Lock - ease help

[Gil P.]

I just started experimenting with lock ease and I'm having a poi shift.

The first five shots shoot about a tenth low, after which the bullets land in their usual spot. I thought lock ease was supposed to prevent cold bore poi shift?

I'm cleaning with wipe out + accelerator. Accelerator is applied to an iosso bore brush. After cleaning I applied lock-ease with a pointed jag. I'm going to try a loop jag next and see what happens. I soaked the patch in lock ease. Maybe I used too much?

 

[Jud96]

I tried lock ease and didn’t have success with it. I now just clean like normal, then push a light patch of oil down the barrel followed by a dry patch. My POI on a 6PPC LV rifle is within 1/4” at 100 yards. The next shot is right on the money.

 

[D Coots]

We're not oiling down a D-8 Cat. 3-4 drops is plenty.

One fouler after cleaning ending with LE and GTG.

Less is Best.

Later

Dave

 

[Clancy]

Use a bronze brush.

One patch of lock ease, one dry patch.

 

[old_heli_logger]

I finish with one patch soaked in Lock Ease, followed by three dry patches

 

[hpshooter]

I use a pin head drop of lock ease after cleaning and fire two fouling shots before going to a match.

 

[Gil P.]

I thought the point of using lock ease was to no longer need foulers?

 

[Gil P.]

I'll keep experimenting with it.

 

[243Lapua]

I just started experimenting with lock ease and I'm having a poi shift.

The first five shots shoot about a tenth low, after which the bullets land in their usual spot. I thought lock ease was supposed to prevent cold bore poi shift?

I'm cleaning with wipe out + accelerator. Accelerator is applied to an iosso bore brush. After cleaning I applied lock-ease with a pointed jag. I'm going to try a loop jag next and see what happens. I soaked the patch in lock ease. Maybe I used too much?

I use LockEase only as a preservative when I store my rifle. At times when I shoot a match with my ppc, I use it as a first shot fouler.

 

[WayneShaw]

The use of Lock-eze is to put a coating in the bore for the first shot, instead of bone dry bare metal. After that first shot, it's gone. I reuse the same patch over the course of the day, only adding one or two drops each time.

 

[47WillysGuy]

Two well soaked patches of Lock Eze after cleaning here. POI is slightly low only on first shot and so is the FPS.

 

[bichettereds]

If there was a problem with the lock ease or your method of application I would think you’d see it on the first shot, not the first 5 shots going in the same place, but just 1/10th of an inch low.

That being said, you don’t need to soak the patch in it. Just a few drops. Don’t forget to shake the bottle before using it.

 

[Benji_from_Aus]

I clean with patch out and accelerator as well, once clean 2 patches of isopropyl alcohol then a dry patch followded by one with 4 drops of lock eze. @500-700y 1 st shot is normally quarter MOA low and a bit slow then completely normal from there.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

A fouler shot seems like a cheap investment.

 

[DHD]

A fouler shot seems like a cheap investment.

A fouler shot seems like a fact of life...

 

[Shooter13]

We're not oiling down a D-8 Cat

Sounds more like a D11 amount LOL

 

[Syncrowave]

Be aware that graphite is pretty much the most noble (most cathodic) member of the galvanic series, and if you've ever had trouble due to copper causing galvanic corrosion, graphite is way worse.

Something as simple as a pencil line left on a SS or Monel prop shaft will cause a "groove" to form under the pencil line in saltwater, which will create a stress riser for a crack to begin, fatigue to set in, and a $$$$$ wheel to end up on the bottom...and it's a long walk home!

I've always been leery of graphite for this reason and use hBN instead...

 

[K22]

I read that some expert shooters have had success with this using this product to mitigate first shot flyers. I am not an expert or a competitive rifle shooter, so I only know what I've learned by trial and error, mostly error.

Over the years what I learned is that aggressive copper removing solvents always produced clean barrel flyers and some cold barrel flyers until the bore reached some sort of equilibrium. Lock ease did nothing to solve this problem, at least for me.

I would also imagine with the availability of economical bore scopes, many of today's shooters are cleaning down to bare metal. I have read that this is standard practice for benchrest shooters and their rifles are tuned to that practice. However, it seems that having to replace carbon in the bore with lock ease after cleaning down to bare metal or close there to, indicates that an overly cleaned bore is contributing to the flyers.

Because I am a varmint hunter, the first shot is the "money" shot for me. Therefore, I cannot tolerate first shot flyers. While it's obviously easier to manage clean barrel flyers (shooting first shot into the ground) I prefer not to have them. Cold barrel flyers is a different matter. I cannot tolerate them.

So, what I learned is that cleaning with a simple solvent such as Hoppe's 9 or Shooter's Choice and a bronze brush over time eliminated first shot flyers, both clean and cold bore flyers, at least at the level I am shooting at which varmint grade accuracy. I should add, that as far as I can determine, these solvents do not clean down to bare metal at when not aggressive* employed.

*Defined as enough strokes to just produce a clean patch.

 

[Gil P.]

If there was a problem with the lock ease or your application method I would think you’d see it on the first shot, not the first 5 shots going in the same place (just 1/10th of an inch low).

That said, you don’t need to soak the patch in it. Just a few drops. Don’t forget to shake the bottle before using it.

It sounds strange, but that's what happened. They all grouped decently (.3's). I went shooting again afterwards, but this time I didn't use lock ease. same barrel cleaning procedure, same load, same position and I didn't have a poi shift.

I think I may have used too much.

 

[coldboreshot]

I just started experimenting with lock ease and I'm having a poi shift.

The first five shots shoot about a tenth low, after which the bullets land in their usual spot. I thought lock ease was supposed to prevent cold bore poi shift?

I'm cleaning with wipe out + accelerator. Accelerator is applied to an iosso bore brush. After cleaning I applied lock-ease with a pointed jag. I'm going to try a loop jag next and see what happens. I soaked the patch in lock ease. Maybe I used too much?

Lock-Ease is not designed for preventing cold bore poi shift. A while back a champion benchrester told me that it is used as an application after complete bore cleaning and polishing with either JB or Iosso. As previously suggested here, it can be used as a barrel storage additive to protect metal and also suggested here to ease the first round down a completely clean bore. The picture below indicates a test at 600yd I ran with this type of cleaning regimen. The reason the first shot was low was to drive out residuals down the bore. And as you see, the next 3 shots are an indicator that it should only require the first round to settle barrel. Keep im mind, my poa was intentionally moved off absolute zero. I set it back to zero and it was pedal to the metal. I don't fully grasp the chemistry of it, I just know it works for me.