Idaho Lefty hit the nail on the head, in my experience....quality barrels eliminate issues. I clean and degrease like Hugnot. I can not recall a Hart, Krieger, Brux, Muller barrel that threw Radical shots on the first cold bore shot in properly bedded stocks, and I run a muzzle break on every rifle, twisted properly. The rifles all shoot tiny groups. A first shot out of the clean barrel will usually be .3 out of the group, but if were to throw a shot 1.5" out, that barrel would be scrapped.
I fire three shots on a squeeeeky clean bore prior to hunting as a matter of good gun handling practice.
Much of the "thrown" shots that NON competitive shooters experience is from having too much coffee or just not being settled down. I was advised to sit at the bench and observe wind conditions prior to firing for five minutes(heart rate will settle down), then when I get on the gun, I dry fire several times aiming at the target as if I were firing a group, watching where cross hair ends up after the shot(follow through). My shooting improved significantly when using this discipline.
A very experienced Long Range gunsmith(now passed on) advised me that contours smaller than a #5 are prone to more "issues".
When a load is out of "tune", expect all kinds of issues, same thing with bullets of suspect quality.
