patchholder.... i usually getsix and sometime eight good shots before thing start to go haywire.

That clean first shot that strays away from the following shots also has another difference - the barrel is completely cold at that point. My White .45 doesn't seem to care at all whether the first shot is from a fouled bore, but that first shot will strike just a tad lower than the rest due to the cold barrel. Keep up a rhythm and it just lays 'em in there but let it cool completely and it will hit a bit low again even though it's still fouled. The difference isn't enough to cause a miss on a large game animal though, at least not at reasonable range.

Just an observation, may be relevant to some and not to others.

Underclocked.. that is an interesting point and one that I never considered before. I guess I never looked at it from that standpoint. I have to do some testing now to see if it holds true on any of my rifles.

I'm lucky not to experience this first shot/following shotsituation...I use TC and GM barrels, Natural Lube 1000, Goex BP, and patched balls...45/.50/.54/.58 calibers...temperatures I shoot in are from the teens to the high 90's with % humidity from the 40's to the high 90's.

I always sight inwith a clean dry cold barrel like I'll be hunting, but to be honest, apparently it doesn't matter using what I use above...which is good...becausethe last thing in the world I would want to do is intentionally foul a ML bore then go sit in the woods with it that way for hours on end...my two cents.

I have never ever intentionally fouled a bore to achive best POI accuracy or fouled a bore and then went hunting for the day.

I have always cleaned inbetween shots and recorded the best POI from a clean bore. That is the only way to abtain the best consistancy and grouping. From a clean bore. Reason is fouling characteristicsfrom shot to shot varies and obviously increases as you shoot which creates more fouling.

To take a rifle from storage and prepare for hunting with sabot's.
I remove the rust protection lube from the bore with alcohol/windex and dry patches. Then run a natural lubed patch in the bore followed by a dry patch to control any flash rust(Idon't usethe dry patch after the natural lubed patchif shooting conical or PRB). Then load as desired with powder and projectile.

Regards,

Tahquamenon

That is my exact thinking. You might get better groups after 2 shots in one rifle or 1 in another. But you never know what it will do a week from now or later. But I do know how a swabbed bore should shoot.