Let a vintage Beretta O/U shotgun get pitted once. Kicking myself ever since. Put it in a case to travel before cleaning and ended up forgetting until it was too late. Beautiful shotgun, beautiful engravings, hand-checkering, pitted bore.

On the bright side, I never intended to sell it anyway so I'm not losing any money. :)

Thanks guys, is 200 yards considered long range ?

I have no choice but to store my rifles in my soft cases, (children)
I make sure that the cases are not wet and not to open them in the house until a few hours for ambient temps, unless wet.
I have no gun cabinet .
I haven't seen any problems yet.

Most sight in with the ammo they are going to hunt with.

Clean the barrel, then shoot 3 to 5 "fouling rounds".

Ready for that hunt......................!

Sorry to hear about that !

200 yards is neither long nor short range. If I expected a 200 yard shot I would hunt with a fouled barrel, but if it was just a remote possibility and most expected shots were 100 yards or less I would probably keep it clean.

Powder residue can hold moisture if you are in a humid area. Keeping it cased when you bring it in the house from the cold should help with condensation. Storing it is a soft case is not the best, but not too bad if the rifle is prepared for storage. Get the copper and carbon out of it, oil the barrel, and wipe it down and you should be just fine.

Bore snake.

i clean my gun if it is dirty wet or if i am bored i dont see much difference i know alot of people that dont clean there rifles till after deer season and that works great to but that is just one mans opinion and imo yes 200 yards is a far shot but can be done and is all the time just know how your rifle shoots and you will be fine

I agree with Sheridan I sight my rifle in taking more then 1 shot. Not worrying about getting 3 shots in a quarter with stock ammo. If I am out all day in the rain I will run a dry patch thru it to be safe against it pitting. After the season is over is when I will use the oil and bore cleaner to store. I understand the safety of kids around the house but find a storage place where they can't get to it. soft case is a pitted gun waiting to happen. I started out with soft cases due to being cheaper and not much know how to hunting. all my guns go in a hard 1 or 2 gun case for over 40 yrs. now.

Well the guns....
 

seem to last twenty and thirty years with a clean barrel; the deer don't.
But some folks have different ways.

Ethical range is different for different folks. Some one that only shoots 25 shots a year, range is shorter than some one that shoots a thousand or more shots a year.
Also a clean or fowled bore can depend on the gun it's self. I know how each and every one of my rifles and shot gins react to a dirty or clean bore.
A 7mm08 I own is the only one that needs a dirty bore as the first shot from a clean bore is a flyer. all the others like a squeaky clean bore. So range time isn't just for punching holes in paper at known yardages. A note book with how a rifle or shot gun(slugs) reacts to different conditions is a good idea.

:D Al