Originally Posted by
Brent
No cleaning once you have a good barrel break in done. There are a lot of theories and opinions but most people find a fouled barrel will shoot quite well. Brux, I believe, recommends 200 before you clean. Personally I will clean my 6.5 around 50-100 rounds. I strip it out though, not a little scrub but a full on copper strip with boretech. It takes a couple of evenings to get it done properly. If I was putting a blued barrel to sleep in a safe for a while I would clean it and protect it though. I prefer stainless so I don't have to mess with rust.
I am refering to copper fouling more so than carbon fouling. There is a lot of info about how copper is deposited and tightens up and settles a barrel down. If you want to use a carbon remover and leave the copper that is not a bad thing. I tend to do this on the smaller caliber rifles such as my 204. It likes to be carbon free. The smaller the pill the more picky it seems. I have about 100 rounds through my 204 right now and Sunday I shot a 2" group at 500 yards for 4 shots and my kid shot a 2" 3 shot group at 460.
Also, I like a fouled barrel since I hunt and practice in the mountains. While out hunting at some point I will probably practice a shot or two. I might range a rock at 1300 yards and dial it, send it, and confirm. My cold bore first round has to be dead on. If I need a follow up shot, it needs to hit the exact same place. I am sure you understand this process and thought, I just don't know you do all this on a clean barrel repeatedly. Oh and one time I was struggling with a rifles accuracy. I would shoot, clean, shoot clean, the dang thing would shoot tight groups. I finally got ticked and just started pounding rounds down range and rocks, grasshoppers, whatever. At about 25 rounds the barrel settled in and was shooting .20 MOA groups. I quit cleaning it until I started to lose accuracy again. About 150 rounds later.
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