cleaning during a match????

[Shooter13]

I took a long range rifle course a couple of years ago and shocked myself by hitting 2 out of 3 at 905 yards. rifle was a Savage LRP in 6.5CM. The instructor said 'on a bolt gun only clean if your groups start falling apart'.
Holy smokes, I never followed that advice but I guess there are different ideas out there.

The problem is if you wait until groups start falling off you are probably in the middle of a string and if you drop ONE dot in UBR it can cost you the loss, my 30 BR it doesn't seem to matter, the 22PPC and 6PPC are cleaned after every relay

 

[Jayplace]

No, no. Nobody said anyone was lying. Some guns it matters on but what always matters is what you believe. That's why I'm adamant about testing what you read, hear and see..for yourself. And test things that nobody else does too. How else will we ever advance?

Sorry, I wasn't serious about shooters lying regarding cleaning. I've been to the group matches as well as VFS and they do tend to have different cleaning procedures. Not all, but most.
It does seem odd though and both take what they do equally serious.

And then, there are the long range shooters who take their sport serious also and end up with amazing results shooting many rounds without cleaning.

I started out shooting group many years ago and now I'm working on getting into VFS. It just doesn't seem natural not cleaning between targets.

 

[Jayplace]

Respectfully, this is a misconception. The guys who read the wind the best make less mistakes and end up at the top. That is why the range is littered with wind flags. You can have the best tuned gun on the planet and still perform extremely poor if you are not skilled at wind reading. Conversely, you can be quite conpetitive with an average gun and excellent wind reading skills. It is all about minimizing mistakes.

Perhaps my communication was not the best. When I referred to the wind, I was referring to comparing a 100 yard match competition to, say a 1,000 yard match.
I agree that wind is an important factor in winning against others, but I view a 100 yard match as a more pure technical competition than a 1,000 yard match. Not that a 1,000 yard match doesn't require a high level of technical proficiency, but there appears to be more factors that are unknown or to what degree. At 100 yards, at least the flags can be seen all the way to the target.

 

[JEFFPPC]

The difference in SRBr and 1000 yd Br is huge in my opinion. Both in equipment, shooting style, and mindset. And yes, in cleaning. Biggest weakness on shooting forums is trying to blend the different requirements to one size fits all. This is why I think under every screen name should be ONE primary discipline interest so you know where a posters thoughts are coming from.

 

[JoeDuke]

I took a long range rifle course a couple of years ago and shocked myself by hitting 2 out of 3 at 905 yards. rifle was a Savage LRP in 6.5CM. The instructor said 'on a bolt gun only clean if your groups start falling apart'.
Holy smokes, I never followed that advice but I guess there are different ideas out there.

In short range Benchrest, there is no room for letting your groups fall off. So you clean often if you want to be competitive.
Experience shows it matters with a 6PPC.
Experience also shows a typical 30BR will shoot a yardage without issues. Different calibers, different powders. they show different reactions. The same things apply to most shooting. You have to shoot them to determine what they need.

 

[JFrank]

If you notice when the long range guys post a tuning target, we’ll typically note what shooting/cleaning cycle we are on, for us it’s important to understand how the gun reacts throughout the day.

I took a long range rifle course a couple of years ago and shocked myself by hitting 2 out of 3 at 905 yards. rifle was a Savage LRP in 6.5CM. The instructor said 'on a bolt gun only clean if your groups start falling apart'.
Holy smokes, I never followed that advice but I guess there are different ideas out there.

His routine may or may not be appropriate for your application.

Jim

 

[jackieschmidt]

Have you noticed that Short Range Shooters who clean after every group or target rarely worry about things such as the dreaded carbon ring or over fouling.

That’s because we rarely let it get started.

Also, the vast majority of us never take a dirty barrel home.
The very first thing I do when returning to the loading are after the last match of the day is clean the rifle, preferably while the barrel is still warm.

 

[AlNyhus]

Agreed on cleaning the gun before leaving the range. A good pal that cleans with Wipe Out loads the bore up with it before leaving the range and does the final cleaning the next day at home.

A good example is the carbon on case necks. Some of us take a bit of 0000 steel wool to the line and give the necks a quick swipe after the target is done. Heck..you can almost roll the carbon off with your thumb at that point. But cleaning necks a few days later is quite a bit different.

For me, leaving the range with a dirty gun is like taking a shower and putting your old underwear back on.

 

[DeerHunter82]

I've never really had a cleaning routine at specific intervals. If it's shooting great, I just send it. If it falls off, I'll patch good before the next relay and see if it corrects. I've never brushed during a match. Then I always clean thoroughly before I pack it up to bring it home.