I guess saying "lubricant" is not the correct word but here's what happened to me a couple weeks ago.
I was shooting my 30-378 and everything was going fine and predictable. After about 20 rounds (letting the barrel cool properly) I boresnaked the barrel. Then about 3 rounds after that speed started increasing and the bolt lift got harder. Within 6 rounds I had to stop.
Maybe it was just a coincident and it was just "time" for the barrel to foul out. But, it got me to thinking once that someone had told me that powder residue actually becomes sort of a lubricant in the barrel and that's why we need to shoot a few rounds to get the barrel "seasoned" so to speak.
Any thoughts from you guru's on this??

BTW--This gun is a Sako and has been scoped by a good "smith" who said the barrel is very smooth for a factory gun.

I think it would be difficult to make any hard and fast conclusions about your results and barrel lubrification due to powder residue.

I have noted on my own barrels that when doing multiple strings with a big bore the chamber heats up and when you chamber a round you are sticking it into a very hot oven. Try chambering a round, leave it in the chamber a few moments and eject it. You will see that it may have become quite hot. So it's not necessarily a question of fouling if you start to get sticky bolt lift.

Notwithstanding that some powders have a little graphite coating, I have never found the barrel to be smoother, or better "lubricated" after any shots at all.

This wasn't a matter of a heated chamber. I was doing a good of letting it cool and no rounds were in the chamber for more than a few seconds. It probably was just "fluke timing" but I'm still interested to see if others have some ideas or stories to tell.

Only if you mix moly with your powder.

That's all I'm saying.

Krank, burnt powder is carbon and carbon in a barrel is alot like sand in a bearing.
It takes up space in turn will create more friction in the barrel increasing pressure as a result.
My storie and im stickin with it

This is due to more pressure, nothing else. The slick clean barrel will produce less pressure, especially if you let the chamber heat soak into the round a minute or two.

Kraky,
Use a normal cleaning rod adn some dry Hoppes patches. First on a nice clean bore then on a bore with a few round though it. Make sure you do this with dry patches.
You will find the powder residue creates friction.

quote:

Originally posted by kraky:
...someone had told me that powder residue actually becomes sort of a lubricant in the barrel and that's why we need to shoot a few rounds to get the barrel "seasoned" so to speak. ...

Hey Kraky, I believe you use a chronograph on occasion. If so, with the Bore dirty, containing the powder residue, record a shot.

Then clean it as you normally would to a Pristine Clean level and Lube the Bore as you normally would for storage. The run a couple of dry patches through it and shoot it once more.

The Pristine Clean and properly Lubed Bore will have slightly less Velocity because.... whoever told you the above is Full-of-Beans.

Your vel. is going up as friction increases (higher pressures). I use a fouling shot but I'm not convinced it does much other than to get that last traces of oil out of the bbl. Most of my rifles put the fouling shot to the same POI as the rest.

Gunpowder has graphite in it and yes it acts as a lubricant. Ask any top name benchrester and they will tell you this. That is why you are never suspose to shoot a squicky clean barrel. Practice is that you finish cleaning with an oily patch followed by one clean patch. It never gets all the oil out and lubricates the first shot. After that the graphite lubes the barrel. This is for a certain amount of shots as you can shoot the barrel to the point of being over fouled and accuracy will fall off.

My "theory" was that the dry boresnake took out a good amount of fouling except the copper left in the rifling. That meant the next shot was like trying to drive a dry bullet down a barrel that was already fouled with copper. In my mind it seemed like this could definately cause more severe fouling.

NOW...I read of guys putting a little oil or solvent on the tail end of the boresnake...that to me might be the answer.....leaving a little something behind for the next shot.

It WAS a benchrest guy that told me in an offhand way that powder residue is somewhat of a lubricant.....I guess in a strange way.

Esp with the large capacity/small bore combos, you can get a ring of carbon fouling build up just ahead of the chamber, this may be what you ran into. It dosn't clean easy, and often takes more work to get rid of than all the copper & carbon fouling in the rest of the barrel.

quote:

Any thoughts from you guru's on this??

Yeah, get rid of that boresnake before you wear out your crown/throat! A proper one-piece rod with a bore guide will work WITHOUT damaging the barrel.

As for the fouling issue, IMHO too much concern is given to this subject. Modern powders do not foul that much. Some seem to think it builds up to a point that pressure climbs. Has anybody done an annalises to prove that? If pressure climbs, caused by fouling build-up, then velocity would climb as well. We DO know that excessive rounds fired without a thourough cleaning affects accuracy. But, I don't think there should be concern about pressure or velocity increases.

quote:

Originally posted by kraky:
It WAS a benchrest guy that told me in an offhand way that powder residue is somewhat of a lubricant.....I guess in a strange way.

I had a benchrest guy tell mt that when I lay my loaded ammunition on the bench I should orient all of them either due north or due south to keep them aligned magnetically.

I had a benchrest guy tell mt that when I lay my loaded ammunition on the bench I should orient all of them either due north or due south to keep them aligned magnetically.

[/QUOTE]

That makes about as much sence as a shooter I know who will chamber his last round and then take it out of the gun and then rechamber another round because his theory is it is the last shot that ruins the group.