The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores Fouling shots before a huntGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| One of Us |
We all know that most rifles shoot to a different POI when being fired with a clean bore as compared to a twice or thrice shot bore. My question is this. Would you put some oil down the bore(without a patch so the fouling is not scrubbed) after your final fouling shots? Let's say as a happy medium that there were 2 weeks between the fouling shots for the hunt, and the actual hunt. I say at least 2 weeks because sometimes scheduling does not permit me to go to the range a day or 2 befor the hunt. Opinions? | ||
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| one of us |
No. Do your fouling after you get there. You will need to check zero anyway. Part of the fouling process is burning any residual oil out of the barrel. If you oil it after you foul it, you need to foul it again. A bore snake is good to wipe oil out of the bore before you check zero. That is about all a bore snake is good for, but it is handy for that. | |||
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| One of Us |
good point... | |||
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| One of Us |
Always ask the client to zero his rifle before we start anything! If it takes more than 10 rounds. I will ask him to brush it through and fire 2 confirmation shots just to be sure... Then I put some tape over the barrel to keep the wasps and debris out and we are ready for the hunt! In wet weather I will sugest he cleans and fires a check shot after each big animal goes down. | |||
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| one of us |
You guys must have funny rifles, or very serious standards of accuracy. Mine (I'm down to 4, soon to be rectified with a 458 comming up), all shoot to the same place, once they are cleaned properly, and cleaned out of all oil. For instance, apart from wind errors, I mostly can keep sighters at the range, and 20 shots later still on the money. Light and heavy barrels no difference, so if you blokes are talking big game, somethings wrong, and I doubt it's a cold clean barrel. JL. | |||
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| one of us |
JAL, Some of us do actually shoot well enough to watch the rifles come to zero as the fouling shots fly an inch wild then settle down into their regular ragged one-hole group. Not every rifle is prone to the same degree, but every rifle is prone to SOME degree. If this strains your credulity, then you should consider the practice of "fouling shots" as simple "good etiquette." Someday you may shoot well enough to believe. | |||
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| one of us |
I almost never clean a rifle during the hunting season, when I am done for the year I give them a good cleaning and oil them...I do clean after range sessions at home... I want a dry fouled barrel while hunting...On DG where the target is huge it may not hurt to have a thin film of oil in the bore, test your gun and find out...I use a barely treated with oil on the brass brush part of a bore snake in Tanzania as it can be pretty humid on the river camps...but the snake takes most if not all of the oil out I suspect... Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Moderator |
When my .416 Rem is clean, a six o'clock hold on a target at 50 yards produces a bullseye. Once fouled, a center hold is required for the same results. I shoot it with open express sites. "Ignorance you can correct, you can't fix stupid." JWP If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming. Semper Fidelis "Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time" | |||
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This man Whitworth knows his rifle. | |||
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| Moderator |
RIP -- that only means that I don't have much of a life! I am one with my .416! Seriously, when I lived in Florida and hunted frequently, I didn't clean it much as it's dead nuts on when it's fouled. "Ignorance you can correct, you can't fix stupid." JWP If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming. Semper Fidelis "Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time" | |||
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one of us |
FWIW, I leave my rifle fouled after the last range session and don't clean the bore until after the hunt is over and I'm ready to put the rifle away for awhile. --- Eric Ching "The pen is mightier than the sword...except in a swordfight." | |||
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one of us |
RIP is right, every rifle responds diff. My .338-06 always puts the 1st shot where it needs to go, clean or dirty, hot or cold. It doesn't group really well, but that 1st shot is always there. Other rifles I have like fouling shots, seems the smaller the bore the more true that statement is for me anyway. Depending on method of travel, I'll final sight @ my hunting area & then not clean the rest of the trip unless really bad weather dictates a bore snake every night. LIFE IS NOT A SPECTATOR'S SPORT! | |||
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| one of us |
If I may assume you are trying to be rude, you also seem stupid. I was answering the first poster mainly, who was going hunting. Now if he is hunting big game, say deer upwards, and from a field position, is this inch you speak of going to concern him. If he is hunting varmits at long range, same difference what with winds etc to contend with. If he is traveling long distances yet can't foul his barrel on arrival, may be the zero can be out due to different climate causing bedding problems to show up. In my case, fella, 1. I won't leave a barrel dirty. 2. I can't fire fouling shots as the pests are, or may be right at the front gate. (imagine trying to get a problem dingo, and after firing a "sighter/fouler, he jumps up from cover and bolts.) Yer, good one. 3. When I try my cheap Zastava dingo rifle it will shoot from cold, Right on, 2nd shot as near as 3/8", 3rd in group, 4th within total of 1/2", 5th within 5/8th. And on different days including cleaning has blown a 3 shot 3/8" (same target) out to 3/4". When the very thin barrel gets hot (10 shots) it's still in zero. Same with my heavy ss 223 range rifle from a bench. So if you are having trouble getting hunting accuracy you may want to check your cleaning proceedures, your bedding, send your barrels back, or learn to shoot when YOUR not fouled up. Not talking BR. just hunting accuracy UNDER 1" John L. | |||
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| one of us |
Yep, If the rifle and ammo are a known commodity and previously zeroed, just before the trip I take it to the range and just shoot two shots from the clean bore at the target and make sure the next three are zeroed. Then pack it up dirty and fly. Usually one shot at 100 yards is all the checking of zero that is needed at the destination. Then the rifle is not cleaned until the hunting is done. Some old Alaskan guides would clean their rifles by just firing one round at the full moon once every 4 weeks. That would get them through the fall or spring seasons, always properly fouled. | |||
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| one of us |
Well I've only been shooting for about 57 years never owned one of these inaccurate rifles, are you sure your cleaning them properly and not just shifting barrel fouling around instead of getting it out? The real need for SIGHTING shots after a trip is of course to check zero. A PH/Guide would also like to see if the client can even shoot straight. But IMHO if you realy need fouling shots there is something else wrong. JL. | |||
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| one of us |
JAL, I tried to ignore the rude accusation, but you persist. My "rudeness" is the riposte to your rudeness. There must be an awful lot of funny rifles at the bench rest tournaments where the top competitors foul there rifle before shooting for group. Those guys are kind of careful about the wind too. Of course if you are shooting minute-of-humpback-whale, then fouling shots don't matter. In order to knock the nuts off the tick bird on yonder Mbogo, fouling shots don't hurt at all. Don't be so finicky as to go about with a clean and oily bore at all times. Relax and get the bore immaculate every 20 rounds with Wipe-Out. Sheesh! | |||
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| One of Us |
Here's another twist. For those folks that get their fouling shots before the season, then do not clean or oil their bores till they are ready to put their rifles away for a while, what about rust? I guess besides the different POI thing, the rust is what I was asking about also. | |||
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This last bit I'm afraid I can't understand at all, it may be too scientific for me. Except I don't go around with an "oily bore". That may be your problem, doesn't everyone know to get the oil out before using?? John L. | |||
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We must be talking rough as guts shooters here There is all sorts of crap and myths around, Most characters will state they only need one shot one kill. So if they zero on their first fouling shot, they'd be right wouldn't they? | |||
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| one of us |
JAL,  Some of my rifles do not require fouling shots to group well. Even if they don't, then fouling them can only make them better, and this may be only slightly better. If you want, call it superstition, ritual, an offering of bullets to the red gods. It works for most of us. gixxer, If it is raining or snowing or really dusty, I kave electricians tape or a small piece of duct tape over the muzzle, carry under a poncho, etc. You just can't sweat the rust too much when you are hunting. Sure, clean it, oil it and foul it at the moon before hunting again, if need be, depending on conditions. All that nice fouling is a rust preventative anyway. | |||
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| One of Us |
I had a sneaking suspiscion that the fouling might be a rust preventer, just wanted to hear somebody else say it!! | |||
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| One of Us |
I find if I clean the oil out with hoppes No9 and then pass two swabs that are so tight that you cab just push them through the bore the POI is the same as after fouling shots. If it is a varminter eg 17Rem, 22PPC I use methylated spirits (alcohol) instead of Hoppes. I clean every 10 shots and don't notice any change in POI as long as I clean the bore with VERY TIGHT SWAB. I only have moly barrels and I have had a rust problem with an irreplacable Mauser 66 barrel when I fired a sighting shot, didn't clean and hunted in the rain for a week. mike | |||
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| One of Us |
I think it may depend on where you hunt or more specifically the temp. and humidity. Where I hunt deer the season is in August and September. The temps can get up into the tripple digits and the humidity is super low. Never rains. Nothing rusts. So, yes most of us sight in and then hunt for 6 or seven weeks without cleaning the bore. In fact there are some that never clean the bore. Never. Some of them can actually shoot. They get their deer. Sighting in ususally consists of shooting at a rock. That may be extreme from our perspective but it goes to show you that as gun enthusiasts we may be a little too anal on some issues. We are talking about hunting not bench rest shooting. MOA groups are great for bragging but totally unnecessary for big game hunting. In fact I would bet that very few could shoot a moa 5-shot group under field conditions. It is much easiar on a bench. It is a testimanet to ones rifle and loads but like I said before it has little to do with filling the freezer. | |||
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