So just a question.
Do you get your best pattern out of a super clean barrel or dirty?
I do a deep clean of my barrel. I have a shell and choke combo that I'm sticking with. Just curious as to if you clean your barrel or let her eat? I've seen some 870 that patterned better dirty.... If I'm not mistaken APEX did a YouTube video on this.
Thanks for your time and good luck this spring.
My 870 does better clean though the difference is minimal.
Every gun I own the difference is negligible between clean and dirty barrels, as is the difference when patterning in different temperatures. I typically still snake the barrel between shots but I've not noticed much difference.
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I'm not sure. I clean my barrel at the end of each season. Then I clean it with a bore snake after each shot at the range. Likewise if I shoot birds during the season. I'll be interested to hear what others do.
Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.
I have several dedicated turkey guns. And I shoot them often. Patterns from all of them deteriorate after 4-5 shots. Some sooner.
My BPS 20 gauge gets its best group on a clean barrel my 8 70 20 gauge gets better as it gets dirty same goes for 8 70 12 gauge mossberg clean barrel.
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I'm in the don't know crowd. The first bird of the year is killed with a clean barrel, the last one of the year is with a dirty barrel.
Quote from: guesswho on January 22, 2021, 06:38:05 PM
I'm in the don't know crowd. The first bird of the year is killed with a clean barrel, the last one of the year is with a dirty barrel.
X2 .. This is the best way to answer this question.. Good one guesswho
When patterning, I try to use all the control variables that I can in determining and patterning my guns. A clean barrel is controllable. You can be sure once cleaned, it will pattern almost the same way each shot. One can't determine the various degrees of a dirty barrel. That's why I use a bore snake in between shots assuring me of that controllable condition. Just my thoughts...everyone does things a bit different. Whatever works is the right way.....
After a deep clean at the beginning of the year I boresnake mine after every shot at the range also after every shot on a bird or bad weather. But I am super anal retentive about that stuff. Beat into my head after 23 years in the Army. Your gun is your life.
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I pattern clean and a few shots after, I clean the barrel at the start of my season after patterning and then again after I have tagged out or the season ends.
Quote from: davisd9 on January 22, 2021, 07:47:14 PM
I pattern clean and a few shots after, I clean the barrel at the start of my season after patterning and then again after I have tagged out or the season ends.
Me too, only I will use several guns over the course of most seasons.
Quote from: guesswho on January 22, 2021, 06:38:05 PM
I'm in the don't know crowd. The first bird of the year is killed with a clean barrel, the last one of the year is with a dirty barrel.
I'm somewhere between you and RutN'. I run a bore snake down after a couple of shots. It's a good season If I get more than a couple tho.
Cleaned and polished every spring before the season. My 835 puts up 300 plus with Hevi 7's through a clean barrel and a .670 Pure Gold choke.
Nobody's barrel has a better pattern dirty, no one. Only lazy to clean and superstitious folks say and believe that. William at Sumtoy and his experience with shooting long barrel shotguns at high stakes turkey shoots taught me more than I ever knew about cleaning and polishing. Now I do it after every single shot in the woods. You can keep polishing and continue to get better patterns after you think your barrel is clean....it can be a lot cleaner than what we think is what I learned
Quote from: Ranger on January 22, 2021, 08:49:08 PM
Nobody's barrel has a better pattern dirty, no one. Only lazy to clean and superstitious folks say and believe that. William at Sumtoy and his experience with shooting long barrel shotguns at high stakes turkey shoots taught me more than I ever knew about cleaning and polishing. Now I do it after every single shot in the woods. You can keep polishing and continue to get better patterns after you think your barrel is clean....it can be a lot cleaner than what we think is what I learned
This is a false statement. Many guns have patterns that improve as the barrel is fouled.
I had always thought so and haven't patterned all my shotguns in a test to know for certain, but the guys that shoot competitively would say those barrels have never been really cleaned to their most polished condition. Not just cleaned, polished. They clean their barrels each and every shot. And when I patterned at Sumtoy each additional cleaning, which turned into eventual polishing brought more and more shot into the group each time. Noticeable amounts from what previously looked like 'clean enough'. Not a numbers and paper guy but I left with 502 pellets in a 20" circle and there was 327 in the 10" from a 24" barrel 20GA.
I like to know what shape my barrel is in, pattern with a clean barrel and hunt it that way, my pattern is awesome so wasting a bunch of shells and time at the pattern board is not necessary in my case.
My turkey guns have chrome barrels so a quick bore snake through there and they are nice and shiny, once per year I like to run a mop on a cordless drill and really get em clean, flitz or even chrome polish.
Don't know really. I make sure poa is on before every season. Hunt it and then give a good cleaning after season. Now if i hunted in some nasty weather I will give it a quick cleanup.
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In testing my SP-10, by far the best pattern was with a well-cleaned barrel. Even after a couple of shots without cleaning, the pattern starts to spread and I'll noticing a few more flier pellets. Still plenty to kill with, but... cleaner is better with that gun.
It's been my experience that even when a barrel looks clean and shiny, it's amazing how much crud comes out after using the right solvents and scrubs. But.... that's just my experience.
Thanks everyone...
keep the answers coming in...
So just for good measure.... I did a half way polish job on my Son's new 410. I will see if it helps at all.
On a side not I did order some Nitro 9x10TSS to see what they will do.
Good luck everyone.
Clean is best. The shot count isn't too far off but the pattern is more even and consistent through a clean barrel in my 870. I deep clean after the season, clean before the season, and give it a scrub after each shot.
Interesting discussion going on here. Admittedly, I have never been one to worry about whether my shotgun barrel was clean or dirty,...just that the pattern was centered and even. From the chat here, I think I am going to clean 'er out "just because". That way I will know that when I pull the trigger on a gobbler, he will be a little deader than he would have been otherwise! :D
Quote from: GobbleNut on January 26, 2021, 01:31:07 PM
Interesting discussion going on here. Admittedly, I have never been one to worry about whether my shotgun barrel was clean or dirty,...just that the pattern was centered and even. From the chat here, I think I am going to clean 'er out "just because". That way I will know that when I pull the trigger on a gobbler, he will be a little deader than he would have been otherwise! :D
LOL not such thing is overkill... LOL
When I was shooting lead I would throw a couple down range every year before season to check POI/POA. Then I started shooting Heavy shot, I don't remember cleaning any more than I once did. NEVER.
Well, I started shooting TSS. Now all of us know that the TSS is a good bit more expensive than the two prior. I have noticed, and am a great believer in a clean bore to run the TSS down. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 shoots my pattern will start to open up to a point that it is noticeable on paper, without a count. The more I shoot, the worse it gets.
If you don't believe this try this one time. When you go out like most of us to check POI/POA, shine it up before you go that first time. Keep that target. At the end of season, with no cleaning in between, do it again. Compare those two targets. If you are fortunate to get a few shoots off you will see a difference and can go in the direction you want after that. Hopefully you get to shoot several times during season!
Good luck to all.
Quote from: davisd9 on January 22, 2021, 08:55:07 PM
Quote from: Ranger on January 22, 2021, 08:49:08 PM
Nobody's barrel has a better pattern dirty, no one. Only lazy to clean and superstitious folks say and believe that. William at Sumtoy and his experience with shooting long barrel shotguns at high stakes turkey shoots taught me more than I ever knew about cleaning and polishing. Now I do it after every single shot in the woods. You can keep polishing and continue to get better patterns after you think your barrel is clean....it can be a lot cleaner than what we think is what I learned
This is a false statement. Many guns have patterns that improve as the barrel is fouled.
My H&R single patterns better at a lasered 40 with Hevi-13 #7s after the barrel was fouled with one or two rounds. I would clean it pre-season, fire a field load, then hunt it. My current Mossy 500 20 gauge likes a squeaky clean barrel with TSS.
Thought I would throw this out there. If you haven't tried the clean and polish on your in line muzzleloaders, give it a try. Easier to load those sabots and easier to clean after shooting it.
My m2 likes a kinda deep cleaned barrel, brass brush 50 strokes, cotton swab 50 strokes, then apply birchwood casey bore cleaner, stroke it a few let it set 15-20, then brass again 10 strokes and cotton swab 10 strokes. I typically get a (hard to believe) 60-70 pellet jump, with 9s hand loads (hals recipe), I would purposely rapid fire 20 cheap shells down range, fire a hand load get the results, clean the gun, fire a cold bore shot with a hand load and get the results, u would think 2 totally different guns.
Thanks for sharing.
Quote from: ShootingABN! on January 22, 2021, 05:32:01 PM
So just a question.
Do you get your best pattern out of a super clean barrel or dirty?
I do a deep clean of my barrel. I have a shell and choke combo that I'm sticking with. Just curious as to if you clean your barrel or let her eat? I've seen some 870 that patterned better dirty.... If I'm not mistaken APEX did a YouTube video on this.
Thanks for your time and good luck this spring.
I've not noticed any difference. I generally do not clean my barrel from March to May
I have a Benelli SN that likes to be clean. From first shot to second i will loose 10-15% of pellet count at 40yrds. Third shot is 20-25% less. The 870 20ga likes it dirty.
Just like women they are all different!
In checking POA before and during the season, I noticed a couple of years ago that my 835 patterned worse with a fouled barrel. Now I just run the bore snake through the barrel a couple of times between shots and call it good.
Depends on the gun IMO. If it's a rough barrel like on a production mossberg or remington from the last 10 years then after a couple fouling shots we have had better numbers when patterning. I'm talking about barrels that I've polished a bunch. My thoughts are that those tiny imperfections are like potholes on a rough road. A few shots fills them with wadding and smooths things, for a few more shots, and patterns might tighten. Then after some build up it's rough again, patterns open some. I usually clean the barrel after it's been fired though. I won't ever buy another shotgun without first checking the inside of the barrel.
I always wondered how everyone else treated their barrels. I do the same with rifles, muzzeloaders and shotguns. I clean once a week during season or daily if bad weather. I have not noticed much if any difference between dirty or clean barrels but prefer clean barrels as that is what I pattern with on shotguns. Rifles there is normally an inch high with a clean barrel. Generally not enough to make a difference. I think I will try the deep cleaning and cleaning after every shot routine out of curuiosity with my shotgun. As I know my muzzel loader will print clover leafs at 100 when cleaning after every shot.
Quote from: mtns2hunt on February 07, 2021, 09:27:44 PM
I always wondered how everyone else treated their barrels. I do the same with rifles, muzzeloaders and shotguns. I clean once a week during season or daily if bad weather. I have not noticed much if any difference between dirty or clean barrels but prefer clean barrels as that is what I pattern with on shotguns. Rifles there is normally an inch high with a clean barrel. Generally not enough to make a difference. I think I will try the deep cleaning and cleaning after every shot routine out of curuiosity with my shotgun. As I know my muzzel loader will print clover leafs at 100 when cleaning after every shot.
I clean after every shot when sighting in/patterning and allow the barrel to cool because 99.9% of the time the way you will be shooting at a deer or turkey is with a cold bore shot. Once I am dialed in I will take a fouled shot with whatever weapons system I am shooting within a minute or less of my cold bore shot just to note the difference for my situational awareness in case a follow up shot is needed. This is just the way I have always done it and it works for me. I am sure there are other methods people use. I say if it works for you stick with it.
DE OPPRESSO LIBER
Quote from: rakkin6 on February 07, 2021, 09:50:49 PM
Quote from: mtns2hunt on February 07, 2021, 09:27:44 PM
I always wondered how everyone else treated their barrels. I do the same with rifles, muzzeloaders and shotguns. I clean once a week during season or daily if bad weather. I have not noticed much if any difference between dirty or clean barrels but prefer clean barrels as that is what I pattern with on shotguns. Rifles there is normally an inch high with a clean barrel. Generally not enough to make a difference. I think I will try the deep cleaning and cleaning after every shot routine out of curuiosity with my shotgun. As I know my muzzel loader will print clover leafs at 100 when cleaning after every shot.
I clean after every shot when sighting in/patterning and allow the barrel to cool because 99.9% of the time the way you will be shooting at a deer or turkey is with a cold bore shot. Once I am dialed in I will take a fouled shot with whatever weapons system I am shooting within a minute or less of my cold bore shot just to note the difference for my situational awareness in case a follow up shot is needed. This is just the way I have always done it and it works for me. I am sure there are other methods people use. I say if it works for you stick with it.
DE OPPRESSO LIBER
This is what I do.