I clean my rimfires every 10 years whether they need it or not. Well not every 10 years but close. Seriously I didn't clean a Marlin Model 60 for 11 years after I bought it. I didn't clean it until it started having feeding issues. I cleaned it once and waited another 6 years before I cleaned it again. It still shoots perfect after 21 years of ownership. Rimfires can go a LONG time between cleanings. The only time I ever cleaned that Marlin often was when I bought a brick of Remington Thunderbolts. I had to clean that rifle 3 times and I only shot about 200 rounds of that stuff through it. I shot the rest through a Stevens 15-A which is a single shot, bolt action rifle from the early 50's. I actually had to clean it 3 times because the bolt would barely move.

I do run a rod through my rimfires once in a while. But to actually take it apart and clean it is just something that is overrated. I don't run a brush through the bore that often either really. I only do it when I start noticing some affect on shooting. I've cleaned my new MkIIFV a few times because the chamber is tight (that's how you get a super accurate gun) and any buildup will cause ejection problems.

To be honest I don't use patches on rimfires because every brush I've ever bought was too big to go through the bore if you wrap a single layer of a patch around it. So I just use a brush. It hasn't hurt either of my older rimfires. I've had the Stevens for 31 years and it was my dad's for 15 years before that and my neighbor owned it before that and nobody every cleaned it on a regular basis. And it will still drive tacks any day.

I do take care of my guns. I clean my shotguns every time I shoot them. But shotguns are a different animal completely. I clean my centerfires too but not too often. I generally clean them after about 200 rounds except for my handguns which I clean pretty much every time I shoot them. I keep everything oiled where it should be oiled and I keep things clean that need to be clean. But rimfires don't really need to be cleaned all the time. If I cleaned one every 10 rounds I don't think I'd ever get it fouled enough to shoot accurate. And if you want to shoot a rifle without letting it get fouled you'd have to clean it more often than every 10 rounds IMO. It takes about 25 rounds for a rifle to settle in for accurate shooting after a good cleaning in my experience. That number might be smaller as the cartridges get bigger but I know that's about how my 110 in .30-06 works. People talk about shooting a fouling shot. I think it takes a box of ammo to get a centerfire barrel fouled enough to shoot consistently.