Cleaning while trying new loads??

[Jeffery8mm]

Do you guys clean at the range while trying different handloads for a rifle.  Say I have four different loads with different components to try,  
When should I clean, or should I at all if I am only firing 5 rds of each load for a total of 20 rounds??

Thanks
Jeff

[Redhawk1]

Do you guys clean at the range while trying different handloads for a rifle.  Say I have four different loads with different components to try,  
When should I clean, or should I at all if I am only firing 5 rds of each load for a total of 20 rounds??

Thanks
Jeff

I clean between different loads. I like to start with a fresh barrel each time. But I have just kept shooting also when I forgot my cleaning kit.  

[Questor]

I have done it, but have discontinued the practice. There didn't seem to be any value to it.  If I were working up loads for maximum accuracy for precision shooting competition, I'd probably clean at the range.

[SuperstitionCoues]

If I remember to throw the cleaning stuff into the truck before I go to the range, I will run a patch of Hoppe's 9 or Butch's Bore Shine down the bore between "test lots", or loads that I've developed.  

It's a matter of trying to keep everything else equal, I guess.  I have noticed though, from my data, that air temp. and relative humidity play a bigger role in the performance of my loads than a cleaning regimen.  Short answer... no matter how much you clean, your firearm will be a more stable test bed in an Arizona winter, when it can really cool down, than an Arizona summer when NOTHING cools off until Winter! :grin: \

Good luck.

[Catfish]

It depends on the barrel. I have had barrels that fouled bad and required alot of cleaning and others that I have fired over 100 rounds through without cleaning and were still showing no sighns of lost accuracy do to fouling. The worst barrel I ever had would start loseing accuracy after a 5 shot group, I didn`t have that one long.

[jcunclejoe]

I spend a lot of time testing various handloads in a wide variety of firearms and have really only seen one definite pattern.
"When changing powders, the first round usually goes to a different point of impact than the following shots."

I do not generally clean between different powders but I always fire a fouling / re-fouling shot before shooting for group when changing powders.
It would be the same thing for a clean barrel, I always fire at least one shot before shooting for group.

So if a barrel has a fouling problem then clean and fire a fouling shot when changing powders.
If there is no fouling problem then just fire the fouling shot and shoot for group.
Just my experience but I hope it helps.
Joe

[Jeffery8mm]

Thanks for sharing your range routines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I will try not to worry SO much about cleaning
Jeff

[KN]

I will fire at least 3 rounds of a new load before shooting for group size.   KN