I was told the same thing but not sure either. I dont clean mine on regular basis like i should. Cant get good pattern with mine. Hopefully someone can answer your question and help us both out.
maybe this will help, i always shoot a few (1-3) throw away/ fouling shots and leave my deer hunting rifles with some copper fouling until the end of the season, then i do a complete cleaning, on my other non deer hunting rifles i'll do a complete cleaning on them when i get errant shots/ poor grouping, i do run a patch down the tube with some rem oil on it, i just dont use any copper solvents until needed. hope this helps ya
Some rifles shoot to a different point of impact with a clean barrel than a fouled barrel.Other rifles shoot to the same point of impact with both clean or fouled barrels.The only way to know what effect fouling has on your rifle is to test your rifle with both a clean barrel and a fouled barrel.
I think the best answer is that it depends on the gun, and how clean "clean" is.
For instance, my Ruger M77VT MkII 22-250 will shoot <.75MOA for about 40-50 shots before accuracy starts to go south. However, after cleaning the crud out of it the accuracy actually gets WORSE before it gets better. What I mean is that if I clean it when the groups open up to 1 to 1.25MOA, after cleaning the next 3 to 4 shots will group into maybe 1.5-2.5MOA before settling back down to the usual .75MOA or less. However, the actual group position (mean point-of-impact) doesn't move much at all.
My best suggestion would be to take your cleaning kit out the the range with you and clean it out there in the middle of a shooting session. Keep track of your group size and POI before you clean, and then note where the shots go and if you have a group after you clean the bore. If the poi shifts significantly, I'd shoot several more shots and clean again. Then check the POI again after cleaning and see if it's consistant with the last clean barrel shot. If it "groups" with the other clean barrel shot then you COULD adjust the sights to make the POA match the clean bore POI which would allow you to hunt with a clean rifle.
The question I'd ask though is..."Why bother?"
Smokeless powder and modern primers are completely non-corrosive and non-hygroscopic (don't attract moisture), and the bore is unlikely to rust when as long as it's kept reasonably dry, so why bother going to all the trouble of hunting with a clean bore which could cause accuracy issues. There is nothing wrong with hunting with a fouled bore, and in fact, you have the advantage of knowing with certainty exactly where the bullet will hit when fired because the bore is the same as it was when you sighted it in.
Unless you get it wet, there is no reason to clean it before hunting.
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RE: cleaning after sighting in?
Unless, of course, you notice that your POI starts to shift dramatically after more shots, which may be due to fouling.
I don't clean my rifles, but I do scrub my rifled-barrel shotguns, because the fouling tends to stay in the grooves and effects slug performance, IMO...
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I've only messed with a couple of rifles, but I've found that a freshly cleaned and oiled barrel will throw the first shot an inch or two off (direction varies). My personal belief is that it's the oil more than anything. My opinion is that for the hunting I do it doesn't make a "killing" difference, but I'd rather throw a shot or two off after cleaning. If my rifle is not damp, I tend not to clean until I've shot a bunch of shots. If it's just a matter of sighting and practicing a few shots (like a box), I don't bother cleaning before hunging.
but I've found that a freshly cleaned and oiled barrel will throw the first shot an inch or two off (direction varies). My personal belief is that it's the oil more than anything
The gun barrel should always be dry swabbed before the gun is fired.
cleaning after sighting in?
