"Shooters" Care and Maintenance

[Don]

Going too far? Really? I'm also a newbie, but I don't understand that notion. I fire non-corrosive ammo (almost exclusively 115 gr FMJ Winchester), but after 200-300 rounds, the actions look like they've been sprayed with tar,:-) I'm exaggerating, of course, but there is a very thick, heavy mixture of soot and lubrication. The face of the breechblock has a thich deposit of extra gunk from primers, and the firing pin and cavity seems to have an extra portion of goo. I know that if I didn't clean the weapon at this point it wouldn't affect functioning, but it seems that at some point --a few hundred rounds more--it would start to gum up things. I usually go ahead ahead and clean everything, including firing pin cavity, hold open, etc. every few hundred rounds on the theory that it's easier than waiting until everything is a gooey mess.