How many foul the bore prior to the Hunt?

[Fred M]

Wyo. Coyote Hunter
It is only connon sense that you should clean a rifle barrel. But I wont defend myself for doing so. The wisdom of the non cleaners
is just theirs.

If you were in the army you never get away with
non cleaning your barrel. You may in war in the trenches. A rifle that shoots 24" groups is simply not a good rifle. It sure would scare a lot of deer.

[SlimPigguns]

I clean and oil my guns after testing sessions at the range. When I go hunting, its usually a long drive, so when I arrive I put a couple of dry patches through, and the shoot a group to make sure the scope hasn't been bumped. So far it never has, but there is always a first time.- Pete

[coues2506]

To all you dirty bore lovers ----Hopes on ya!

[Singleshotsam]

Fred, What are you defining as a "good" rifle bbl?  I know a lot of guys that use shilen, douglas and various other high quality competition bbls and they still will throw the first shot off out of an immaculate bore.  It may not be 1" but the first group will definatly not be in the .4's... Fred, isn't it the US army that promotes not using lubricant on the bolts of their m16's?

If you pay close attention to your rilfe, it does not take long for the copper to build up in the rifling at all.  Sometimes 10 rounds, sometimes 20.  Powder foulding doesn't do much harm at all unless your powder is just excessivly dirty...

"To all you dirty bore lovers ----Hopes on ya!"

Wow... what an intellegent addition to this conversation... 

[Fred M]

Fred, What are you defining as a "good" rifle bbl?  I know a lot of guys that use shilen, douglas and various other high quality competition bbls and they still will throw the first shot off out of an immaculate bore.  It may not be 1" but the first group will definatly not be in the .4's... Fred, isn't it the US army that promotes not using lubricant on the bolts of their m16's?

If you pay close attention to your rilfe, it does not take long for the copper to build up in the rifling at all.  Sometimes 10 rounds, sometimes 20.  Powder foulding doesn't do much harm at all unless your powder is just excessivly dirty...

"To all you dirty bore lovers ----Hopes on ya!"

Wow... what an intellegent addition to this conversation... 

A good rifle barrel is not one that is 0.00175" larger at the muzzle than at the chamber end. It is not one with a rough bore. It is not one that has been straightened and not stress relieved.

I have been fortunate to affort good custom barrels, and I never had one that would place the first shot out of a cleaned bore 4"
from the group.

For me copper fouling is a non issue, since I break in a barrel with Moly plated bullets and use Moly plated bulletd for all shooting applications.

The barrel I talked about above was brand new, match grade and broken in. During the process of chronographing I fired 26 rounds with 140gr bullets. After I got home I gave the barrel a quick clean with  Kroil and inspected the bore with my Hawkeye bore scope to see if there was any copper fouling, non was dedected.

Some new barrels will sometimes deposit copper near the muzzle and need some JB rubbing a few times to get rid of it. After that it
it is clear sailing with Moly bullets. Some new factory barrels copper foul so bad you have to be very aggressive to get the bore clean. Not my forte.

During gopher hunting I have fired as many as 100 rounds with no copper fouling and no cleaning using Moly plated bullets.

We never talked about the rifle bolts on auto rifles yes they should only be dry lubricated same as auto shotguns.
Last post for a while, I am going Salmon fishing for two weeks

[quickdtoo]

Good luck and have fun on the fishing trip Fred!! 

Tim

[vincewarde]

IMHO Fred is dead on regarding copper fouling - it is much more common in new barrels that have not been polished one way or another.

My current cleaning method is to push a patch soaked with Ed's Red Bore Cleaner.  I then spray some more down the bore and hit it with a bristle brush.  After drying the bore, I then spray some of my home made cooper cleaner (2 parts 10% ammonia, 1 part detergent) down the bore and scrub it with a nylon brush.  After letting that set for at least 30 minutes, I push a patch through.  If the bore has been cooper fouled, the patch will come out blue.  After drying out the bore, I hit it one more time with Ed's Red to get the ammonia out and call it good.

As for fouled or not - I will be hunting with a fouled bore.  Most of my guns hit off target with the first round after cleaning.  They are generally right on after that......

[Barrabruce]

Most of my guns will shoot out for the fisrt shot out of a cleaned dry patched rifle.
My 'old Khornet will place the fist shot 1 1/2 inches high and 1/4 inch to the right 9 times out of 10.at 100yds!!!
The rest on point of aim  in around an 1" for the first 5-6 then under that for the rest of the night.

I prefer to shoot a fouled barrell where possible but tend to least run a dry patch thought them when I quit for the day or they start to go off abit.

My .22 will go at least 100 rounds or so till it sarts to send the odd flyers down. After a good scubb out it may take 5 or 10 to grease 'er up again to shoot nice tight groups.1/4 " instead of 1/2 " covered at fifty yards.Still rabbits heads at 100+++

If I'm not shooting them I will clean and oil my guns for storage!!!Or if they get wet etc.

I don't own custom stuff but cannot see why a clean barrel does not shoot "off" for the fist shot..since the slipperyness of any residue oil and lack of powder fouling theoretically at up to some point in impact difference.

Shooting the first shot from a dead cold shot barrell in some guns does differ greatly clean or not and all I can say is get to know how your gun shoots!!!

Mine seem all  pretty well constant in there behaviour from difference variables.

Hope it helps
barra

[cbourbeau32]

I dont generally clean any of my barrels on any of my guns until accuracy goes south.

Another one for this method.