even for hunting, you don't clean the barrel every time you shoot, shoot till the accuracy falls off, been shooting 99's for 45+ years, learned the hard way, after cleaning you should shoot at least 1 round to season the barrel (for a better term), same as new barrel, you have to season to get it to its utmost accuracy. have shot as many as 60-70 rounds before cleaning, then shoot to get the riffling back to it best result. your rifle is telling you the same thing I am, clean 1st round high, then its back to accurate, clean 1st round high, then its back to normal. get it.