Lemoyne, are you using a dry patch or two after the 50/50 Alcohol-Windex solution?

In other words, is the bore bone dry?

Spit patch followed by dry patch or two does work well and does leave fouling residue in the bore. I can typically get slightly better groups with that procedure for targeting groups.

However, the Hunting POI (Point of impact) I zero on is from a 50/50 Alcohol-Windex cleaned bore.
My procedure to preparefor the hunting zero first and each subsequent shot whenis (After all oils are removed from the bore):
1) Damp (not drenched) spit/water patch down and up, flip and do again.
2) Damp (not drenched) 50/50 Alcohol-Windex patch down and up, flip and do again.
3) Dry patch down and up, flip and do again. I can tell if moisture is still in the bore as the dry patch will hang up a bit on the second time. If so then I run another dry patch process.
4) Load powder, then projectile.
5) If it's raining out or high humidity, run a lightly lubed natural lubed patch followed by a dry patch to control any flash rust that might occur during the day's hunt. If close to or below freezing or low humidity, then I don't bother with a lubed/dry patch after loading.
5) When fired, repeat the same procedure.
6) Repeat the exact same procedure.

What I am after is a very clean and consistant bore for each hunting zero and POI shot.

If I did not fire during a day's hunt and it's high humidity, then I discharge the load at the end of the day, detail clean in the evening and load fresh the next AM with the above procedure. If near or below freezing, then I un-prime and keep the ML stored in ambient outside temperature in a garage ,shed, or truck to keep the bore cold. Don't bring your coldML into room temperature if you are not going to detail clean it immediately.

The bore will draw condensation with the temperature change.

I will say the with the above procedure, the groups themselves are not always quite as tight as when target shooting using spit/dry patches. But, the group locations are always in the same POI area.

Which is what I want to rely on for hunting. I take heart, neck or head shots and I must be able to count on the POI area. I can live with 2" groups at 100 yards as most of my hunting is less than 150 yards.

I find that from a fouled bore the POI tends to increase (Raise)somewhat down range. Sometimes as much as 2-4 inches.

I know lots of guys that intentionally hunt from a fouled bore with great success. I also know that reloading on a fouled (or spit/dry patch) bore is also more difficult

Everyone has their own procedure that works for them.

With respect to a spit patch only. Your saliva has salts in it which can leave a flash rust in the bore during a day's hunt. Which is one of the reasons I don't use the spit patch onlyprocedure for hunting, only for target fun.



Regards,

Tahquamenon