Ladder Test...Clean or not?

[Seven Oaks]

If you fire 3 or 4 foulers before you start the test, do you clean at a certain shot number, firing a few more foulers before resuming the test or just fire the entire twenty shots?

To my thinking cleaning after 5 shots and firing foulers would keep help keep the variation in bore condition to a minimum and possibly give a little better results. I may be wrong and wanted to ask what everyone else was doing.

Thanks for the help,

Dee

 

[AJ Peacock]

I shoot 3-5 shots at the lowest increment, then just shoot the ladder. I set a timer between shots so the barrel temp is consistent for the entire test.

If your barrel is broken in and you are using an appropriate powder/bullet combo for you rifle, 20-30 rounds shouldn't foul enough to change anything.

When I am comparing loads by shooting groups, I will alternate loads, so the fouling is equally distributed across all the groups. In the 1000yd ladder test article, the author does this as well when shooting multiple shots for each increment.

AJ