Just wondering how many foulers do your barrels take to settle down for long range shooting after a thorough clean out with JB or Iosso? I noticed one of my barrels needed a good carbon removal so I gave it a good scrub with abrasives. Now with a few cases thrown out, I only have a few foulers left. I usually try to fire 10 shots after a good abrasive clean, what have you found?
How long to settle down after a JB or Iosso clean out?
- Thread starter 1KBR
- Start date
Keith Glasscock
Gold $$ Contributor
15 after cleaning to bare steel.
1KBR: The reason I never clean my barrels down to bare metal when using JB. Some barrels will require as many as 12 to 15 shots before they start to shoot again, a waste of ammo components and barrel life.
All I want to do is keep it under control. 10 to 15 strokes will usually clean it up to around 80%, leaving the other 20%. All cleaning is monitored with my borescope, so I know exactly how much is being removed.
All I want to do is keep it under control. 10 to 15 strokes will usually clean it up to around 80%, leaving the other 20%. All cleaning is monitored with my borescope, so I know exactly how much is being removed.
As expected different people get different results, though mine are usually the same as busdriver and fdshuster, taking around 15 shots. I only clean down to bare metal every 250-300 shots before a big match, just so I don't get caught out unexpectedly with carbon build up. In between the barrels just get regular light to medium cleans until the borescope shows copper has gone
Gosh that’s a good question and it’s a difficult one to answer. I wish I could conclusively state that all of my guns always need a certain number of fouling shots to start performing well after cleaning to bare metal, but that’s not the case for me. The best answer I can give is that it depends.
I’ve had two rifles that consistently shot poorly after cleaning and began to shoot noticeably better after 10 or more shots. They both had rough pitted bores. There may be a strong correlation there. At the other extreme I have had a couple benchrest rifle barrels that often shot best from the start and then accuracy would gradually deteriorate. Where I live it’s usually calm in the morning when I start shooting with increasing winds through the day so I have always blamed that accuracy trend on the wind. Maybe I need to start cleaning barrels at the range after every group? The rest of my rifles haven’t shown a clear trend. It can be difficult to see consistent trends in your groups over time. For instance a typical target shooting session for me may include a total of 10 groups where I’ll get one or two good groups, one or two bad groups, and the rest of them average size with the good and bad groups being randomly distributed over the shooting session. That’s probably due to me being inconsistent in my gun handling or wind reading more than any other cause. Any accuracy variables due to bore condition are, most likely, lost in the noise. Then there are other factors that may have an influence like bore condition over the life of the barrel. The barrel is going to slowly wear out right? That may have an influence on how it performs clean versus fouled. Or the load you are using. Maybe one load produces heavy fouling quickly whereas another may not resulting in different effects with the same barrel. I don’t know, just throwing my observations out there for thought. It’s an interesting technical topic.
To qualify my statements, I do own a bore scope. I’ve had it long enough to learn how to use it properly and I’m pretty sure I know what I am looking at through it. With it, I have figured out how to clean a bore to bare metal. I think I can shoot well enough to tell the difference between a shot going stray due to something I did, the wind, the mirage, or something else. Finally, my observations are based on benchrest shooting out to 300 yards. I realize the original question referred to “long rangeâ€. Not sure what that means so take my words for what you paid for them.
I’ve had two rifles that consistently shot poorly after cleaning and began to shoot noticeably better after 10 or more shots. They both had rough pitted bores. There may be a strong correlation there. At the other extreme I have had a couple benchrest rifle barrels that often shot best from the start and then accuracy would gradually deteriorate. Where I live it’s usually calm in the morning when I start shooting with increasing winds through the day so I have always blamed that accuracy trend on the wind. Maybe I need to start cleaning barrels at the range after every group? The rest of my rifles haven’t shown a clear trend. It can be difficult to see consistent trends in your groups over time. For instance a typical target shooting session for me may include a total of 10 groups where I’ll get one or two good groups, one or two bad groups, and the rest of them average size with the good and bad groups being randomly distributed over the shooting session. That’s probably due to me being inconsistent in my gun handling or wind reading more than any other cause. Any accuracy variables due to bore condition are, most likely, lost in the noise. Then there are other factors that may have an influence like bore condition over the life of the barrel. The barrel is going to slowly wear out right? That may have an influence on how it performs clean versus fouled. Or the load you are using. Maybe one load produces heavy fouling quickly whereas another may not resulting in different effects with the same barrel. I don’t know, just throwing my observations out there for thought. It’s an interesting technical topic.
To qualify my statements, I do own a bore scope. I’ve had it long enough to learn how to use it properly and I’m pretty sure I know what I am looking at through it. With it, I have figured out how to clean a bore to bare metal. I think I can shoot well enough to tell the difference between a shot going stray due to something I did, the wind, the mirage, or something else. Finally, my observations are based on benchrest shooting out to 300 yards. I realize the original question referred to “long rangeâ€. Not sure what that means so take my words for what you paid for them.
Shoot BN (Boron Nitride ) coating and the cold bore shot will be in the group , clean, dirty , cold or hot , in the group. Moly won't do that.
My answer seems like a combination of several other shooters. I get several wet patches with Butches down the bore ASAP, but after a soaking period, I only clean until the copper is gone and the patches are grey. When adding JB/ISSO to the process I saturate a patch, and wrap it around a nylon brush. As soon as I hit the lands I give starting using short strokes increasing in length by about 1/4" for the first 6-8", I then just push it on through. Once the patch is in the bore it doesn't come out until it reaches the muzzle. I then clean/dry the bore with several patches of brake cleaner. This process being stated, I only do it AFTER a big match and at 250 round intervals. Using this method, I've found that the bore stays in prime shooting condition and requires 3-4 foulers, the same as after my normal cleaning routine. I also have a bore scope and I'm sure I don't know everything about it, but I think I know what I'm seeing. (Or not seeing as the case may be). I think we are all looking for the same thing, consistency. In this case, I refer to keeping the crud in check to where extra foulers aren't needed, using extra components and costing barrel life while keeping the barrel shooting at a prime shooting level throughout it's life.
*As an afterthought, these statements are directly relative to how big of an over bore caliber you are shooting. If you are shooting a .223 or a 308, round count/barrel life isn't nearly as critical as some monster 6.5x416 kill & cook everything inside a 15 yd. blast radius!
I hope this helps,
Lloyd
*As an afterthought, these statements are directly relative to how big of an over bore caliber you are shooting. If you are shooting a .223 or a 308, round count/barrel life isn't nearly as critical as some monster 6.5x416 kill & cook everything inside a 15 yd. blast radius!
I hope this helps,
Lloyd
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
My CM barreled 220 Swift will "walk a string of vertical" for 5-7 shots before finally grouping around the #6/7 shot. It does this whether i clean to bare steel (twice) or just scrub it very well with typical bore cleaner. I have taken to what I call "half-scrub" during the summer shooting season, then full scrub at end of summer when I put it away. Desperate times, desperate measure!
I found that this rifle (an old one) just shoots very well dirty, from round 7 to round 25. Then half-scrub and we are back at round 7 again. All I am saying is time spent with a rifle will teach you what your rifle does.
I found that this rifle (an old one) just shoots very well dirty, from round 7 to round 25. Then half-scrub and we are back at round 7 again. All I am saying is time spent with a rifle will teach you what your rifle does.
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
I think that tools and technique play a big part in this. Cleaning with abrasives can cover quite a bit of ground in terms of the way, and care with which people do it. Hard carbon is mostly an issue in the back half to third of a barrel, and abrasives can polish to the point where the tendency to copper foul is increased. The trick is to determine how to use abrasives, how often and where. I know fellows that take the I'm going to give my barrel a good cleaning (as in more is better) approach, when IMO a more studied approach would be better, particularly when abrasives are used.
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