I don't understand this advice or the logic "Never shoot a dry bore".

[VaniB]

Was at the range this week and a young man cleaned his rifle bore with a rod and then borrowed my oilcan to finalize the cleaning with an oiled patch pushed through. He then returned to firing his rifle. I gave him a perplexed look as I casually mentioned (hint, hint) that I always want my bore clean and dry when I fire it if I expect MOA accuracy, and that I will fire 2 "fouler shots" to clear out standing oil and residue in the barrel from when I last cleaned & lubed it. He just ignored me and said "Thanks" for the oil. I'd say 1/3 or more folks know so little of basics as I witnessed another young man "sighting-in" his new Rem700 rifle, blowing through 4 boxes/$80 worth of 308 ammo with the barrel resting on the sand bag.(instead of resting the rifle on it's stock.) BUT, what surprised me was finding an old Pac-Nor "Barrel Break-In" sheet from years ago in my stack of papers that said "Never shoot a dry bore, as this will greatly promote copper fouling." For Pete's sake; if shooting a dry bore is bad or not preferred, what does Pac-Nor or anybody else think happens after you fire just a couple of shots through any lubed gun barrel anyway? LOL.

Is it me with my 5 shot 1/2" groups that's nuts and doing it wrong all these years? LOL

 

[Riesel]

If it works for you, keep doing it. To each his own.

 

[dolek]

Was at the range this week and a young man cleaned his rifle bore with a rod and then borrowed my oilcan to finalize the cleaning with an oiled patch pushed through. He then returned to firing his rifle. I gave him a perplexed look as I casually mentioned (hint, hint) that I always want my bore clean and dry when I fire it if I expect MOA accuracy, and that I will fire 2 "fouler shots" to clear out standing oil and residue in the barrel from when I last cleaned & lubed it. He just ignored me and said "Thanks" for the oil. I'd say 1/3 or more folks know so little of basics as I witnessed another young man "sighting-in" his new Rem700 rifle, blowing through 4 boxes/$80 worth of 308 ammo with the barrel resting on the sand bag.(instead of resting the rifle on it's stock.) BUT, what surprised me was finding an old Pac-Nor "Barrel Break-In" sheet from years ago in my stack of papers that said "Never shoot a dry bore, as this will greatly promote copper fouling." For Pete's sake; if shooting a dry bore is bad or not preferred, what does Pac-Nor or anybody else think happens after you fire just a couple of shots through any lubed gun barrel anyway? LOL.

Is it me with my 5 shot 1/2" groups that's nuts and doing it wrong all these years? LOL

Is it me with my 5 shot 1/2" groups that's nuts and doing it wrong all these years? LOL[/QUOTE]

Ask the guys shooting 1/4" groups what they do .

 

[Gary in MD]

It’s not only PAC Nor that says that...

 

[people]

I was watching a Bloke on the Range video and he was talking about how if you do not wipe out the oil you get a puff of smoke and they (the Swiss) have a word for it. Apparently it gives them a good laugh.

I always try to get it as dry as possible. Looking at consistency I do not see how having some oil in will help anything.

 

[olddav]

I’ll bite, how do you avoid shooting with dry bore?

 

[BartsBullets]

Lots of guys will clean the barrel, Run a patch through to dry it. Then a patch with light oil or in my case lock-easy before shooting.

A completely dry barrel will tend to copper fowl more.

Bart

 

[jepp2]

in my case lock-easy before shooting. Including myself.

I too had read a while back, that if your bore is clean and dry, the friction of the first shot is greater (and that is both harder on the barrel and means the first shot will be errant). So I thought it is worth a try. Like Bart, I got a can of the liquid Lock Ease (not the spray), and started putting a few drops on a patch and running it through the barrel.

What I discovered is that my first shot now is exactly with the shots that follow. Now I realize that my cleaning routine is probably different than yours, but I'm sold. And Lock Ease is a graphite powder suspended in a solvent. So what remains behind in my case is the light coating of graphite. The change was dramatic for me.

 

[Barlow]

Savage recommends shooting over a lightly oiled bore, Tony Boyer uses Lock Eze (graphite) I do the same. Barlow

 

[TrxR]

So are you just putting a drop or two of lock ease on patch? Or are you soaking the patch?

 

[spclark]

A US F-Class team member gave me a suggestion years ago that I adopted for a new barrel break-in: shoot the first five rounds with each shot preceded by a patch wet with common ATF fluid.

Theory is that the ATF fills pores in the bore that otherwise would collect copper and powder fouling, stuff that encourages more stuff to collect later on.

With that first barrel I found it cleaned up much easier than any I'd ever shot before, so I've done this with every new barrel since.

After those first few rounds the bore's 'ironed out' so the benefit of that initial lubrication seems diminish pretty quickly.

Besides, who has time when shooting 2- or 3-to the mound in long range events to put a patch down the bore between rounds?

 

[Bill K]

I guess as some have said, too each his own. I also use Lock ease and run a soaked patch down the bore, as the final finish in the cleaning. And sometimes a final patch with essox on it.

 

[jepp2]

So are you just putting a drop or two of lock ease on patch? Or are you soaking the patch?

My technique. It comes out really fast. Shake the container well, as the graphite tends to fall out of suspension. I try to put just a small amount on a 1 1/4" patch. So probably 4-5 drops. Colors the patch grey almost to the edge, but you couldn't squeeze any out of it. As a test, I made a puddle in a jar lid and looked at it the next day. All the solvent was gone, and what remained was just the dry components.

 

[Tommie]

So are you just putting a drop or two of lock ease on patch? Or are you soaking the patch?

A saturated (but not dripping) patch works fine. A bore mop would probably work too.

 

[ShootDots]

Putting a light coating of oil in the barrel and leaving it for the first shot REDUCES friction from the first bullet down the bore. The carbon from the burned powder leaves a residue that acts somewhat as a lubricant. I can tell that a lightly oiled bore does in fact reduce friction as the first two shots out of a clean bore out at 600 or 1000 yards are a solid minute or so LOW on the target. By the 3rd or 4th shot it is back on the waterline.

 

[bsekf]

Has anybody used the new WD40 product designed for protecting during storage? Sorta makes sense to pre lube the barrel, but I thought you can "ring" a chamber if there is oil in it.

Bill

 

[Terry O]

I too use Lock-Ease in my final step in the cleaning process. Give the bottle a good shaking, apply four drops on a clean parch and run the same patch through the bore four times. Labradar will show the first shot around 50 fps slower than normal. The second shot will be at normal velocity.

 

[JSH]

I think the saying was from BP era, to keep fowling soft. Then carried on till today.

 

[carlsbad]

Pushing an oil film down the barrel in front of the bullet can give you some high pressure on the first round.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Has anybody used the new WD40 product designed for protecting during storage? Sorta makes sense to pre lube the barrel, but I thought you can "ring" a chamber if there is oil in it.

Bill

I don't like where this thread is going as it may lead someone to believe that oil in the barrel is a good thing. I think the key here is "VERY LIGHT" film.
I use to use lock ease but have gone to using kroil followed by a dry patch or two. Very light film.