Accuracy drop off after cleaning

[603Country]

These days I only clean bores when the accuracy falls off, and after years with most of the rifles, I know about when that’s going to be. The 220 Swift dirties fastest and needs cleaning after 25 or 30 rounds (old Douglas barrel). The Ruger Hawkeye 223 will go 50 rounds or more (Benchmark). The Tikka 260, with a cut rifled Brux barrel, seems to never foul. The others are about like the 223.

None of my rifles throw clean barrel rounds much (if any) outside of normal fouled barrel groups, but I always run two foulers through them before hunting or paper punching.

 

[Bart B.]

At a 22 rimfire rifle match some years ago, I was asked by some spectators why the competitors cleaned their barrels every few dozen shots.

 

[old roper]

NRA match rules

.2 Sighting Shots—In RegisteredTournaments, in which courses offire are
used that are listed under Rule 17.5, the sighting shots specified must be allowed.
(a) Limited Sighting Shots—When limited sighting shots are allowed (see
Rules 10.1.8 14.10 (b) (3) and 17.5) coaching will not be allowed.
(b) Unlimited Sighting Shots—When unlimited sighting shots are allowed
the competitor may change rifles, and/or sights and receive coaching,
before, but not afterfiring the first shot for record. No additional time
will be allowed. In courses of fire described in Rule 17.5 and (z)
and the 800 yard stage of the Palma Course (Rule 17.5(ac)), unlimited
sighting shots are allowed. See Rule 8.2(a) for time limitations.
(c) In slow fire stages of matches, where sighters are allowed, the shooters
may or may not take their sighters, but must tell their scorer if they
are not going to take sighters.
(d) In rapid fire stages or matches, any sighting shots not fired during
the time allowed for sighters will be recorded as misses (in the space
reserved for sighting shots). See Section 8 for time allowance.

Bart you had sighter

 

[tangolima]

reminds me of the old doctor joke :



Patient - Doc it hurts when I do this

Doctor - stop doing that then





A lot of government snipers and tactical rifle shooters only clean only when accuracy begins to drop off. They may go several hundred rounds



A lot of benchrest shooter clean ever 15 to 20 rounds.



I clean every 80 - 125



you need to find what works for you

Exactly. I used to clean the bore after each use, regardless round count and accuracy degradation. Soon I found it counter productive. 3 to 10 fouling shots is not chum change nowadays. I clean only when it becomes necessary.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[hounddawg]

a lot will depend on the quality of the barrel and how well it was polished at the factory

Had about 8 Criterions - fairly easy to break in and all seemed to settle in at around 100 - 150 rounds before minimal cleaning. Easiest to break in was a warranty replacement barrel. I had bought a .308 that would not settle in, I sent it back ordered another .308 from Northland and told Criterion to replace the original with a .223. That .223 shot lights out from the first round and 3500 rounds later is still a .5 MOA barrel. I am convinced it received a little extra care at the factory

Two Shilens one in .308 and a one in .260 Rem, great barrels once they settled in. However both took about 300 rounds before they found their groove

Just put a Wilson Combat barrel in 6.5 Grendel on a AR upper, easiest break in I have ever seen. Less than 20 rounds and coppering was minimal to non existent. Will find out this week how it shoots with handloads but the break in with steel case russian ammo impressed me

 

[Shadow9mm]

reminds me of the old doctor joke :

Patient - Doc it hurts when I do this
Doctor - stop doing that then


A lot of government snipers and tactical rifle shooters only clean only when accuracy begins to drop off. They may go several hundred rounds

A lot of benchrest shooter clean ever 15 to 20 rounds.

I clean every 80 - 125

you need to find what works for you

I have also heard of law enforcement cleaning after shooting, then firing a few fouling shots.

 

[Bart B.]

NRA match rules

.2 Sighting Shots—In RegisteredTournaments, in which courses offire are
used that are listed under Rule 17.5, the sighting shots specified must be allowed.
(a) Limited Sighting Shots—When limited sighting shots are allowed (see
Rules 10.1.8 14.10 (b) (3) and 17.5) coaching will not be allowed.
(b) Unlimited Sighting Shots—When unlimited sighting shots are allowed
the competitor may change rifles, and/or sights and receive coaching,
before, but not afterfiring the first shot for record. No additional time
will be allowed. In courses of fire described in Rule 17.5 and (z)
and the 800 yard stage of the Palma Course (Rule 17.5(ac)), unlimited
sighting shots are allowed. See Rule 8.2(a) for time limitations.
(c) In slow fire stages of matches, where sighters are allowed, the shooters
may or may not take their sighters, but must tell their scorer if they
are not going to take sighters.
(d) In rapid fire stages or matches, any sighting shots not fired during
the time allowed for sighters will be recorded as misses (in the space
reserved for sighting shots). See Section 8 for time allowance.

Bart you had sighter

I've no idea what you're referring to. Please explain. If you're referring to post 18, no sighter made before that shot. It probably wasn't in a match.

 

[Jim567]

What drove me bonkers -
With the shortage of ammo I didn’t shoot much this summer.
I used the time to really do a thorough barrel cleaning.
That’s when accuracy fell off .
I checked and re-checked action screws -
Checked and re- checked base mount and ring screw tensions. -
Cleaned well after each firing -
Bought wonder barrel cleaning chemicals -
Changed scopes -
Glass bedded -
Lapped the crowns-
Freaked out - lol!
Revisited my bench rest equipment and technique. -
After several trips I finally noticed - the one hole groups only came after a 9 shot or more fouled barrel.
Glass bedding and lapping the crowns did have some benefit.
It was a hell of a learning experience.
Before I did the thorough barrel cleaning I would just use Hoppes #9 no bore brushing.
The experience did make me a better shooter so there is that.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

My rifles, about which I am concerned about accuracy, are hunting rifles. Only seldom do I clean the barrels and usually when I do, it is slightly more than what Shadow9mm describes. I might get a lubed bore snake through the barrel two or three times and maybe a couple oiled patches. This just renders the barrel slightly less dirty and without changing the accuracy in any noticeable manner. I have done this enough times that I don't bother to recheck accuracy at the range before hunting.

The chamber and lugs get a thorough cleaning as does the BCG, but the barrel is left fouled, cleaner, but fouled.

Only rarely do I take the barrel down to bare bare metal with a thorough cleaning. Usually, it will happen when changing optics and I need to go through the zero process anew anyway and that will get the barrel fouled without wasting ammo solely to foul the barrel.

 

[hounddawg]

At a 22 rimfire rifle match some years ago, I was asked by some spectators why the competitors cleaned their barrels every few dozen shots.

and then there is my old factory stock CZ452 that scores in the 2000's at ARA matches in factory class that has not had a patch down it in 5K + rounds. Now some of the guys shooting unlimited with customs are obsessed with cleaning after every match but when I was breaking in my Kid (ruger 10/22 clone) I would run 2 dry patches down it and get little more than a bit of light dust on the first patch and the next would be clean so I just stopped cleaning my 22's barrels with the exception of the bolt and chamber

 

[Bart B.]

and then there is my old factory stock CZ452 that scores in the 2000's at ARA matches in factory class that has not had a patch down it in 5K + rounds. Now some of the guys shooting unlimited with customs are obsessed with cleaning after every match but when I was breaking in my Kid (ruger 10/22 clone) I would run 2 dry patches down it and get little more than a bit of light dust on the first patch and the next would be clean so I just stopped cleaning my 22's barrels with the exception of the bolt and chamber

Will it put 40 shots inside a half MOA center to center at 50 yards?

 

[hounddawg]

close Bart, the ARA factory (rifles cost below $1000) targets 100 point ring is about 3/4 inch. A perfect card would be 2500 with a possible extra 25 points for X's. Scoring is worst edge. My last match I scored a 2400, 2200, and 2075. Good enough considering it is a 12 year old rifle that I bought new for less than $400 with a has little 16X Leupold scope on it and shoot $9 a box ammo. Factory barrel, stock, and trigger. State and National level matches see some 2500 + scores

In the unlimited class the 100 point ring for the high end ($1000 plus)rifles is just at .5 inch. Those guys normally score in 1700 - low 2000's

Great wind calling and technique practice. We have everyone from 12 year olds to 80+ year olds shooting in the factory class

edit-

you know I bet what you are referring to is a carryover from th eold corrosive primer days. I was religious about cleaning my rifles and shotguns after every shooting session well into the 80's and 90's becasue that was what my Dad taught me. He grew up in th edays of corrosive primers when such cleaning was needed.

 

[ed308]

When I get a new barrel, other than cleaning before the first use, I clean the barrel after I notice accuracy starting to drop off.

 

[MarkCO]

When I get a new barrel, other than cleaning before the first use, I clean the barrel after I notice accuracy starting to drop off.

You are a man with good common sense.

 

[Bart B.]

When I was shooting 22 smallbore rifle matches winning some occasionally outscoring USA Olympic team members, cleaning the barrel after 50 to 60 shots was the norm for everyone.

Best accuracy was with Lapua, Eley or RWS made before 1980. That's when an explosion at the Lapua plant caused by bad primer mix. Eley was tasked to make a safer formula for all brands at the expence of less accurate ammo and shorter barrel life; 30,000 rounds versus 50,000. All USA prone records set before then still stand.

 

[hounddawg]

As you often point out , .22LR ammo has changed through the years.

When I bought my Kidd a couple of years back I cleaned it before shooting then after my first ammo test. Nine or ten flavors of ammo, Three five shot groups or 15 rounds of each type. Various flavors of SK, CCI, Lapua, Eley, Lapua, RWS. Ran a patch down it and it had what looked like a few flakes of powder on it, ran a second and it came out clean. No use cleaning if there is nothing to clean

 

[Bart B.]

close Bart, the ARA factory (rifles cost below $1000) targets 100 point ring is about 3/4 inch. A perfect card would be 2500 with a possible extra 25 points for X's. Scoring is worst edge. My last match I scored a 2400, 2200, and 2075. Good enough considering it is a 12 year old rifle that I bought new for less than $400 with a has little 16X Leupold scope on it and shoot $9 a box ammo. Factory barrel, stock, and trigger. State and National level matches see some 2500 + scores

In the unlimited class the 100 point ring for the high end ($1000 plus)rifles is just at .5 inch. Those guys normally score in 1700 - low 2000's

Great wind calling and technique practice. We have everyone from 12 year olds to 80+ year olds shooting in the factory class

edit-

you know I bet what you are referring to is a carryover from th eold corrosive primer days. I was religious about cleaning my rifles and shotguns after every shooting session well into the 80's and 90's becasue that was what my Dad taught me. He grew up in th edays of corrosive primers when such cleaning was needed.

Here's links to what I'm referring to:

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/14/...d-kills-45-injures-70-at-munitions-plant.html

 

[Bart B.]

you know I bet what you are referring to is a carryover from th eold corrosive primer days.

Here is my references, info in post 74 and 79 in:

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/ok-if-sorting-doesnt.4031871/page-4

 

[MarkCO]

For those who forget...the post is about this...

I have two savage rifles both model 11’s with 20 inch barrels.
It seems to take about nine rounds through both rifles, the 223 and 308 for accuracy to return after cleaning.

 

[Bart B.]

Various opinions on barrel cleaning......

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/barrel-cleaning-debate/