I have read on here that we often over clean our rifle barrels. Well I discovered today that my Tika M65 likes to be clean. After 25 rounds its accuracy really fell off. I was working up a load for it with the newer slow powders and could not get it to group. The rifle is chambered in 7mm Rem Mag. I wish I would have cleaned it sooner it would have saved powder and bullets. I used to clean after every 20 rounds but changed reading posts on here. I am not blaming any one because most of my rifles don't seem to care. Has any one else found their rifles like to be clean too.
My rifle likes to be clean.
- Thread starter WildBillG
- Start date
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I had a Browning 270 wsm 26" predessesor to the hells canyon. I would clean it then have to fire 4 shots. It was good for around 25 or so more shots then it would start throwing flyers. Then I would repeat. Not a big deal for a hunting rifle but it did get old after a while.
Hunterjones
Well-Known Member
I worked up a load for a friend a month or so ago in a new Xbolt LR 6.5 PRC. It likes to be shot DIRTY. Takes 15 or so rounds thru it before it settles in….weird…..
The Oregonian
Well-Known Member
The way I interpreted your post was that you were working up a load with a new powder and couldn't get it to group as you made this observation on cleaning. Is that correct? The reason I ask is that it may be that the new powder doesn't work well if your rifle rather than how recently the barrel was cleaned.
Are you shooting fast 25 shots with a light barrel? Could be from the heat. Make sure that your rifle is really clean. Use a bore scope if possible. Shoot 50 shots and see how the accuracy goes. then take it out another day without cleaning when it is cool and shoot another 50 to see it groups again. Give time between shots to prevent overheating. I have had rifles that like to be a little dirty and have some copper fill in any imperfections. I sometimes shoot 150 -200 before I clean.
I used a load the rifle used to like. It would not group this load either. Then when I cleaned it and tried a new powder it shot a .326 group.. It is a light barrel but I do not like to get a barrel hot and I only shoot 3 shot groups. Then let the barrel cool. When the barrel was dirty it would shoot the first shot as a flier up to2 inches from the other 2. This Tikka has a good amount of space between the barrel and stock. It is a factory rifle if that makes any difference..
I have on that's like that, too. At about 30 rounds it needs cleaning. It's the only rifle I've got that is this way. It's a hunting rifle and I keep telling myself it doesn't matter but....
I'm going to try shooting past 30 rounds and see if it comes back in.
I'm going to try shooting past 30 rounds and see if it comes back in.
Yeah! Or just cut it up into really little tiny pieces!
Contrary to some beliefs just about all rifle barrels will shoot better clean than dirty. Now that I have said that I have to back pedal a bit. None of my rifles every shoot the first one or two rounds accurately after cleaning. They need to have a few fouling shots to burn out the residue from the Hoppes and gun oil and make the interior of the bore as uniform a surface as possible. I have also found that accuracy seems to decline around 40 rounds out the barrel. When shooting competition would shoot the first two stages, Standing and Standing to Sitting then before doing the Standing to Prone and Prone stages did a quick clean just using Hoppe's a brush then wiped out with a couple of patches. The two sighting shots seemed to do the trick as far as fouling the barrel for the record shots. The 40 round, (or less) theory seems to hold true even today. The only exception is the 300 WM which seems to deteriorate at about 25 rounds, mostly because of copper fouling.
FWIW - if your evaluation confirms that your rifle prefers a clean barrel, you might want to try the SmoothKote products. I learned of this product via John Plaster's book. This product (or comparable) entails cleaning the barrel of all fouling, and all solvents, down to bare metal. The molybendum disulfate is then applied in a liquid form via wet patches, to molecularly bond with the barrel. Then the molybendum is applied in a powder form (via patches) to potentially fill any gaps. Thereafter, your barrel cleaning usually entails at least 3-4 passes with a (stiff) nylon brush, and then clean, dry patches. The treatment will of course need to be periodically re-done, depending upon how much you shoot. by applying the molybendum directly to the barrel, you don't get the "moly ring" in the throat that was experienced by shooters who applied moly directly to their bullets. I'm no expert (on anything), but this product has worked well on all the rifles on which i've used it.
rewiltshire
Well-Known Member
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- Sep 3, 2012
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My 17 Remington is like that. That's a lot of powder driving that small bullet down the bore and it gets dirty fast. I don't have the same problem with the 17 Mach IV, but it uses a lot less powder. 223 case vrs a 221 Fireball case as parent.
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