Barrell Cleaning

chill123

Well-Known Member
I popped into my local gunshop yesterday ,and purchased a tin of barrell cleaner. phosphur bronze brush and a packet of swabs . With the intention of giving the barrell of my stainless 65x55 a good clean . The proprietor explained the method to clean the barrell ,and added that i must fire a couple of rounds through the barrell after cleaning ,before i shoot at a deer .My question is this necessary?


Chill
 
Probably and even most likely but not certain. You see each barrel is a law unto itself and the only way to find ot is to test it out on the targets and see if the first round from a clean barrel groups with the rest. Some barrels may require a few shots before it starts to group properly again.

Once more the only way to find out is to try it out on the targets.
 
Chill

The short answer is, it depends. Some folk clean religiously every time and some folk don't. Whatever route you go down, you need to ensure that your first cold bore shot goes where you want it to.

Regards JCS
 
.My question is this necessary?


Chill

what i would do if i where you is clean the rifle and shoot a round and see if it makes a difference for the first and possible second round.
i personally always shoot the first two after a good clean (not pull through) at the target.
it shoots high 6 inch's right two

f.
 
Makes very little difference so long as you've pulled a dry patch through the bore and left no oil in the barrel, point of aim may be slightly different on the first shot but not enough to worry about
 
If the cleaner is Forrest foam, then I can understand the comment. I have always pushed a couple of clean patches through the barrel before use to remove oil but since I started to use this stuff, the first round through flys inches high and right at 100m from my 243 T3 every time. The second round is still off but the third goes pretty much 1" above POA where the rifle is zeroed. Saw the recomendaton about using a patch with meths on to remove cleaning residues before firing but not had the chance to try this tip yet.


I popped into my local gunshop yesterday ,and purchased a tin of barrell cleaner. phosphur bronze brush and a packet of swabs . With the intention of giving the barrell of my stainless 65x55 a good clean . The proprietor explained the method to clean the barrell ,and added that i must fire a couple of rounds through the barrell after cleaning ,before i shoot at a deer .My question is this necessary?


Chill
 
My rifle usually goes a few shots between cleaning for the simple reason that after a good cleaning, as opposed to just putting a couple of dry patches up it after a day out, it tends to take a while to settle down. Recently I posted these photos but I will stick them up again to show typical behaviour of my rifle after cleaning. The shots on the target are numbered in the order they were shot after the cleaning session. The rifle is zeroed about 2 inches high at 100 yards, the distance these were shot, and there are two groups on each target with the first one aimed at the centre diamond and the 2nd one aimed bottom left. Needless to say your rifle might be different but I think this shows why it is important to know what your rifle will do after cleaning. While most of these shots would be killing hits at 100 yards if I'd extended the range a little on smaller deer I could be in trouble. As you can see the 3rd group is starting to settle down but is a little low and the final group, although not great probably due to me rather than the rifle, is shooting to about the right POI:

target1.jpg


target2.jpg
 
I've never had a problem with a clean barrel printing differently to a dirty one but this may be due to the care I take when the barrel is brand new.

I shoot 7 shots a day apart and clean between each with powder solvent (No9 or Bore Shine) and then Forest bore foam - I leave this in for a day. After the first three or four shots very little copper comes out and every time I use it I get no copper fouling.

All a bit anal but I think worth it in the end.
 
.....most of these shots would be killing hits at 100 yards if I'd extended the range a little on smaller deer I could be in trouble.....

An excellent point. I started shooting red deer with factory rifles and factory ammunition. When I tried to get the same results on roe deer, I really started to toil and that's when I started spending money on better rifles. Both the rifles in my gallery have been re-barrelled in the search for better performance. I find it challenging to shoot roe deer with larder weights of 5 - 10kg consistently. That's why I put a lot of effort into making sure my first shot with a cold clean bore goes where I expect it to go. Rgds JCS
 
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good advice from the shop, my Tikka clean fires near on the same as where it does if fouled but my standard remington was like night and day and after decopering the first shot could be bordering on a missed animal it was that far off.

The easy answer is clean it and shoot at a target, if it is spot on dont worey about it again if it is off then you know that has to become your procedure.

Dave
 
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If you didn't put a couple through you may regret it,and you wouldn't want to feck up a shot on a deer would you.

Martin
 
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