Life Member, NRA, Lapeer County Sportsmen's Club Disclaimer: I Am Not A Lawyer. Opinions expressed are not representative of any organization to which I may belong, and are solely mine. Any natural person or legal entity reading this post accepts all responsibility for any actions undertaken by that person or entity, based upon what they perceived was contained in this post, and shall hold harmless this poster, his antecedents, and descendants, in perpetuity.
Most new guns are shipped from the factory coated in some sort of protective grease/oil/lube with the knowledge that the gun will be sitting around for a while between being manufactured and being shot. Their goal isn't smooth function right out of the box but rather protection against rust during storage, essentially. That stuff isn't really meant to keep the gun functioning properly.
Personally, I think it depends on the gun. My CMP Garand (I'm counting it as "new" here) got detail-stripped and greased before I shot it. My GP100 went from the shop straight to the range, as did my 10/22.
most my new guns ill give a quick wipe down and then put a few rounds threw them before proper lubing and cleaning. right or wrong its just what I do.
Slightly off topic, but heck, this thread made me think of it. I purchased a new barrel for my Armalite M15. It came wrapped in that oil soaked paper. I ran a clean batch down the bore before going to the range. The first few shots with the new barrel caused the oil on the outside of the barrel to smoke and smelt really bad. A 100 rounds later and no more smoke or smell. I guess it is broke in.
I'll always at the very least run a cloth or boresnake through a new firearm before firing it. If it's got a bunch of factory grease I might run a battle-swab over it quick to clean up excess.
Two weeks ago I had picked up a brand new 870 Limited Edition that I had ordered in October about an hour before driving out to the range. Timing was such that I didn't have time do a basic clean, but I did do a very quick field strip at the range. Happened to have a bunch of 3" slugs in my range bag, so figured "what the hay". Normally I'd at least run a bore snake through any new or newly acquired firearm before firing, but didn't have one handy. Loaded it, sighted the target and let it fly. Then it started snowing on this sunny 75 degree day. Turns out there was some still some Styrofoam beads clustered in the barrel. As it's an 870, it was fine, but at least inspect AND CLEAN the barrel, feed ramp, firing pin, etc on any rifle or pistol before letting loose with it. I love surprises, but not when I'm at the range.
It's not mandatory to clean a new weapon, but I've always done it to get rid of any foreign matter from shipping or from the manufacturer plus any dirt or grime left over after the manufacturer has test fired them. IMO it also helps for better break in having a clean weapon with a light coat of oil.
I usually disassemble, wipe excess crud, boresnake, oil, shoot, then thorough clean.
Did the manufacturer clean it before they test fired it? Did they do anything to it afterwards that would make it dertrimental to fire it again?
For me it all depends on the condition of the weapon when I unbox it. I recently picked up a new VP9SK and it was clearly well lubricated and brand new so I felt comfortable walking right out to the range and throwing some rounds down range with it. But if I buy used I tend to clean it just to see the condition of all the moving parts, or if its a new gun that has sat on a shelf for a bit I tend to at least lube it before I take it to the range.