Nomercy448

This is what you're up against. "Flyer" is pretty generic, but it obviously isn't on target with the rest of the shots. "1MOA" is pretty specific. Either case is pretty consistent with my experience as well.

If you're thinking 200yrds, that's a potential miss of 2". If you're ok with that, then clean the barrel and plan for that. I'd never hunt with a rifle knowing that it could be 2" off because of something I could control/fix. Would you sight in your rifle and leave it 2" off of center target? No, you'd adjust the scope to center. So if your rifle shoots 1MOA off of fouled bore when it's clean, or if the "first shot is a flyer," why would you take that chance?

"Fouling shots" are a pretty standard practice. A dry patch to knock out moisture after a humidity/temperature change won't really hurt anything (not super tight fitting), but will knock out condensation.

This is probably the most important thing. Some rifles (or some shooters) don't change POI enough to matter in terms of delivering a clean kill to 200yrds. Many rifles, however, DO change significantly. It doesn't take much effort to 'study' your rifle to see how the POI drifts when cleaned. Sight in, clean, take a shot, clean, take a shot... You'll see if it groups differently or not. Granted, if a guy is a 2MOA shooter with a 1/2MOA rifle that opens up to 1.5MOA, you won't likely see much if any change, but the end result - the ability to know where that bullet is going to print - will still be the same.

If I ever have a reason to clean during season, I take fouling shots to ensure I'm back at square one.

Father Forkhorn

Old milsurps are notorious for this. They often have some pitting and fouling can help. For that matter, you could clean till kingdom come and never get some of them scrubbed out anyway.

muzzlestuffer

i used to clean my rifle like always then run a dry patch to get the excess oil out then take a shot that's what you need to know as far as point of impact. then if it rains use one of those barrel cot's over the muzzle and that will keep your barrel dry and your shot should be the same on the first shot as before.