I have just been on a rare spree of about ten days of hunting, not consecutively-- a couple of days here-a 3-day weekend there. My question is how much and how often to clean. After my last session at the range with as many as 30 or 40 rounds minimum through my rigs, I cleaned them as well as I possibly could, in my assesment down to bare metal. The four rifles I have shot since then, a few (as needed) shots at the practice butt @ 100 yards before hunting, were all over the place. After about 6 shots my 270 WSM started grouping again, and I made 2 nice kills with it at about 185 yards and one of about 130 yards the next two hunts, so I guess it is shooting OK, I didn't clean it at all after the brief session before hunting--or since. I had the same issue with my 270 Win, it only took about three rounds before it started grouping tight again, the 270 WSM was much further off the mark than the 270 Win. I also made a nice kill at about 150 yards offhand with it, proving itself under field conditions also. My BAR in 270 still isn't grouping to my typical results with it. I didn't clean it quite as vigorously as my bolt guns, I am trying to learn which is right in cleaning from the muzzle end on this one...but it still isn't shooting like it 'should'. My fourth rifle is the twin to the 270 WSM only in 300 WSM and it was also very far off the mark (12 inches or so high and 8-10 left) it took about 8 rounds before it was back in the acceptable zone. I am interested in what folks do in regards to shooting your gun enough to get it grouping well and then what to do between then and the hunt, or do you just keep on shooting and tweaking till you know a squeaky clean barrel will put a shot through a cold bore right on the money, or have I simply been cleaning to hard/much?
Thanks for any input--Don.

I sight the rifles I'm going to use in the fall in spring or early summer. Once sighted in with whatever loads I'm planning to use, I don't clean them until the season is over. I'll run a lightly oiled patch down the bore after the sight in session at that's it. Just before heading to the field I run a dry patch down the bore and that's it. In between outings during the season I use the light oil patch, but I always go out with a dry barrel that probably has had at least 10 or 12 rounds thru it without a "down to the bare metal" cleaning. I think mild fouling can be a good thing in some barrels. As your situation seems to indicate, I think some barrels need some fouling before they "settle in".

Thanks, Craigster, that seems to make a lot of sense and is in concert with my results. I am wondering how many rounds you might really need through a barrel before it is truly broken in? All of the rifles I mentioned have at least 100, the 270 WSM and A-bolt 270 Win probably have at least a couple of hundred through them. One of my hunting partners has the same issue with his Kimber 270 WSM, it takes a while for it to 'settle down' after a thorough cleaning.

Thanks again, D.

I think barrel "break in" is often overstressed. Some guys say that low end barrels never break in and are a pain in the ass to clean. If they shoot halfway decent, so what? How clean do they have to be? Last time I checked none of the components used in modern ammo are corrosive, so what's to clean? Carbon fouling. Jacket material sure won't harm steel. Now if accuracy starts falling off after a lot of rounds, then it might be a good time to think about a good cleaning. I don't think Kimber uses low end barrels on their rifles, but you mentioned your buddy's takes a while to settle down just like some of the el cheapos out there. I think a lot of us sometimes suffer from bouts of OCD when it comes to barrel break in copper fouling, and group size. Go figure.