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How many shots for a clean barrel to speed up?

Ajwilly96

Gold $$ Contributor
I was shooting a steel competition yesterday, had the best day I’ve ever had at the range but I had something interesting happen.

So about a month ago I had some hard carbon in my barrel that I was not able to remove so I was just shooting with it, my velocity was around 2690.

Recently I have been able to get that carbon out of my barrel and on two separate trips to the range I fire five fire forming/fouling shots and then I shoot five shots to confirm my zero and muzzle velocity. So with 10 rounds down the barrel both times my muzzle velocity has been around 2650.

Yesterday I was able to hit 4” x 6” plates at 900 and 1000. So I decided to correct my elevation adjustment in my Kestrel because it was off at those distances and when I corrected my muzzle velocity at 900 it gave me a corrected velocity of 2695 which puts me back at the speed when my barrel had carbon in it.

It was pouring down rain yesterday so I did not get to break out my chronograph at the end just to see where my barrel was but I will definitely do that next time I am out.

From what I understand it is not uncommon for a fouled barrel versus a clean barrel to speed up 50 ft./s but I was wondering around how many rounds does it take to gain that speed back?

I figured 10 rounds before the match starts would be plenty But I guess not. I am considering bumping my fire forming rounds to 10 and 5 for zero for 15 rounds before the match.
 
I found that when cleaning my 6.5 (using H4350 powder, CCI BR4 primers, Berger 140 Hybrids, 26" bbl) with JB bore paste and JB bore bright I can go about 250 rounds before speed increase begins mainly due to friction caused by fouling. After about 5-6 warm up rounds from cold bore, the fps is very consistent (sd's in the 5.6-5.8, using Garmin xero, not including the warmup rounds) unless I bake a round in the chamber too long then it will increase about 10fps.

If I only use chem cleaners, speeds just keep creeping up after the cleaning. Consistent with what Brian Litz has said in some podcasts/vids I have seen.
 
I found that when cleaning my 6.5 (using H4350 powder, CCI BR4 primers, Berger 140 Hybrids, 26" bbl) with JB bore paste and JB bore bright I can go about 250 rounds before speed increase begins mainly due to friction caused by fouling. After about 5-6 warm up rounds from cold bore, the fps is very consistent (sd's in the 5.6-5.8, using Garmin xero, not including the warmup rounds) unless I bake a round in the chamber too long then it will increase about 10fps.

If I only use chem cleaners, speeds just keep creeping up after the cleaning. Consistent with what Brian Litz has said in some podcasts/vids I have seen.
I forgot to mention the match was 36 rounds so a total of 46 rounds down the barrel by the end
 
The older my barrel the more it seems to take. It used to be 2-3, now it's closer to 7. Most of the fps is back in 2-3, but it's not settled in - accuracy wise - until 7.
 
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On a Believe the Target podcast with Speedy & Erik Cortina, Speedy says he runs a couple patches with Lockease thru the bore prior to shooting his next relay in order for his clean bore shot to be up to speed and in the group.
 
On a Believe the Target podcast with Speedy & Erik Cortina, Speedy says he runs a couple patches with Lockease thru the bore prior to shooting his next relay in order for his clean bore shot to be up to speed and in the group.
I do this. My first shot is about 50ft/s slow then 2nd is right back up to normal speed.

I just think it’s odd that the barrel speeds up another 50 ft./s by the end of my day possibly. I’m definitely going to shoot over a chronograph at the end of the day next time
 
I do this. My first shot is about 50ft/s slow then 2nd is right back up to normal speed.

I just think it’s odd that the barrel speeds up another 50 ft./s by the end of my day possibly. I’m definitely going to shoot over a chronograph at the end of the day next time
I think it can be attributed to the fouling building up in the bore and creating more resistance as more shots are fired.
 
Interesting, I wonder if others have tried this with similar results.

A while back, I used a similar trick that I picked up from the local Hunter/VFS BR guys - a patch soaked in Smooth-Kote to pre-condition the bore after being cleaned down to bare metal. It wworks well enough, but unless the barrel in question tends to toss the first couple shots by an appreciable amount I don't do it unless I have to.
 

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