I will leave the information I had before below.  Because my primary purpose is for Smallbore Rifle Silhouette, I am adding the information from the Master Smallbore Rifle Silhouette shooters first.  I would also like to thank them for taking the time to talk with me, they were all really friendly and willing to listen to my questions and provide me the answers. 

From Master Class Shooter Agustin Sanchez Jr., 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 NRA Smallbore Rifle Silhouette National Champion (four years averaging 111 out of 120), 2004 NRA Smallbore Hunter Rifle Silhouette National Champion, Perfect score in a 40 round match, 115 out of 120 at the 2005 Smallbore Rifle Silhouette National Championship:             Agustin stated he cleans his rifle before going to a match, prior to any practicing.  It is always with a DRY patch, and specifically mentioned he never uses a brush.  He also said he will not clean it during a match,  it stays clean enough throughout the match after cleaning it just prior to it.

From Master Class Shooter Cathy Winstead, 2001 NRA Smallbore Rifle Silhouette National Champion, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003 NRA Smallbore Hunter Rifle Silhouette National Champion, Perfect scores in a 40 round, holder of multiple Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Records, and (I believe) World Champion:          Cathy stated she cleans her rifle at about 1,000 rounds.  She uses only a dry patch.  She mentioned that she will not feel confident in her rifle being ready for a match until it has 200 rounds through it after a cleaning (this is to get the wax coating back in the barrel).

From Nicholas Flood, European Champion, Champion of other Smallbore rifle disciplines in Europe and World class competitor in Smallbore Rifle Silhouette:        Nicholas stated that he will run dry patches through anywhere from 500 to 1000 rounds.  This is based on his experience with a particular rifle, using a particular ammunition.  

In other words, he knows by experience from using a rifle/ammunition combination that it will shoot "X" rounds through it before it starts to lose its accuracy.   The combination you use might hold its accuracy to 1,000 rounds, or it might start to lose it as early as 500 rounds.   You will not know until you shoot enough with your combination to get to that point, then clean your rifle prior to exceeding the most rounds your rifle will shoot accurately with that particular ammunition.  

        He particularly mentioned that if you are using a top quality rifle with top quality ammunition, you will have little trouble with "fliers".  I can agree with him on that.  Especially with the rifle.  If you are taking Smallbore Rifle Silhouette really seriously, don't settle for second best on the quality of your equipment.

I have seen and heard many philosophies about cleaning rimfires; enough to make anyone confused as to what is right and wrong and good or bad for your rimfire barrel.  Since I invested $1500 in a good Anschutz rifle, I decided to investigate and see what competitive shooters were doing to their guns to keep them shooting accurately.  The following is my opinion developed from what I have learned.  I’m sure some will disagree, due to the fact that there are many different opinions.  How often you clean ultimately depends on the accuracy you are looking for and how fast lead may be building up in your barrel.

The ammunition you are using can change the frequency of cleaning.  The match grade ammunition is mostly sub-sonic (under 1,100 fps) and lubricated to help accuracy.  That lubrication and lower velocity helps in preventing lead build-up.  If you are using the standard velocity or the hyper-velocity rounds, there could be a stronger need for lead or copper removal depending on the ammunition and how your rifle is handling it.  

If you want to find out exactly what is best for your rifle with the ammunition you are using, you need to do that yourself.  Ammunition reacts differently in different rifles.  Take your clean rifle to the range and shoot a series of 5 shot groups until you are satisfied as to how accurately it is shooting with that ammunition (first shots might not group as well).  Keep track of how many shots are fired.   Every 100 shots go back to the range and test it again with the same number of 5 shot groups and compare.  Do this until you can see an accuracy loss that you cannot live with.  Clean your rifle each time you have shot that particular quantity.   If you change ammunition anywhere in the process, you will contaminate your results.  You cannot expect to get the same results if you start using different ammunition.  You will need to test it again.

CLEANING FOR ACCURACY...........................................

MOST ACCURATE:   Benchrest shooters are the most demanding and clean the most frequently because of it.  Generally they are cleaned thoroughly every 50 rounds.  By the time as few as 50 shots are fired, very minute traces of lead  and powder deposits have been left in the barrel.  Even though insignificant to most shooters, they are causing a loss in accuracy that can change the score of a Benchrest shooter.

ACCURATE:  To retain good accuracy you should at least run one dry patch through after every 50 to 60 shots.  This can take out some of the fouling from the powder and loose lead in the barrel.   If it is enough to make a Benchrest shooter thoroughly clean, it would obviously make some improvement to run a single dry patch.  Every 200-300 rounds a thorough cleaning to remove any lead and powder deposits is suggested.

SIMI-ACCURATE:  Run a dry patch through every 50-100 rounds fired.  Every 500-1,000 rounds a thorough cleaning to remove any lead and powder deposits is suggested.

OTHER:  Clean however you choose.

I shoot Smallbore rifle Silhouette, therefore I need to be concerned about accuracy, but not to the level of the Benchrest shooters.  What I am personally trying now is a cleaning after every match using the TSI-301 solvent/lubricant.  It is said to have some great lubricating qualities, and to penetrate the metal for a long period of time.  I am hoping that it helps to prevent the lead build-up and also provide consistent accuracy from the first shot after cleaning.  As stated before, one of the problems with cleaning and shooting match ammunition is that the wax coating is cleaned out and it takes several rounds to get the barrel coated properly one more.  I am going to try this for a few competitions and see how well it works.  

Part of what I learned was by talking to people and some was through e-mail to benchrest shooters.  One was from the Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, InC. Website.  The recommendations of Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, InC. are listed below and that is followed by all other written responses I had received from competition shooters across the country, in no particular order.  You will see that even in the competitive world of shooting rimfires, there are a variety of ideas.

 Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, InC.
Rimfire rifle barrels are different from centerfire barrels in that they require very little cleaning and essentially no break-in procedure. We have asked several of the top rimfire shooters and gunsmiths that use our barrels about their procedures and based on our own experience, have come up with our recommendation for cleaning. In a match-grade stainless steel hand-lapped barrel, leading is an almost nonexistent problem. Powder fouling is minimal too. It is possible however to have an accumulation of fouling in the leade area in front of the chamber. A build up here is detrimental to top accuracy. We suggest cleaning in the following manner. After approximately 100 rounds push a dry loose patch through the barrel from the breach end. This pushes out loose fouling. Then take a tighter dry patch and work it back and forth about 10 times in the leade area, pushing it out of the barrel at the muzzle end when finished. Every 200-300 rounds a loose (worn out) 22 caliber bronze brush, wet with solvent, should be worked back and forth in the leade area with short strokes and withdrawn from the chamber end. If there is any evidence of lead in the barrel then brushing the full length of the barrel with solvent is suggested. 

Match quality bullets have a wax coating on them that aids accuracy. It may take 10-50 shots to "lay" a good coating of it down in the barrel and using solvents will only remove this desirable wax coating. Users of the 10/22-type semi-auto barrels may have to remove the accumulated powder fouling buildup that forms on the breach end of the barrel. Extraction problems may result eventually unless solvent is used on this type of fouling. 

Olympic class shooters that we have witnessed run a patch through the bore after every 3 or 4 shots. Cannot imagine the reason for never cleaning a gun as it is a proved fact that the rifling gets fouled after several shots.

I clean about every 100 rounds using BORE TECH RIMFIRE BLEND and a brush, first push through a single dry patch and take off at the muzzle, the a wet patch shot stroked, then 10 passes with a brass core bronze brush, then dry out with short stroked patches. I use a BORE TECH coated rod and a wrap-around jag

I'm a believer that clean barrels shoot better than dirty ones. I usually don't clean at the range between matches but I almost always clean throughly when I get home after a match. My procedure for cleaning is as follows:
1. Several wet patches with SHOOTERS CHOICE LEAD SOLVENT.
2. 6-10 passes with a bronze brush wet with SHOOTERS CHOICE LEAD SOLVENT.
3. 2-3 wet patches and on the 2'nd or 3'rd one I look for signs of lead fouling or flakes of lead. If I see any I repeat steps 2 & 3 until clean.
4. 2-4 dry patches and if the rifle is to be unused for a while, one slightly wet patch with light gun oil.

Get a good bore guide. I use the VFG FELT PADS and TSI-301. It works in smallbore and air rifles to clean and get out the lead.

I usually clean every 500 rounds or so, but not "thoroughly" I tie 6 patches, about 6 inches apart, on some 30 pound test fishing line, soak the first, third and fifth patch in a rimfire bore cleaner and drag it through the bore from the breach end. I may run a second set of cleaning patches through depending on how dirty the first set comes out.

After that, I drag another string of 6 patches through the bore with the first, third and fifth soaked in FP10 BORE LUBE or BREAKFREE CLP.

Several of my Anschutz barreled guns seemed to shoot better dirty. I would still clean them every 2000 or so rounds and then expect to need at least 100 rounds to settle them down. My current barrel is a BORDER and it just doesn't care. It shoots the same if I clean it or leave it dirty. I clean it about every 500 rounds. Most of the RBA benchrest guys clean after every match (50 rounds) and some clean during a match. They need to shoot a tighter group than the prone guys so they could be right.

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