Your thoughts on fouling

[ebb]

In the short term he may be right. My guys that I used to eat lunch with at the diner were going to go elk hunting and were sighting in a brand new Sako, it went from a 3/4 inch 3 shot group to an 18 inch group. Took a couple of range trips to get that far but it did. The grooves in the barrel looked like gold. About an hour with copper cleaning solution and it shot 3/4 inch again. Nylon brush on a bore snake, he only thought he was cleaning it.

 

[spudgun]

Just cleaned by Brux barrel after 320 rounds. My 1000 yd group was getting bigger. In 3 years with the 6.5 CM Brux barrel has 1274 rounds down it and has been cleaned 4 times.

Like another shooter said, the barrel will tell you when it needs to be cleaned.

Last night it took 6 rounds to get my 6" group back.

 

[Eric Leonard]

I clean my 6PPC between ever target at a UBR match. I shoot 2 foulers in the dirt and go to sighter to start ever target.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Simple...just test and do what works best. I shoot danzac coated bullets and copper fouling is pretty non existent, but some bbls handle carbon better that others. Generally, I don't clean all day and have won multiple times against great competition with a very dirty gun..+/- 400 rounds since cleaning in a sr br match. Some say it can't work but the target says it can. Again, I generally don't clean during a +/- 200 round match and see no dropoff in MOST of my bbl's...but some do. It's actually pretty rare though. Just test it. Doesn't matter how much you read on the internet. There are different answers and they can be right, both ways. I prefer shooting over cleaning and I prefer hanging out and talking with others when I'm not shooting, over cleaning. It works for ME but if you THINK it matters, it DOES matter until you test it enough to satisfy your own mind, and I have...many times over.

 

[Orr89rocz]

In the short term he may be right. My guys that I used to eat lunch with at the diner were going to go elk hunting and were sighting in a brand new Sako, it went from a 3/4 inch 3 shot group to an 18 inch group. Took a couple of range trips to get that far but it did. The grooves in the barrel looked like gold. About an hour with copper cleaning solution and it shot 3/4 inch again. Nylon brush on a bore snake, he only thought he was cleaning it.

this is what worries me, starting load development for a brand new factory rifle. Its a copper miner…after 6-10 rounds its got a lot in it. Right now i did two rounds of each powder increment to find pressure and get an idea where velocity is. First couple shots at low charges grouped tight! But slower than i want and as i went up in charge by shot 7/8 and 9/10, groups opened a decent amount although velocity was where i wanted and showed relatively low es…might be approaching what i always called a “node” but group didnt seem happy there and not sure seating will tighten it. Hard to tell is it the severe coppering or not. Lol so will clean bare metal and shoot again to see. Hopefully not chasing my tail.
My “match grade” aftermarket barrels were never this bad. Only one other barrel that mined copper cleared out after tubbs final finish bullets and several hundred rounds. Shoots tight and cleans easy. Debating on doing it to my new factory gun

 

[jwv2001]

Whatever you "think" helps, helps. Overall, it's called the placebo effect.