Saw an good video from barbor long range shooting school, I believe that's right. In any case he showed the difference between making your first shot with a clean bore vs a folded bore, I've got to say I believe he's on to something considering you can't for the most part BS physics. Bottom line is most of us zero with a fouled bore, unless you clean after every shot. So here's my question has anyone seen any real practical issues with this, for the record he was shooting at a 1000 yards. The differance was significant enough that I like to hear from you guys. Thanks in advance
It is simple.
If you zero with a clean bore, hunt with a clean bore.
There are many reasons to do it ether way. Some barrels shoot good starting with a clean bore and shooting 3 or 4 follow up shots. Other barrels like one fouling shot before they settle down so first you have to know what your barrel likes.
Hunting usually requires one shot, so if the rifle i'm hunting with likes the barrel clean that's the way i hunt with it. I clean it and shoot one shot to set the zero because the first shot will be with a clean barrel.
as long as it stays in the same place every time I shoot it clean, that's where it stays. if after the first shot the group/zero changes but stays together, then that rifle will have one fouling shot without a clean every time I use it.
To complicate the matter, some barrels will group 3 or 4 realy tight but the 5th shot will move off the group because of fouling. Some will shoot as many as 7 or 8 shots before this effect from fouling starts. at some point these barrels will settle down and group fouled (They may not group as tight as with a clean barrel but it will be good enough for what they need). Many match rifles are shot in this state because many shots must be fired without the time to clean the bore.
So if you are going to hunt, shoot the way that it is most consistent every time that way you first and only shot will be exactly where you want it.
When starting load development I always break the barrel in and then clean and start shooting a group. I keep track of each impact by number and log each hit. this will tell me what the barrel likes and how many can be shot before the point of impact changes. this also tells me the rate of fouling and the point that I need to clean.
I saw that video and he is right about the poi changing as you shoot more rounds through a barrel. but when hunting you rarely get or need more that one shot so if your barrel is changing as you shoot some barrels don't level out until they have 50 + shots through them. so I recommend finding out where your barrel shoots it's best and hunting with it that way.
I consider 1 to 5 shots a clean barrel depending on the barrel quality for hunting. The groups are normally the best they will ever be in this range of shots. Once a barrel fouls, the bore fouling is ever changing up to a point and good groups are hard to find, once it gets fouled bad enough it settles down for quite a while until accuracy goes away and it has to be cleaned.
Just the way I do it for hunting.
J E CUSTOM