Bud Hyett
posted this
25 March 2018
Thoughts
- Cleaning after each shot will give a constant bore condition.
- Dry-patching after each shot will give a constant bore condition.
- Both steps above are time-consuming when you have a timed match.
- One of the stated reasons for using a gascheck is to get a constant bore condition.
At Windhill, Ed Doonan and I found lead scrapings between the gascheck and the bullet in the gascheck shank groove. This is visible evidence the leading edge of the gascheck is scraping the bore and leaving a constant condition from shot to shot. We were shooting at 200 yards into a backstop of boxelder logs that saved the bullet that we could then examine. This observation also lead to the thought the gascheck was scraping any excess lube left in the barrel.
With modern lubes, the residue is thin and the same residue amount in the bore from shot to shot. The bore condition is black in the sense you can see fouling in the bore. The question is that the fouling is the same which is not measurable without very sophisticated laboratory equipment. I believe the bore condition is close enough to being the same given use of a gascheck and a modern lube.
At a two-day match, I take extra ammunition for fouling the bore after cleaning at the end of the first day. This is for specific rifles which testing has shown need this care.
I believe you can over-lubricate and use too much lube. I have duplicated the experience of Tom Gray and his explanation of a lube-purge shot. This is for specific rifles. Each rifle is a law unto itself. As an illustration, my BSA Martini Mark III will not shoot well after cleaning until twenty-five shots are down the bore; my Mark i will shoot well after five shots to foul the bore. .
Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest