How many shots until peak accuracy?

[KSB209]

Guess I should have read the question before voting. I voted 50-100 but could change my answer. My 50+ was for a brand new barrel, breakin, and then some. I do t have as much experience as many of you with "custom" barrels but the 2 I have took a while for my to shoot tiny little groups. I was getting VERY frustrated with 1-1.5 MOA groups when I had thousands of dollars in these riffles. Now after 70-80'ish rounds they shoot great 1/2 MOA and probably better if it were someone else behind the gun.

Now to answer you question once I clean carbon and copper I would say I need 3-4 rounds. If cleaning just carbon out of the barrel then maybe 1 but maybe none. The first round down range is probably me settling in

 

[BillLarson]

So....... Question for all the folks who have dead on barrels when freshly cleaned....
do you go hunting with a sparkling clean barrel....????
Are you confident out to 500 yds. with that...???

 

[Dot_3]

So....... Question for all the folks who have dead on barrels when freshly cleaned....
do you go hunting with a sparkling clean barrel....????
Are you confident out to 500 yds. with that...???

Yes. Again, that's based on cleaning carbon only. I've mapped my barrel under those conditions. Clean cold bore I will take a 500 yard shot.

ETA: I can't stress enough that I have already mapped my barrel under those conditions

 

[74honker]

So....... Question for all the folks who have dead on barrels when freshly cleaned....
do you go hunting with a sparkling clean barrel....????
Are you confident out to 500 yds. with that...???

In my state, the only thing we can use a rifle for is varmints. I have taken this one straight out of the safe, clean, and killed a coyote at 400ish yards crossing the field by my house. IF I ever get the chance to go west to hunt the good stuff I'm sure I'd have to shoot to verify for where I was at since I'm only at 425' above sea level here. So someday hopefully, it would be fouled when I got on the hunt.

 

[BillLarson]

Wow..... a 400 yd. shot on a coyote moving offhand is one hell of a shot....
Congradulations.....

 

[74honker]

Wow..... a 400 yd. shot on a coyote moving offhand is one hell of a shot....
Congradulations.....

I wish lol. I waited till it stopped to smell and was laid accross the hood of my truck in the driveway. I have got one slow trotting not far from that range but was purely a timed shot. 7mag.

 

[ajvinyard]

Probably an odd ball here but I have one that after a clean does not need a fouler. Puts the first one right where it should and all of them after. And it's a 100% factory.

Yah that's one of those rifles though, all the planets and stars were aligned when it came off the assembly line and then you found the miracle load for it.

I have one I have tried cleaning, I have tried leaving fouled, it doesn't seem to matter, it needs a fresh one down the tube if it has set for more than a week before I can trust it.

 

[74honker]

Yah that's one of those rifles though, all the planets and stars were aligned when it came off the assembly line and then you found the miracle load for it.

I have one I have tried cleaning, I have tried leaving fouled, it doesn't seem to matter, it needs a fresh one down the tube if it has set for more than a week before I can trust it.

You're exactly right. Very fortunate indeed.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

I would bum hard if it took more than a couple!
You can see it on a chronograph when the velocity stabilizes.

Yup,. In a "Good" well Broken in, "Straight", Barrel, One or, two shots ,.. MAX. !
I Lap / Polish, the barrels on all, my New, Tikka's with, 10- 12 strokes of JB's, slathered on, a Patch over, a Bronze Brush and, carefully, Break them in.
First shot, is usually 3/8 ths to, 1/2" low then, all Bullets, IN Group ( 3 Tikka's, SS, T-3's in,.. .243 win, 6.5 Creed, & .270 WSM ).
I Hunt with,. a DIRTY Barrel and Test for,.. "Cold Bore," accuracy

 

[Varmint Hunter]

If you look at the velocity of the first 3 rounds (or so) they're all different. How could longrange accuracy be relied upon when the velocity keeps changing? IME, it takes 3, and sometimes more, rounds to settle velocity and point of impact.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Joefrazell]

I think we should look to benchrest on this one. Scrub her clean every 15 shots

 

[Dot_3]

If you look at the velocity of the first 3 rounds (or so) they're all different. How could longrange accuracy be relied upon when the velocity keeps changing? IME, it takes 3, and sometimes more, rounds to settle velocity and point of impact.

Just my 2 cents.

Are you talking about being relied upon to get first round impacts on steel or on game? I'd take mine to 500 on either one. No consequences on steel. But plenty of confidence on game bc I've done my homework. Go into your solver and change your muzzle velocity by 50 fps and look at your 500 yard dope….according to my values, there is only a .5 moa difference from high to low velocity. I can't shoot that difference in field conditions (if we're talking about hunting here, every shot is under field conditions.) I don't believe I can shoot the difference under any conditions.

I think we should look to benchrest on this one. Scrub her clean every 15 shots

You could scrub your barrel clean after every single shot and still wind up with a barrel that aggs in the .1s or .2s. If you did that, every single shot fired through the barrel would be fired under the exact same bore condition.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Are you talking about being relied upon to get first round impacts on steel or on game? I'd take mine to 500 on either one. No consequences on steel. But plenty of confidence on game bc I've done my homework. Go into your solver and change your muzzle velocity by 50 fps and look at your 500 yard dope….according to my values, there is only a .5 moa difference from high to low velocity.

Good point, but IME the change in velocity, actually increasing, is accompanied by a change in POI, not just elevation. It would be most unusual for any of my freshly cleaned rifles to put an initial bullet to the same point of impact as it will when the barrel is fouled. (this is over distance, not @ 100yds)

If you're just talking about hitting a biggame animal in the vitals (12" dia) than that's not a problem. But where real precision hits are desirable over distance, fouled barrels are the only way to go, IME. I never hunt with a squeaky-clean barrel.

"Field conditions" vary, but when you're talking about shooting prone, it isn't demonstrably less accurate than shooting off the bench.

 

[Dot_3]

Good point, but IME the change in velocity, actually increasing, is accompanied by a change in POI, not just elevation. It would be most unusual for any of my freshly cleaned rifles to put an initial bullet to the same point of impact as it will when the barrel is fouled. (this is over distance, not @ 100yds)

If you're just talking about hitting a biggame animal in the vitals (12" dia) than that's not a problem. But where real precision hits are desirable over distance, fouled barrels are the only way to go, IME. I never hunt with a squeaky-clean barrel.

"Field conditions" vary, but when you're talking about shooting prone, it isn't demonstrably less accurate than shooting off the bench.

I wouldn't attempt it with a barrel I hadn't already mapped out. I have the slightest shift low and left on clean cold bore at 100yds. 3/8" maybe? That gets lost in the noise of the random dispersion of my rifle/load-not to mention the fact that I am not a 1/4moa shooter. In other words, it's not something that I have to account for out to about 500 yards. Beyond that, I probably wouldn't push it. With that said, I don't make a habit out of hunting with a clean bore. In the event I stick some mud down the barrel or some other such disaster right before a hunt, I won't stress over having a clean bore and miss out on a perfectly doable 500 yard shot.