More Tips
The rod guide is specifically designed for your rifle’s chamber and prevents solvents from running back into the chamber and the trigger group. The guide centers the cleaning rod with the rifle’s bore and prevents rod damage to your chamber, throat, and bore. Solid, one-piece cleaning rods with freely rotating handles allow the rod to spin with the twist of the rifling in the barrel, and they are available for about $30. The jag, brushes, solvent and patches should cost about $45.
Break In Your Rifle Barrel
Most hunting rifle barrels have not been properly broken in, which helps to minimize accuracy-reducing fouling. If not properly broken in, we have observed hunting rifles to completely foul out in as little as five rounds. Many will foul out at fewer than 20 rounds. When a barrel fouls out, accuracy is dramatically reduced. Properly breaking in a rifle barrel is a must for our target rifles and our hunting rifles. We believe that this step is very important to optimize the accuracy potential of your hunting rifle. You will not have to worry about your rifle fouling out during the hunting season.
The break-in process is simple but takes time at the range. Use any inexpensive ammo that you can find. Start with a clean barrel, fire one shot, and clean the barrel. Make sure that you get all the copper out. Repeat the single shot/clean routine for five shots. Next, fire two shots and clean. Repeat three times. Now, fire three shots and clean. Repeat three times. Cleaning the barrel should become easier and copper fouling should be minimal.
Check the Trigger Pull and Action Fit
The trigger pull is important in making an accurate shot. We see hunting rifles with trigger pulls that range from very good to awful.
The worst hunting trigger has excessive creep so that you are never sure when it will break. In those cases, we suggest that you see a gunsmith. A trigger job costs about $100. A fully adjustable replacement trigger costs from $40 to $100 or more.
The fit of the action to the stock - or bedding - is another critical accuracy factor. The accuracy of most hunting rifles would improve with a custom bedding job. Bedding work costs about $150, and you should be prepared for a long wait before the gunsmith returns your rifle. We decide to bed a rifle when we cannot get it to shoot tight groups after trying a few different types of bullets.
Find the Right Bullet
This quest is where the rubber meets the road, and we do not have any quick solutions. The answer is trial-and-error. Each rifle is different, and your rifle will tell you immediately which bullets it does not like. Your job is to find the one it prefers.
We suggest taking several different bullet weights to the range. When you change from one type to the other, you should clean your barrel or allow up to five shots of the new ammo to settle in the bore. If you clean your rifle, allow two fouling shots with the new ammo to settle in the bore. If you switch from non-coated to coated bullets, clean the bore and allow for five or more shots to properly coat the bore before testing for accuracy. If you are going from coated to non-coated bullets, give the bore a thorough cleaning. Then, add two fouling shots with the non-coated bullet before testing for accuracy.
4 iMagazine / April, 2013