's 3 months or 3,000 miles under severe or harsh conditions. Now, we all know that guy who has not changed the oil in well over 50,000 miles, and his truck runs good. Give it another 15 to 20,000 miles, and he will probably have to change the engine in that truck on his own dime. Not cleaning you shotgun for 3,000 rounds, if not more, could lead to a FTF, Misfire, ar worst case scenario, a catastrophic failure when you need it most.
I have a friend who has some interesting scars from his model 500 failing to fire while he was running the shotgun as a backup tool for a mutual friend during a boar hunt in NC. The archer missed his mark, and buried the arrow into the hog's shoulder blade. At that point they were charged, the shotgun was raised, trigger pulled, and nothing but a click. He dropped the shotgun, and transitioned to his .44 magnum, but it was a little too late. The hog laid his lower and upper leg open to the bone with it's tusks before he could shoot it. When the shell was ejected from his shotgun, There was a very small dimple in the primer. After a few days in the hospital, he went home and stripped down the shotgun. He had to soak the bolt in solvent, and then gun oil for 4 days along with several brushings to free up the firing pin. It would not move in the bolt at all. i asked him when he last cleaned his shotgun, and he had to stop and think about when that was, turned out it was over 4 years before, in a humid area. Wrong maintenance plan to say the least.
If you want an idea of how often you should clean your gun, go ask a 'Nam vet. From what I understand, our boys were being told that the M-16 was self-cleaning. As I said above, Clean it after every use, and after every hunt, regardless of if you shoot or not. You never know when you will need it to work right the first time. One "Oh #!&^, esases a thousand "Atta Boy"s.
Hope this helps.
