How many rounds would it take to foul a barrel to the point of accuracy loss?

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gord1986

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I am just wondering how many rounds it would take, without the use of a copper solvent such as Wipeout, to foul a barrel to the point of noticeable accuracy loss.

I know I'll get a bunch of answers like "it depends on the rifle" or "some rifles like it a bit fouled" and so on. But I'm just looking for a ball park figure. Can shooting something like 30 rounds cause enough copper fouling to notice an accuracy loss? I'm trying to troubleshoot my savage model 10 percision carbine's sudden loss of accuracy.

Thanks!
 
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if your barrel is rough it can for sure lose accuracy in 30 rounds due to copper fouling. How many rounds on the barrel...is it new ??
 
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furtaker said:
if your barrel is rough it can for sure lose accuracy in 30 rounds due to copper fouling. How many rounds on the barrel...is it new ??
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Bought this gun used. Guy said he shot under 50 rounds through it. The first few times I went to the range it shoot tight, 1" @100Y groupings. Now it's shooting all over the map. I've pulled a bore snake through it with hoppes #9 after every session but haven't taken it apart for a good cleaning with Wipeout to attack the copper foulings.
 
Bore snake wont clean it properly. Wipe out is a good product as I use it myself but you may need a stronger product to remove the copper if its excessive. I would recommend getting someone to have a look in it with a bore scope after a cleaning and see whats in there. Not all copper wants to be removed but someone that know what he is looking at should be able to tell if it has more then should be in. Some savage barrels are quite rough and collets a lot of copper and foul out very fast. Usually after a few hundred rounds the high spots are knocked off and the lows are filled in and it will be broken in and should be able to go quite some time before it tell you it needs a cleaning with accuracy dropping off.
 
to be kind and sharing...but,,,,,,,,,,

"I know I'll get a bunch of answers like "it depends on the rifle" or "some rifles like it a bit fouled" and so on. But I'm just looking for a ball park figure. Can shooting something like 30 rounds cause enough copper fouling to notice an accuracy loss? I'm trying to troubleshoot my savage model 10 percision carbine's sudden loss of accuracy. ........."

how long...........is a piece of string....
 
Either an optic mount is loose or you damaged the crown or scope it broken.

There is no way a rifle shooting 1 MOA starts shooting all other the place after 30 rounds. Or even 300. Anything to do with round count would increase the spread slowly over the time. 30 rounds from 1 MOA group to "all other the place" is not copper for sure.
 
I don't think in could have damaged the crown. It has a muzzle break so I can't see the crown very well. It's definitely something to consider though. Thanks!
 
owlowl said:
Either an optic mount is loose or you damaged the crown or scope it broken.

There is no way a rifle shooting 1 MOA starts shooting all other the place after 30 rounds. Or even 300. Anything to do with round count would increase the spread slowly over the time. 30 rounds from 1 MOA group to "all other the place" is not copper for sure.
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Are you for real? How much have you actually sent down range?
1) Because one shooter claims he has sent 1MOA down, doesn't mean another can.
2) Yes, 30 rounds can make a difference, especially at break-in stage
3) "damaged the crown".... based on what?

Engage the brain before the mouth (or in this case, the fingers)
 
358Rooster said:
Are you for real? How much have you actually sent down range?
1) Because one shooter claims he has sent 1MOA down, doesn't mean another can.
2) Yes, 30 rounds can make a difference, especially at break-in stage
3) "damaged the crown".... based on what?

Engage the brain before the mouth (or in this case, the fingers)
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I'm glad to see that a lot of people are like me and are learning english every day, we can do a reading comprehension together!

1) Original poster said "The first few times I went to the range it shoot tight, 1" @100Y groupings." So, he was the shooter who did 1 MOA groups himself

2) Original poster said "he shot groups, the original owner shot it before he bought it". What break-in stage we are talking about? 100 rounds+? No, it could not be break-in

3) I said, based on information provided, that it is very unlikely to see such a sudden drop in accuracy due to anything regular like fouling in such a shot period, such that it had to be something dramatic - mount went loose, scope broke or crown got damaged. This is based on original poster "I don't know what happened" and "I shot 1 MOA and in 30 rounds it went all other the place".

Vous comprenez?
 
The first shooting session I was shooting 1moa groupings. The next time I took it out she was shooting all over the place. It was literally hard to keep the rifle hitting paper at 100Y. I noticed the scope mounts had come loose so I tightened them. Next range trip at best I was getting 3 moa groupings. So I'm scratching my head to figure out why the accuracy didn't gof back to 1moa after tightening the scope mounts.
 
First thing to do would be to loose the bore snake and get a good cleaning rod, bore guide and bore brush something like Dewey. Give your barrel a good cleaning and remove all the copper.
Next I would remove the scope and bases and then reinstall the bases using blue loc-tite on the threads and torque to spec , install rings and torque to spec , then install scope and torque to spec. While your at it torque the action screws to spec.
If all of that shows no improvement try using a different scope.
 
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Follow what R204 said thats a good way to go about finding your issue. Only thing I would change is to replace the bases (if they are two piece) with a rail. I hope you are luckier then myself and didnt damage the scope when the mounts came lose. I ruined my favourite hunting scope when this happened to me, so you may want to try a different scope once you have everything torqued to specs. Let us know how you make out.
 
gord1986 said:
The first shooting session I was shooting 1moa groupings. The next time I took it out she was shooting all over the place. It was literally hard to keep the rifle hitting paper at 100Y. I noticed the scope mounts had come loose so I tightened them. Next range trip at best I was getting 3 moa groupings. So I'm scratching my head to figure out why the accuracy didn't gof back to 1moa after tightening the scope mounts.
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I have read a few articles about how the action screw torque can make a big impact, and that some rifles the screws will back out after a few trips to the range. check the torque on your action screws as well as all the bases/rings, etc.
 
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