Clean your barrel, lose your accuracy?

[Patriot_1776]

I had to ask this question as I heard something about this practice, and because it somewhat happened to me:  Is it better to not clean your barrel on such things like a 17HMR, or what?  I was doing five shot groups last Sat. at 100 yds, and the best one was around an inch or so :-) .  After I ran a plain (dry) patch to get rid of loose residue, the other five groups opened to av. 2 inches, give or take a quarter :? .  Was that due to running a patch through, or something else?  The wind was not a factor because it remained the same pretty much throughout the shooting session.  One thing that has me concerned too, is the patch was off-center a bit on the jag.  When I ran the patch through, the jag contacted the barrel a bit (enough to cause a shiny spot on the base of the jag.)  Being the jag is made of brass, I don't think that was a factor in opening my groups, was it?  Any replies are greatly desired.  Patriot

[AZ223]

My NEF .17HMR seems to shoot better after a couple fouling shots, but this can vary from rifle to rifle. My 10/22 doesn't care whether it's the first or the 300th round, other than how dirty the magazine gets, but that's a feeding issue. Another thing that can affect accuracy on some rifles is where you place the front barrel rest. Both my NEF's (17 & 223) shoot poorly when the rest is under the front swivel stud, and tighten right up when I move it back to the receiver. Be as consistent as you can with how you hold/rest the rifle before wondering if you've damaged the barrel.

Along those lines, I ran a patch down my 10/22 yesterday at the range, and the crown scraped some of the enamel off the cleaning rod in the process. Didn't affect the groups any, but it's happened before so I got a bore snake just in case. I don't know what rifle you're using, but like they say, clean from the breech end whenever possible. If you can't, try a bore snake or try the weed-wacker line trick if you have some.

Good luck!

[PA-Joe]

Marlins seem to take about 35 rounds to stabilize every time you clean or change brands of ammo. Their manual say do not clean. If the groups are staying close then don't clean until they start opening up again.

[Patriot_1776]

For all those who are wondering, my rifle is the Ruger M77/17 All Weather series, and so far it is really capable of hitting anything.  I was able once I got the hold-over, to hit a steel plate at 400yds. 4 times in a row.  Of course too, I am really happy with it.  I can easily knock spent 12ga. shotshell hulls around at 100yds.  I see about the group thing; I thought long on that practice, but then considered what I heard about leaving fouling in the barrel for long periods of time; can't that cause pitting, or something to that nature?  Thanks for the help guys, and if there are any others who want to spill their thoughts, feel free to do so.  Patriot

P.S.  BTW, I found out a really good way to release the hammer/firing pin on all bolt action rifles without letting it fall full force; (make sure the chamber is empty first!!!) Keep the trigger pulled back WHILE closing the bolt into the locked position.  If you lock the bolt down slowly, the firing mechanism releases without the loud snap, which I think really comes in handy for those rimfires! :grin:

[Darrell Davis]

Hey there Shooters,

As per the     od listed above for letting off the pressure on a firing pin spring, it does work and has been around for a goodly amount of time.

However, this reply is prompted because of something I once saw on a friends rifle.  This friend had learned the trick from another friend who was a well experienced and trained rifleman.

The problem??? Well somehow all of the information hadn't gotten through in the proper manner and I became aware of a very dangerious situation when I observed that the firing pin of this friends rifle had been allowed to rest on the unfired primer of a loaded round of ammo.

If something had delivered a blow to the rear of the bolt/firing pin follower, or the rifle had been jarred in someway this rifle could have discharged in a very upsetting way.

I quickly filled the friend in on "the rest of the story," explaining the situation to him and providing the missing bit of infomation that this was a "trick," used ONLY on a rifle with an EMPTY chamber. Never on a rifle with a loaded round in the chamber.

My point, ------------ Just make sure the shooter being instructed gets the total picture and the danger of improper use of this useful way of prolonging the life of our firearms.

Keep em coming! :wink: