ORIGINAL: zrexpilot
ORIGINAL: HEAD0001
If it takes five fouling shots, then IMO there is something wrong. Was this the first time you used the foam? Or has this happened more than once? If it is the first and only time, then i would not be worried. If it has happened more than once, then further investigation is necessary. I know rifles can be querky, but five rounds is too many. Tom.
This was the first time I used the foam, before I used just solvent and brush and didnt seem as bad as this time. And how often do you need to clean a barrell. This gun was purchased used at a gun shop, he was trying to sell it as new, thats how it looked, new. But I looked in the barrell and saw it had been shot, got it a tad cheaper. The gun has given me problems before, it wont shoot moly bullets well at all. Sometimes it shoots 1" or better at 200 yds sometimes it dont.
Its a Rem. VLS in .243 with 6x18x50 Bushnell Banner.
If you search the forum you can dredge up some topics where I've discussed this before at length. From what I've researched and seen this is it in a nutshell:
1. moly is baaaaad. Many gunsmiths tell me never, ever put moly down your barrel unless you plan on shooting moly. It's impossible to get out.
2. Groups that open up after cleaning and then tighten with fouling suggests pits/streaks or some other imperfections in the bore. When all the copper is removed, these imperfections are free to effect the bullet. This is why the kinda "new school" of thought is that removing every single little molecule of copper from your barrel may not be a good thing and may lead to problems like you're having and increased barrel wear.
Many experts that I've talked to now advocate a "burnishing" of copper to smooth out these possible pits, reamer marks etc and get the most consistent accuracy.
I did this with my current rifle from shot #1 on and I've had fantastic results. Could just be the gun but it definitely doesn't open up groups after cleaning like my other guns have in teh past.
I hope this helps.
As with most things the truth lies somewhere in teh middle and there is rarely a cut and dry solution.