ORIGINAL: SWThomas
I like to try to recreate the bore condition that I will have when hunting. I shoot BH209 so I don't need to swab but when I practice I am shooting to better my hunting load. I start by running several try patches to get as much oil out of the bore as I can. Then I run an alcohol patch to disolve what remaining oil there is. Then a few more dry patches. Then I foul the bore with one primer. Then dump the powder in and then the sabot/bullet. I know it probably doesn't make that big of a different, but I ensure that one of the pedal openings on the sabot is at directly 12 o'clock when loading. I do this every time so in theory the sabot will be in the same position every time I load. After that I go ahead and take my shot. If the shot isn't dead center, I adjust my scope to make it dead center. That's the condition my bore is going to be in when hunting so that's the bore condition I practice with.
After I've fired I clean the bore again. I run a patch with Hoppes, then a dry patch, then flip that dry patch and run it again. Then another patch with Hoppes, then another dry patch, flit it over and run it again. Then another dry patch, flip it over and run it again. The I pull the breech plug and clean it. And then I fire another fouling primer. I do that in between every shot to recreate hunting bore conditions as closely as possible. Ususally that second shot is pretty darn close to where the first one impacted.
For my Omega using 777 I damp patch turn over and then dry patch and turn over, each shot at range. In field I rarely reload, but if I have too I put in 1 bore butter patch with not much bore butter on it, and turn it over and that is what I shoot for the 2nd shot. With Blackhorn 209, I just reload and do not swab or anything, rarely shoot over 2x per day, since 2 per day is limit. With Savage, I never swab, always keep my gun loaded and clean it 1/year. It is still loaded and I plan on shooting it today just to unload it.
General rule, if you can feel the resistence going down (gritty grindy sound), then accuracy will suffer, if everything is the same going down---i.e. nice and smooth, little resistence but a tight fit with quite a bit of force, that is just right. I have found the Crushed Rib sabot works well for me in my Savage with all .458 bullet, my theory is that the grooves in the side allow the residue in the barrel a place to go.I also like CR for Omega, but I did use the Barnes MZ supplied sabot and they worked well for 1st shot. In general I like the CR better from a residue pov for Blackhorn and smokeless, just my experience, but hopefully it makes sense. Consistency shot to shot is the name of the game, anything you can do in the swab/no swab department to make things more consistent is best.
Chap