?? Smoothbore - Rifled Slugs - Cleaning - Accuracy ??

[0faustus0]

Whenever I get back home from a slug shooting session ... and where I put lets say 20+ Foster slugs through the gun ... my smoothbore barrel looks like a lead pipe.

I mean the barrel is literally coated with lead on the inside.

And when I take a bronze brush with steel wool on a drill to clean the barrel ... lead flakes come out in abundance ... and it takes me 4 to 6 passes with the drill to get the barrel half way clean.

Now I am wondering ... how will cleaning or not cleaning affect accuracy? Is cleaning even necessary .... ?

What is your experience?

 

[wasa]

My Ithaca Deerslayer (smoothbore) in the past has appeared to "lead up" a few inches from the breach and then appears clean the rest of the barrel. I had always assumed that this was the end of the forcing cone when the slug (in the past Winchester 2.75" value box of 15 slugs) compresses into the barrel. Lately I've been using the S&B competition slugs, as well as the Score slugs and have not noticed as much leading - I put through about 2 boxes of Score brand slugs and did not see the lead ring near the breach.

The Score slugs seem to hold their accuracy at 25 and 50 yards even after 50 shots, but my definition of accurate is hitting a paper plate.

 

[Butcherbill]

I don’t find accuracy is affected to be honest, I didn’t clean a smoothbore barrel on a 12g for three years once and accuracy didn’t change at all. The only real difference was how long it took to get it clean lol.

I find it’s more melted plastic wading that fouls the barrel than leading build up, now I periodically run a bore snake through it and clean it at the end of the hunting season. I’d prefer to use my time doing other things than cleaning, I oil the action regularly though.

 

[kekservative]

Whenever I get back home from a slug shooting session ... and where I put lets say 20+ Foster slugs through the gun ... my smoothbore barrel looks like a lead pipe.

I mean the barrel is literally coated with lead on the inside.

And when I take a bronze brush with steel wool on a drill to clean the barrel ... lead flakes come out in abundance ... and it takes me 4 to 6 passes with the drill to get the barrel half way clean.

Now I am wondering ... how will cleaning or not cleaning affect accuracy? Is cleaning even necessary .... ?

What is your experience?

I also wander the same, but more about [not] damaging the barrel. Observe same crazy amount of fouling in the barrel after shooting slugs. I do the same thing with the bronze brush and a drill.

 

[0faustus0]

So, I did an experiment and to see what would happen if I did not clean my barrel. And it did not take too long to realize …

Gun was an 870 Police with Ghost Ring sights. Distance was 50 meters.

I shot around 50 – 70 Sellier & Bellot Sport slugs through the gun and never cleaned the barrel. I shot around 2 to 3 boxes of those slugs …. and some Federals.

The barrel was heavily leaded, and strips of lead were coming off and only to be replaced with another layer.


Here are my findings:

1. Groups did open up with a leaded barrel and after around 20 to 30 slugs through the barrel.
2. I got random flyers with a leaded barrel.
3. And point of aim shifted. Now, I am not 100% sure that this was due to the leading, or if this is due to my setup. My rear ghost ring is fixed to the receiver, and my front sight is fixed to the barrel … and there is around a 1mm wiggle between the barrel and the receiver and until I screw the magazine cap tight. So, when i take the barrel off the gun ... and put it back, there is a chance that the point of impact has shifted slightly.

I started out with a clean barrel and got a groups like this .....

Down the road and with a leaded barrel I got some random flyers …

Point of impact shifted ….

Groups opened up …

And after a long long long cleaning session … I was getting this again ....

Voila ....

 

[kekservative]

Heavy fouling will likely reduce muzzle velocity too.

What I wonder is if our method of cleaning will damage the barrel.

 

[0faustus0]

Heavy fouling will likely reduce muzzle velocity too.

What I wonder is if our method of cleaning will damage the barrel.

A copper or bronze brush .... a drill .... lots of oil ... and Chore Boy are your friends ...

p.s.: I switched from fine steel wool to extra fine brass wool ....

 

[Falconflyer]

I like your idea of using the spent shot shell as a rod guide.

 

[guntech]

With modern shells plastic fouling is more prevalent than lead fouling for me... and I use 0000 steel wool spinning on a brush to remove that very quickly.

 

[Super Mario]

Right on, wicked useful report.

 

[JW85]

Heavy fouling will likely reduce muzzle velocity too.

What I wonder is if our method of cleaning will damage the barrel.

I could see it increasing velocity depending how the seal is between the slug and the barrel, especially /w CYL.

Just a hunch though.

Depends on trade-off between friction vs better seal (less escaping pressure).

 

[Boomer]

I use the fabric from a copper scouring pad (the ones that won't pull a magnet) wrapped around a bronze bore brush, spun with a drill, worked back and forth through the bore. With a heavily fouled bore this can take a while, but the layers of plastic fouling are tougher to remove than lead from slugs.