Dirty Barrel for F-Class???

[DoubleGobble00]

I am shooting a 6br using RE15 in a kreiger 30 inch barrel. My first F-Class match I started with a clean barrel. During the first 5 shots I had to adjust my elevation about 1 MOA lower. As the day progressed, I continued to dial my scope lower as I needed less MOA to reach the 600 yard target. After the match, I left my scope along.

I shot the next match this weekend and started with a clean barrel. My first shot was about 1.5-2 MOA low and about 2 MOA right. The windage MOA can be explained from dialing into the wind last time.. the elevation I assume is because the barrel is clean and the velocity is lower. I then adjusted the elevation about 2 MOA. After 5 shots I had to dial the elevation down 1/2 MOA and continued to dial the elevation down during the day. This caused me to drop several points during the first 10 shots.. The last 10 shots I only dropped 1 point.

Next match I want to avoid this... Should I leave my barrel dirty till next match (got about 100 round through it)... Or should I clean it and shoot about 20 rounds somewhere before the match to dirty it up? What do you do with your F-Class guns? Will it hurt the barrel to leave it dirty?

Thanks for the help.. I want to get the vertical adjustments out of the equation so I can concentrate on the windage.

DoubleG

 

[whiskey08]

Im thinking that temperature changes in on your barrel and atmosphere might be to blame, 20 degree change will cause upto 1moa of difference. as far as fouling goes somebody else can address that.

 

[TonyR]

Most of my barrels need about 7 shots before they group. The first couple on a clean barrel go high then work their way down. I always foul the barrel before I go to a match unless there will be unlimited sighters for the first match or a "blow-off" period allowed. I am told that this in not unusual. That said, the gun often shoots its best at the end of the day, sometimes with 100 rounds through it. You can find more discusion about this in the many "cleaning" threads.

 

[DoubleGobble00]

Thanks for the info. I am starting to think that I need about 8-10 shots through my barrel and it settles down. The rest of the MOA climb is probably due to temperature change and barrel temp change. After about 10 shots it will settle down and I might turn 1/8 MOA down two or three times as the day progresses.

Let me ask this... Does it hurt your barrel to leave it dirty? Will the powder residue eat at the metal in your barrel?

DoubleG

 

[TonyR]

There are probably as many opinions about how often to clean and how to clean as any topic I followed on this forum. In some cases, you have no choice. For example, I have never participated in an F-Class match where there was time to clean my gun during the day since I am usually scoring or pulling targets when I am not shooting. So, I try to shoot at least 75 rounds between cleanings even when I am doing load development or other testing. It makes no sense to me to find something that shoots great for 15 or 20 rounds then falls apart. My experience has shown that my last strings of the day will often be my best. I have also read reports from people who won long range matches with over 100 rounds between cleanings. I have also seen top benchrest shooters cleaning diligently after shooting a 5 shot string and a couple of sighters then go out and shoot another screamer group. But if you are shooting F-Class, you better figure on at least 75 rounds between cleanings.

 

[blawton]

Will your gun run 150 rounds without fouling out? Thats what you need to find out. Letting them sit dirty is not terrible but if they sit to long then the fouling will start to eat at the bore. Most likely you will be able to get 200 rounds through it before you REALLY need to clean it. The longer you can run them without cleaning the better they will shoot. If you need to clean it and run 20-40 rounds through it before the next match. There is another trick if you want to PM me i will go through the details and help you out further.

 

[DoubleGobble00]

Notaguru - I sent you a PM.

Thanks again for all the help. I appreciate it. Yeah I never have time to clean the barrel during the match. In fact it shoots better when it gets dirty in my opinion. It seems to foul up around 10 shots and starts getting better. Some matches only give 2 sighter shots and we normally have 5 at this match. I will at least try and get several shots through it before the next match begins.

I am not sure how many rounds I can shoot before the barrel loses accuracy due to fouling. I have always cleaned it after each trip to the range and to a match. I cleaned it because i thought it would hurt my barrel to sit up dirty. If it doesn't hurt it... then i might leave it dirty one time to see what happens. I only shoot a match once a month so it would have to sit up about a month dirty.

DoubleG

 

[Taildrag15X]

Quote from DoubleGobble00

"I am not sure how many rounds I can shoot before the barrel loses accuracy due to fouling. I have always cleaned it after each trip to the range and to a match. I cleaned it because i thought it would hurt my barrel to sit up dirty. If it doesn't hurt it... then i might leave it dirty one time to see what happens. I only shoot a match once a month so it would have to sit up about a month dirty.

DoubleG"

The only time one of mine would sit idle that long is over winter......

Don't you practice between Matches, I know your barrel life is important, but so is have rounds and strings of fire under your belt.

I shoot F/TR mostly, I do also shoot in Open Class with a .243 Win., I tend to clean it more often than the TR rifles. Not sure if it helps but it seems to scream through the first 2 strings and usually fades in the 3rd. The TR rifles get a good scrub about every 250-300, then out for a practice string or two, and I never go to a Match with a clean barrel.

 

[DoubleGobble00]

Thanks again for all the info. This helps out greatly.

Yeah, I usually get time to practice between matches. Lately I have been turkey hunting since the season is open here in MS. So my shooting time has been limited. I won't go to a match again on a clean barrel. I learned that lesson when I hit two 8s in my first 3 shots.

DoubleG