CLEANING AND LOAD DEVELOPMENT

[4xforfun]

10- 15 years ago the consensus was when testing several different powders....like H4895, RL 15, Varget, etc in the same barrel you should clean between powders. Obviously one would shoot a few "fowlers" to find zero.

Is that enough, anymore, or do you still clean? it seems to me that BBLS are so much "better" and foul so little now days.

Your thoughts.

Tod

 

[K22]

My thoughts and experience:

Of course, I heard the assertion about not load testing using different powders but never paid any attention to this, perhaps because I only load test one powder at a time. Maybe there is some validity to this assertion due to vary levels of carbon fouling from different powders, I don't know. I just don't test more than one powder at a time for the reason stated below.

In my experience, if you are using a suitable powder for the cartridge, the most significant factor affecting group size was the bullet selected followed closely by powder charge.

At least with my rifles, some "seasoning" of the bore with copper is needed before I obtain consistent point of aim and group sizes. In fact, I have stopped using aggressive method of copper removal. I know that is cleaning heresy, but I discovered that modest cleaning with regards to so called "copper fouling" work better for me.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Never tested more than one powder at a time.....ever. Sounds like your looking for an excuse not to clean. I have no problem with that. I wish all the folks I compete against would quit cleaning.

 

[Mulligan]

I tested two powders in one of my dashers two days ago.
I also tested three powders in a Waldog.
Yep, I clean between powders, and ladders, and targets.
CW

 

[JMayo]

6bra 6ppc clean

30br doesn't care

 

[PopCharlie]

I will test different powders during a range session. I do clean between powders. If I'm only shooting 1 powder, I like to clean every 25 rounds. This interval let's the barrel cool as well.

PopCharlie

 

[K22]

Never tested more than one powder at a time.....ever. Sounds like your looking for an excuse not to clean. I have no problem with that. I wish all the folks I compete against would quit cleaning.

No, not really. True, I hate cleaning rifles and for that matter pistols, but that's not my purpose in testing one powder at a time.

My thinking is that I want to exhaust a powder's potential before moving on to another powder. I want to have a least two constants, powder and primers for testing. As I said, in my experience, bullet selection followed by powder charge is the most influential factors I found assuming you are using a powder suitable for that caliber.

Some bullets just won't shoot well in some of my rifles not matter how I adjust the load.

I did a lot of load development in the distance past but very little in the last few years since I have established loads for all my rifles / calibers. However that may change due to this component mess.

Case in point, the last load development I did was a few years ago when I ventured in the 8" 223Rem twist world. Prior to that, all my experience was with 12" twists. I tested 50, 55 and 60 grain bullets with a single powder, H4895 and primer, Federal 205M. They all shot under 1 moa but it was the 60 Vmax that out shined them all, shooting sub 1/2 moa. Why H4985, because it was the only powder I had but it was very compatible with the 223 Rem. I'm sure that H335, Benchmark, and others would have yielded good to excellent results also.

 

[PopCharlie]

My thoughts and experience:

Of course, I heard the assertion about not load testing using different powders but never paid any attention to this, perhaps because I only load test one powder at a time. Maybe there is some validity to this assertion due to vary levels of carbon fouling from different powders, I don't know. I just don't test more than one powder at a time for the reason stated below.

In my experience, if you are using a suitable powder for the cartridge, the most significant factor affecting group size was the bullet selected followed closely by powder charge.

At least with my rifles, some "seasoning" of the bore with copper is needed before I obtain consistent point of aim and group sizes. In fact, I have stopped using aggressive method of copper removal. I know that is cleaning heresy, but I discovered that modest cleaning with regards to so called "copper fouling" work better for me.

K22,
I`m with you. I leave a little copper in the barrel in my high round count barrels. They need fewer rounds after cleaning to settle down.

PopCharlie

 

[K22]

K22,
I`m with you. I leave a little copper in the barrel in my high round count barrels. They need fewer rounds after cleaning to settle down.

PopCharlie

Take a look at gunblue490's videos on Cleaning Solvents and Professional Rifle Cleaning.

At first, I was extremely skeptical but searching for a remedy for my clean barrel flyers and erratic point of impacts after cleaning*, I stumbled on this and tried it. It worked extremely well for me. The only change I made was using Bore Tech C4 for carbon removal since it does such a superior job on carbon with some minimal copper removal affect. There are a number of other videos on this topic that also support gunblue490's assertion.

*For medical reasons, I had to change solvents from Shooter's Choice to odorless which resulted in overly aggressive copper removal when I used Bore Tech Cu+2. I never had an issue with Shooter's Choice probably due to the fact that it does a minimal job of copper removal - at least that's what I think was happening.

 

[markm87]

We'll clean as accuracy drops or is just seems like it's been forever.

For powder changes? No. We shoot long range, but don't shoot competition. I don't doubt the value for those who clean between powder changes.

 

[mgunderson]

Some powder combinations are more problematic. I would recommend cleaning when switching manufacturers and just a few fowlers if staying with the same manufacturer and the same style ( stick, ball, flake).

 

[PopCharlie]

Take a look at gunblue490's videos on Cleaning Solvents and Professional Rifle Cleaning.

At first, I was extremely skeptical but searching for a remedy for my clean barrel flyers and erratic point of impacts after cleaning*, I stumbled on this and tried it. It worked extremely well for me. The only change I made was using Bore Tech C4 for carbon removal since it does such a superior job on carbon with some minimal copper removal affect. There are a number of other videos on this topic that also support gunblue490's assertion.

*For medical reasons, I had to change solvents from Shooter's Choice to odorless which resulted in overly aggressive copper removal when I used Bore Tech Cu+2. I never had an issue with Shooter's Choice probably due to the fact that it does a minimal job of copper removal - at least that's what I think was happening.

Will do...