First, welcome aboard, Brunored.
You ask several questions. Let me see if I can hit most of them.
If you don't change the type of ammo, you can go quite a long period of time between cleaning a .22LR. They are wax-lubricated and use soft lead bullets at low pressure. So they don't need as much cleaning as a centerfire (like your .243). I clean mine completely only once a year, with solvents and patches. If I change ammo (say from WW Powerpoints to Hornady Velocitors or back again) I'll pull a Bore Snake through the barrel once, but that's about all. I seldom if ever lube a .22 as the wax lube gets distributed through the action anyway.
You mention .22 Longs. I'm sure you mean .22 Long Rifle. There is such a thing as a .22 Long, but they're fairly rare to find. At least 99.99% of all .22 ammo sold is .22Long Rifle.
Your .22 Magnum sound slike a great tractor gun for those darn groundhogs. It should do the job for you out to almost100 yards, with good body or head shots. There is a major difference between a regular .22LR and the .22 Magnum as far as cleaning is concerned. The .22 Mag uses plated or jacketed bullets (no wax lube) at a higher pressure than .22LR. So treat that one like a centerfire and clean it regularly. Every 100 shots is fine.
Finally, Quik Shok ammo is designed to fragment into three pieces after it hits. Think of it as a kind of hollowpoint on steroids. It's fine for varmints like groundhogs, but would probably mess up any edible critter like rabbits or squirrels. Naturally, you can't ever use .22LR ammo in a .22 Magnum. Ever. So keep the Quik Shok stuff for your other .22LR guns. In the Magnum, I've always liked Winchester hollowpoints, but some of the newer Supreme amo is great. Try some CCI, Hornady and Remington stuff, too. Your rifle may like one much better than the others.
|