How often do you guys clean a barrell ? My gun seems to hate to be cleaned. Used some bore foam and shot it a few times yeaster day (.243)
It took about 5 horrible pattern shots before the gun came around and finnaly started grouping. Is that normal.
Oh and my hornet didnt seem to mind being cleaned.

Zrex,
Good question that there may be no difinitive answer to.
My 243 and 270 will group tight right after a cleaning and throughout the range session.
My 30-30 and my 22lr need 1 or 2 shots to start shooting.

I will tell you this though.My 243 was like that too.When i started muzzleloading recently i learned to swab the barrel before shooting again which removed all the gun oil. I began doing that with the 243 and it started shooting well at the first shot. The 30-30 and the 22lr did not however

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.

I suspect your .243 has a rough bore or pits that require some fouling to get the best out of her. It happens, short of hand lapping(which may not help depending on the age, etc)or replacing the barrel not much you can do about it.

Danny brings up a very good point about removing oil from the bore prior to firing, it should be done always to reduce high pressures and keep your poi consistent.

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.

It is not the end of the world to have a rifle that shoots better fouled than clean. I may be inclined to lapthe barrel about 40-50 trips and see if it helps.

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.

I clean mine after 20-40 rounds have been through it...I do not clean during deer season...I take my stock off and clean the bottom of the barrel every year, clean the trigger and lube and reseal the stock (wood) every 3-4 years and check the scope screws every year...Before shooting, and after cleaning, I run a dry patch down the barrel...My first couple of shots might be 1/2 inch out of the pattern, but not much more than that....If I shoot quite abit throughout the summer I clean again before deer season and check my zero at least twice during the season (we have about a 2 1/2 month season)...

Now, I also use my deer rifle for varmit hunting, whenever it gets soaked, it is fully taken apart and cleaned also, whenever I make a "bad" hit I always recheck the zero...

I don't run a brush down my bore, and use Sweets...

I agree with what Brutal said about the moly. That could have started your problem. I also agree with Skeeter about the probable condition of the bore. If it was mine I would JB the he** out of it. I think you need to make sure all the moly is out of it, and this should also polish the bore. Be extremely careful at the muzzle, do not take off too much material out there. Ask Roskoe the best procedure for this, I think he is pretty smart about barrels. After JB'ing, I would treat the barrel as if I was breaking in a new one.

I normally use Sweet's, and clean about every 20-30 shots. After cleaning I shoot two shells off handed off the porch at my gong. And then she is ready to go. You guys may think I am nuts, but unless my rifle is going into long term storage, I do not put any oil in my barrel. Tom.

I clean a gun after every time I shoot, I use Hoppe's No. 9 to get out the powder and carbon, and Barnes CR-10 to get out the copper, and if they don't quite do it, I'll use bore foam.