It's been my experience that MOST, not all rifles will start to lose accuracy long before 35 rounds.
I'm not talking about "acceptable for hunting at practical ranges accuracy"
If you're like most people with an accuracy fetish, you will want your firearm to be at its most accurate node when on a hunt.
When you become more familiar with that rifle, you will shoot it enough to know when accuracy is falling off.
That's when it's time to clean out the fouling IMHO.
Once the accuracy starts to fall off, in MOST rifles it happens much faster than it takes to get to that point.
That fouling shouldn't be left in the barrel for extended periods. No, I'm not talking about a few months but putting it in storage and not cleaning, then shooting it again until next fall isn't a good practice.
The biggest reason I clean as soon as accuracy starts to deteriorate is that it's much easier to get rid of the fouling.
When you keep shooting, the fouling builds up and every shot means you will need to spend more time and effort on the cleaning bench.
Yes, there are folks that have "jewels" that shoot well with very little maintenance. They are few and far between. If you have one, you've won the lottery.
Many here can attest, once they've allowed their firearms to go beyond the point of no return, it can be next to impossible to get that barrel to shoot well again.
I've seen bores that have never been cleaned after firing hundreds of rounds. Often those bores will never shoot well again, no matter what you do to clean them back to the bare metal, so you can start over.
Often a bore scope will reveal a patch of copper jacket/carbon that looks like its been welded into the bottom of the grooves at the juncture of the land.
Once this situation occurs, even electro-chemical cleaning won't fix it.
I'm not saying you will allow your bore to become that fouled, but I do believe you should shoot that rifle, without over heating the barrel, say five rounds, stop for cooling and another five rounds, cool and continue this process until you notice accuracy falling off. Then you know it's time to clean that fouling out of your bore.
Every rifle is different. Many folks think that their personal rifle is the same as the same make/model on the bench beside them. NOT SO.
The rifle will tell you something is awry before the keyboard jockeys will.
Get to know your rifle's quirks and it will serve you well for as long as you own it.
I have a rifle on hand that will start to lose accuracy after 20 rounds. I have a Tikka T3 that will shoot 50+ rounds with minimal fouling and no accuracy deterioration. I have another Tikka T3, chambered for the same cartridge, same scope/mounts, same stock. Identical pair and they both shoot extremely well, but the latter rifle starts to lose accuracy after 25 rounds and quickly cleans up and behaves again for another 25 rounds, after one fouling shot.
So, just because Tom, #### or Harry's rifles behave in a certain manner, don't fall into that trap or think there's something wrong with your rifle.
That's just the way it is, not all rifles are created equal.
