Fouling shots and shooting for groups

[Stuart C.]

Hi,
I stumbled on a way to improve my groups yesterday; i ran a dry patch down after each shot.
Unfortunately i've got more questions than answers.

- What are some of your cleaning routines when trying to determine the optimal load for your gun?  Is it; shoot a first 'fouling shot' which doesn't count...and then shoot three for a group?

- Do you do a complete cleaning in between???  What do you do?

- If I take my squeaky-clean gun, load it for a day of deer hunting, that first shot that I take on game (if lucky) is the 'fouling shot'.  Isn't it most important to have the best accuracy with a non-fouled clean barrel for that potential shot on live game??

As always your feedback is appreciated.  Yesterday went much better with one group touching - but with a fouled barrel.
Thanks!

[clodbuster]

I shoot a TC Renegade .50.  From a clean barrel shooting 385gr conicals over pyrodex I gain velocity for each of the first 4 shots, gaining a total of just over 150 fps.   So I shoot foulers before going out to hunt.

[flintlock]

With both inlines and my flintlocks I always sight in with a clean barrel...

I run 2 damp (both sides) alcohol patches down the bore, followed by a dry patch, a lightly oiled patch and another dry patch between each shot...

Now, once I am sighted in, I check to see what happens if I load with a dirty bore...Now, both of my flinters have Rayle barrels which have cut rifling, about .015 deep...Factory guns might be different...

In my .54, I can keep shooting by just changing from a .018 to a .015 patch...Groups go from an inch and a half at 50 yards to about 2 inches...So when deer hunting I just have a couple of balls in my loading block with the thinner patches and use them after the 1st shot...

My .40 is different...It needs to be swabbed with a damp patch between shots to group well enough for head shots on squirrels...

[ricktile66]

All of my guns are different.  Some shoot best with a clean barrel and some with the barrel fouled and a spit patch run down the barrel.  All shoot well enough for hunting with the barrel clean.  I clean after every shot with a mixture of Windex, alcohol, and water.  Then I run a patch or two with breakfree and a couple of dry patches.  I play with each gun until I find a load that it likes with the barrel clean.  I don't like to carry my gun with a dirty barrel and risk getting it rusty and the only shot that counts is the first one anyway.