Hot Barrel / Cold Barrel Clean or dirty Barrel

7.62x39Lover

January 18, 2012 14:58

Does one achieve the best accuracy out of most rifles with a hot, cold, or warm barrel? How much fouling is best for peak accuracy, out of your hot, cold, or warm barrel? How many "fouling shots" should one take before trying to shoot for maximum accuracy or for hunting purposes? Is all this nothing more than a lot of over thinking?

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  bpost

  January 18, 2012 15:07

  For hunting purposes set your Zero at the condition you plan on carrying the gun. If that is clean and cold then your first shot should hit where you are aiming in that condition.
  
  All guns are different if your bedding is sound it should not make a lot of difference in hunting situations.

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  CSI21

  January 18, 2012 17:32

  I always shoot, clean, then before hunting season, check zero and keep the bore fouled. Our snipers do the same thing, one fouling shot so that the cold bore shot is on each time. Alot of testing seems to show that an clean oiled bore tends to fire the first shot high.

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  charliemeyer007

  January 18, 2012 17:55

  +1 that an oiled bore will shoot high. In the modern age I think more accuracy is lost to over cleaning and rapid fire.

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  kidthatsirish

  January 18, 2012 21:57

  quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
  +1 that an oiled bore will shoot high. In the modern age I think more accuracy is lost to over cleaning and rapid fire.
  
  
  Is this due to there being less resistance as the bullet travels down the barrel and thus having a greater muzzle velocity? Just wondering as it would then seem to make sense to me that it would be better to have a fouling shot so that you dont have to worry about leaving to much or to little oil in the barrel.[?]

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  Mobuck

  January 19, 2012 02:32

  At the very least, you need to check the POI difference between cold/clean and cold/fouled bore condition. On several occasions I've had to clean the barrel during a hunt but was not able to fire a fouling shot due to game in the vicinity or other objections. Knowing where the first clean barrel shot would go compared to the fouled bore zero might be very important at some point.
  I probably go overboard on prehunt prep by firing a single shot per session over several days to ascertain where that first bullet will land.
  I also realize many can't follow this procedure since I have a private range within 50 yards of my back door.

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