Sweetroels

Ok, got the Tikka’s shooting well (I need to pay attention to overall case length and trim neck, per previous thread). At the range I’ve been running a Bore Snake through the barrel twice after every shot then letting the barrel cool down 5-7 min between each shot. I figure when out in the field I will have a cold clean barrel, I don’t like putting the gun away fouled. Is this ok or is there a better way to test loads and sight in?

BTW see attached photo of 30-06 group. Never had a group like this, touching that is. The load is 56.5gr of IMR 4350, Nosler 165 Accubond, Lapua brass and 210 match primers. What’s weird is the OAL is 3.340 Which is max in loading manuals) but is .045 off the lands. That’s a jump. I tried some .020 and .035 off the lands but they didn’t shoot consistently, is this normal?

RaySendero

I never take a rifle out hunting with a clean barrel !!
Will sight-in and not clean barrel during hunting season.

edmehlig

Ditto!! Once I Sight my rifle in I don’t clean it until after the season.

Nomercy448

Dragging a boresnake through your rifle that often likely isn't doing anything but increasing wear on your rifle. Practice with the rifle in the off season, clean it, foul and confirm zero, then leave it dirty, clean it after season for spring storage. Excessive cleaning is one of the most common crimes against barrel life. Clean barrels don't shoot any smaller than fouled barrels; frankly, clean barrels often have MORE variability as they foul-in. You should NEVER hunt with a clean bore - there's simply too much to be left to chance.

This was a confirmation target I shot earlier this summer, my barrel had over 300 rounds on it since the last cleaning - same size groups as the barrel shoots with only 10 fouling rounds on it. But... I pick up about 20fps as the barrel fouls in from the first round after cleaning to the 7-10th round.


Cartridge OAL listed in the book is absolutely irrelevant for real world rifles. In general, the book COAL will be SHORT for most rifles, as it needs to fit in all rifles. Your actual COAL should be based on YOUR lands and what the bullet likes in YOUR rifle - not the book. 45thousandths off of the lands is long, but it's not extreme. I've always found the NAB's to be very forgiving of jump, which is really to say, the NAB's don't seem to care where they are seated, so whatever your particular rifle prefers is what you should feed it.

hardcastonly

impressive and consistent groups , but the obvious question probably no one else will ask...
.why not adjust the scope to center the groups,over the orange dots,
OR point out that the target was stapled on the cardboard backer rotated 90 degrees too the left when you used it?

bronko22000

Because at this point he is not concerned about zero but only group size consistency. I'm positively sure Nomercy will zero later and then proceed to take out the little diamond on the pasty!

Sweetroels

Thanks for the info everybody. I shouldn't let my OCD rule my life, it will be hard not cleaning the barrel but will live with it if this is the best thing to do. I hope my load that works so well, will do as good with a dirty barrel? Thanks for the help.

Bocajnala

Perhaps if you change the way you look at it, or think about it... It won't be as hard?

​​​​​​Don't look at it as a dirty barrel. It's not. Many of us as kids were taught never to put a gun away dirty. That was drilled into us. And many of us still struggle with that.

But it's not a "dirty barrel." At least not imo until group size starts opening up or it's going to be stored for an extended period of time

It's just a barrel, and if it's shooting well it's doing exactly what it was meant to do.
​​​​​​-Jake

Nomercy448

Nomercy448