one more time: Barrel Cleanliness vs first-shot accuracy

[new pig hunter]

OK, this is Thread #3 on the topic, here's the ref to the previous two:
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=5274

And combining these with my range report from this past Friday:
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=6093

SUMMARY: overall consensus comments from the "cleanliness" threads, combined with my "range report" field test, have demonstrated to me that a dirty bore provides good assurance when hunting that the bullet is actually going to go where I'm aiming.

What a great Forum !!

Cheers,

Carl

[Rimfire McNutjob]

So my being a slacker and not cleaning my rifle after verifying my point of aim the weekend before the season opens is good right?

[Lefty Dude]

Never clean your barrel during a hunt season, unless of course the weather is foul and it must be done.

I used to carry a couple of the kids ballon's in my pocket to place over the end of the barrel if the weather got bad.

[Old Savage]

New Pig - I think that is a good approach.

[Pisgah]

So my being a slacker and not cleaning my rifle after verifying my point of aim the weekend before the season opens is good right?

Not only good, but smart and, one could say, almost essential.

The main requirement for accuracy in any gun is consistency -- consistent loads, consistent sight picture, consistent hold, consistent trigger -- and in the long list of "consistents" is consistent bore condition. Now, it is true that a bore will get progressively dirtier as consecutive shots are fired. But a squeaky clean bore followed by a a dirty bore is a much greater inconsistency than a dirty bore followed by a slightly dirtier bore followed by a slightly dirtier bore...

Some rifles don't care -- they'll put the first shot from a dead-clean bore into the same group as the hundredth shot out of a fouled bore. If you have one of those, that's great. But plenty of them will throw the first shot or three wide -- maybe by an inch, maybe by a foot. I verify my zero at the start of the season and don't clean after that until the season is done. The only exception I make is with guns firing black powder, and then cleaning is a must.

[Chuck 100 yd]

What Pisgah said has been my experience also. Only testing will tell!

[Nath]

When I have been up Scotland for a few days and it has been wet I would swab the bore with an oily patch but before setting off the next day would swab out the oil with dry patches
Nath.

[Pisgah]

I'm never troubled with wet bores. I carry a roll of electrical tape in my little daypack, and when it looks like rain I stick a piece on the muzzle. Perfectly safe, doesn't affect point of impact, cheap and effective.