Wondering what your bore cleaning regiment is while developing a load especially when testing a different one eg: powder charge, seating depth, etc.

To keep everything consistent and determine a particular load's true accuracy how do you do it?

I don't clean my bore but about once a year......

some rifles like my Kimber 22 Clasic will never have a rod run into their barrel

If I'm developing a load I don't clean until I find a load that's promising. And that might be 8-10 (+/-) combinations. Then I clean the bore and fine tune the load. After that, just a good clean to remove powder residue. I pretty much gave up cleaning down to bare metal, not really worth all the time/effort.

It kind of depends on how the bore behaves.
A new barrel or one that seems sort of rought I might wipe with a wet patch and a dry patch between each shot. If the barrel is well broke in and smooth I will do the wet and dry wipe every 5 rounds or maybe not at all.
In summary it depends on what I think is going on with the bore fouling. Nothing is fixed and I have plenty of time to enjoy it.

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:
Wondering what your bore cleaning regiment is while developing a load especially when testing a different one eg: powder charge, seating depth, etc.

To keep everything consistent and determine a particular load's true accuracy how do you do it?

Some barrels shoot better a little fouled and on some it doesn't matter. For what it's worth, many bench rest shooters at least some patches down the bore frequently during a match. It's also well known that accuracy deteriorates with a heavily fouled bore.

My personal regimen on barrels that have been shot a bit, i.e., not new, is cleaning every 25 to 50 rounds. Some of my barrels, however, foul very little and I'll go longer than that between cleaning.

With Cup 'n Core bullets I used to be a once a season cleaner for my hunting rifles unless I get caught in weather that requires attention prior to going back into the safe and that is often enough here in Europe. Target rifles usually prior to an important match (5-6 times a year).

With monometals that has changed - they now get a serious bore scrub & overall cleaning @ every 40-50 rounds which for me is often enough because other than Feb-April we pretty much hunt all year round here; but that a Good Thing, too.

Thanks!

I will run a bore snake thru my barrel after every shooting session, and maybe a few times during the hunting season..I " deep clean " about once a year, mostly to get the copper wash out. I use homemade Blue Goop, Barnes or that foam stuff..I am of the school more bores are ruined by cleaning rods thah shooting..I have one gun I never clean and its a tack driver, if I clean it it opens up to 2 inches at 100 for about 200 rounds, then starts shooting 1/2 inch consistantly, go figure..it is what it is..

Clean if changing types of powder, like IMR to Ball. Clean if changing bullet types, all copper to gilding or lead. Lube on 22lr can be very different & affecting accuracy. May take 10 shots to recondition a 22 bore after cleaning.

Cleaning copper is pretty much a waste of time. I do like to patch out powder fouling ever so often, but only when accuracy is starting to suffer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbMuknl677A

I don't really clean bores; usually just a clp patch to prevent rust. Unless I think there is fouling; copper or powder.