First shot on a clean barrel
 

What do you guys do to when hunting to get the first shot to hit close to the group. Seems I am about an inch or two high usually. I really don’t want to fire a fouling shot at 5:00 AM.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

If you are going to hunt on a clean barrel then you should sight in or at least know for certain where it will hit each time, on that clean barrel.

Some people claim if you load the rifle and then take a patch with a "LITTLE" bore butter on it, and swab down to the projectile, it will act as a fowling and make them all shoot in the same place. I tried that I never found it ot be the case.

What I do is learn where the rifle will shoot on a clean barrel, if I decide to hunt that way. Today I hunted a clean barrel and I know the rifle will shoot about an inch low. Well an inch at 50 yards means nothing to me. I aim dead center kill zone and let fly.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

For me it depends on the load I'm using. Some loads will shoot close enough to the samePOI clean or dirty, others shoot several inches out of the group when clean but otherwise very tight. I do swab between shots forgood consistency when shooting groups. It doesn't take long to do a quick spit patch before loading again and all you need in the field is a patch and your toungue to do it. I do, however, check each load for consistency without swabbing to see what happens if a really fast follow up shot is needed, just in case. For fouling the bore I use one of 2 methods, 1) I drop in an old Clean Shot pellet and put a patch filled sabot over it to add a little resistance, or 2) I put about 30 to 50 grains of whatever powder I'm using into the barrel and something for wadding to hold it in there. I pop a cap with the dummy load and then swab as I would at the range with a spit patch then load for the hunt. I have done this in the morning before hunting and I've done it the night before, depending on the situation. I have also left the gun loaded for up to a week of hunting and still had the load go off and perform as expected.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

Bingo:)

In terms of all my rifles I want to know where they will shoot clean vs fouled. In terms of a sub shooting ML I have always started out each morning with a clean barrel so I learn its traits and know what to expect. I have been lucky that most of my inlines shoot very close clean so like cayugad mentions the small variance is a non factor.

Are you making sure all the oil is out of your barrel prior to loading it clean??? Increase in pressure due to oil left in the bore often shows a higher POI.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

I'm guessing you are talking about inlines...I clean betwee shots, plain and simply...It's not really a good idea to throw a load of black powder down a barrel before you clean anyway...I just have a small container of alcohol, cleaning patches and oil in a vest pocket...It only takes about 3 minutes to clean, lube and dry the barrel before the next shot.

With my flinters, I use a .018 patch for the first shot and .015 for second...

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

I have found that when a lot of people talk about a clean barrel they mean one with oil in it. I scrub mine with boiling water and dry it good before I load it for hunting,I find that it hits a lot closer to the group that way. Lee

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

My three muzzleloaders shoot their chosen loads to the same place-clean or dirty. The Encore just does not like 777: i tried it along with the .44 caliber 240 grain XTP bullet.With a clean barrel it was very accurate. With a dirty barrel it was all over the place.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

I clean the barrel of my encore after every shot to get my gun dialed in. Then I also know that I will hit about 3-4 inches low when the barrel is dirty at 100 yards.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

When i was using Triple 7 loose and a 410 grain great plains conical, The first shot would be dead on, the next 2-3 shots on a dirty bore were 4" low, but they grouped excellent. I bought a can of Pyrodex P and it was grouping perfect, even on a dirty bore. 6 shots before it started to open up.

RE: First shot on a clean barrel
 

Some rifles will put the first shot close, some don't. If the rifle don't keep them within a couple inches @ 100 yards I fire a fouling shot before hunting with it.