Clean a Barrel TOO MUCH???

[CaptainMal]

1000 yard gong shoot at Manatee this morning. Playing with that new Lyman Borescope and I found a trace of copper in the bore of my 6 Dasher Stolle Panda. Cleaned the heck out of it until the borescope showed it to be flawless.

At set-up and practice before the match, I had bad vertical. A dozen shots later and I commented to the very experienced shooter next to me that I must have cleaned this barrel too much. Much to my surprise, he agreed and he had seen the vertical. This is from a rifle that has won and always shot super in the past.

Another 10 shots and I noticed it did not show that any more. The match started and later in the morning, this rifle ended up winning. Never was there vertical the whole match.

Is it possible that "squeaky clean" can mess up a normally good shooter until it fouls after near 20 shots?

 

[LHSmith]

Since the intro of the Lyman borescope making it an affordable alternative to the Hawkeye, I can see all kinds of bore cleaning products flying off the shelves in an effort to make their bores "picture perfect". Match aggregates are not won with a clean bore...fouling is a necessity to win. You have to know what your barrel likes-irrespective of what shows up on the borescope....listen to the barrel, not the scope.

 

[Joe Salt]

CaptainMal I've seen this happen a few times shooting 1000 yard. If the rifle says I don't want to be super clean, then leave it a little dirty. The thing I do before each match is fire some rounds say 10 or twelve just to dirty the barrel. There all different, so I think you done the right thing firing some shots before the match.
I know some top shooter that never clean there rifle all season or so they told me. But they had other rifle's they clean all the time. You have to try different thing some times. You can also fire form brass just to get it dirty. Keep doing what you did and see what happens. I've got one of those little BB guns coming the year. So I hope it works like yours.

Joe Salt

 

[highlife]

Since the intro of the Lyman borescope making it an affordable alternative to the Hawkeye, I can see all kinds of bore cleaning products flying off the shelves in an effort to make their bores "picture perfect". Match aggregates are not won with a clean bore...fouling is a necessity to win. You have to know what your barrel likes-irrespective of what shows up on the borescope....listen to the barrel, not the scope.

I agree, i got a barrel after 27rds on the money down the tube it shoots! And holds for about 150.
Richard

 

[potatoe]

I agree, i got a barrel after 27rds on the money down the tube it shoots! And holds for about 150.
Richard

Now that was some experimenting!

 

[highlife]

Now that was some experimenting!

Not really experimenting, just listening to the Barrel. It's funny and I seen it with this Barrel. I can go to a Match with a very clean Barrel, shoot 8-12 foulers and the first round bomb. Then finish Very Strong. I have also seen it while shooting for confirmation on my charge and seating depth. I just did this Last Sunday; whats funny is i shot today with another barrel and rifle and then cleaned the Chit out of both of them. These are all document RDs and notes. Listen to your Barrel!!
Richard

 

[dkhunt14]

Captai
I know some top shooter that never clean there rifle all season or so they told me. But they had other rifle's they clean all the time. You have to try different thing some times. You can also fire form brass just to get it dirty. Keep doing what you did and see what happens. I've got one of those little BB guns coming the year. So I hope it works like yours.

Joe Salt

Joe what about EDDIE? Matt

 

[Joe Salt]

Matt I think Eddy know what his barrels like he has done it for years! When he is done cleaning he also coats the barrel with Lock-Ezz.
There all different whats your secret?

Joe Salt

 

[dkhunt14]

Lots of soaking and little brushing. Iosso in the throat to keep carbon out. I like it clean. 3 Drops of Marvel Mystery oil on a patch before shooting. Matt

 

[CaptainMal]

I say keep it up. First time I ever experienced the anomaly of a long, long fouling needed. Surely others are also taking the comments in.

 

[dkhunt14]

I have seen a few barrels that took an extra shot or two to settle after a good cleaning. Most were about the same. I have always cleaned my barrels till they were clean. Another thing I did see was I had one, that after cleaning real hard with Iosso, that the first round shot at 1000 yards was a lot lower then if I didn't clean it hard. Never saw it take more shots to settle though. Matt

 

[NewLiberty]

My savage in .243 takes 9 or 10 rounds to settle down after cleaning. Vertical stringing like yours. So, I just don't clean it till it quits shooting, probably 300 to 400 rnds, more or less.

 

[dkhunt14]

My savage in .243 takes 9 or 10 rounds to settle down after cleaning. Vertical stringing like yours. So, I just don't clean it till it quits shooting, probably 300 to 400 rnds, more or less.

I have bore scoped some Savage's and they were pretty rough looking. If you cleaned a barrel like that I could see it might take more shots to foul. Matt

 

[1newmexkid]

I have to admit that I used to clean the heck out of my barrels after 15-20 rounds. Well, now I do a through clean about every 60-70 rounds and my accuracy seems to remain more level.

 

[ebb]

I agree with what everyone said here so far. But also being from south Florida, but the other side of the state. It was way colder here than it has been all year. Could this be a load that was developed at a much higher temp than this morning? And as the day warmed up and the barrel held some heat your load came back? Some of my guns need a few rounds to get right after a good cleaning, my 6PPC shoots best right after I clean it, and it will shoot best if it is cleaned about every 25-30 shots, at least that's the way it seems.

 

[dmoran]

Matt -

I hear it often in other disciplines, of needing more fouling rounds to get best results from.
One guy who shots very well in F-Class, that I respect very much, will pre-foul his barrel with no less then 20-rounds the day before, then another 10 or 12 rounds before he goes to record.
Another guy I just read here the other day pre-fouls his barrel with 40-rounds prior to a match.

Similar to you, I start on a clean barrel, shoot 3 to 6 sighters fallowed by the record target. And I clean it all out at the end of the day no matter the round count, starting clean again the next.

I've always been baffled by the differences, and can't imagine needing to foul a barrel 20, 30, 40 shots (that's a lot of expense, components, time, and barrel life).
Donovan

 

[dkhunt14]

Donovan we have one guy that cleans for 6 to 8 hours after a match. He cleans and cleans and puts everything imaginable down the barrel. He does a 100 strokes with JB and follows with lots of patches and brushing. I have seen him go to the line and shoot 2 foulers, go to record and shoot extremely small. Time and time again year after year. He makes me tired watching him clean. I like a few more foulers (usually 6) because I like a little heat in my barrel. Matt

 

[Joe R]

CaptainMal said:
Is it possible that "squeaky clean" can mess up a normally good shooter until it fouls after near 20 shots?

Down here in Houston we (F-Class shooters) have what we call "The Ben Steinsholt Doctrine". We clean/polish our barrel spic and span before a match. Then we get sighted in at the 300/600/1000 yards and proceed to lay down 20-30 rounds for practice, with the understanding that the barrel isn't really stable until 15-20 rounds (depending on barrel wear). We then leave the rifle alone until after the match. Everyone that I know does it this way, because it works.

Regards,

Joe

 

[LCazador]

1000 yard gong shoot at Manatee this morning. Playing with that new Lyman Borescope and I found a trace of copper in the bore of my 6 Dasher Stolle Panda. Cleaned the heck out of it until the borescope showed it to be flawless.

At set-up and practice before the match, I had bad vertical. A dozen shots later and I commented to the very experienced shooter next to me that I must have cleaned this barrel too much. Much to my surprise, he agreed and he had seen the vertical. This is from a rifle that has won and always shot super in the past.

Another 10 shots and I noticed it did not show that any more. The match started and later in the morning, this rifle ended up winning. Never was there vertical the whole match.

Is it possible that "squeaky clean" can mess up a normally good shooter until it fouls after near 20 shots?

No such thing as cleaning too much. So plus one on the statement made, "listen to your barrel". Every barrel is different and when you have one that takes more than 2 or 3 shots to foul than it's something else that's going on or you have a barrel that's just an OK shooter. A good shooting barrel shoots good all the time not just when it's clean and definitely not just when it's dirty. I had a barrel once that never shot well when it was windy, really. I replaced it and that problem was gone. There are unexplainable quirks and the easiest to deal with them is to not fight the problem!

 

[dkhunt14]

Almost all 1000 yard BR guys start with a clean barrel. They usually shoot 5 to 8 sighters and go to record. The barrels are settled by the third round. If I shot that many foulers I wouldn't get a year out of my barrel. We only have 6 minutes to sight then right to record to fire 10 shots. The barrel would get smoking hot. Matt