Is this leading?

[superior]

After firing 30 shots through my Lee Enfield, I noticed that a 314299 boolit nose wouldn't fit into the muzzle of the rifle. I then ran a cleaning brush soaked with Hoppes #9 through the bore as part of my cleaning ritual before finishing up with some dry patches and a lightly oiled patch. When I tried to insert the nose of a boolit into the muzzle again, it fit right in with no problem! Is this a sign of leading? I would much rather have the tighter bore obviously so my question is this: Is it ok to not clean the bore between shooting sessions? Did I clean away my "uniform bore condition"? Should I have left it alone? The rifle was shooting accurately before I cleaned it. How often should I clean it (if at all)? Did I clean away some of my accuracy?:confused:

[sheepdog]

I'm a little worried you can fit a boolit in the muzzle end. Boolits elongate and start to taper as they come out. Shouldn't be able to fit unless its been counterbored or has heavy wear. If so this might be why the leading was helping as it might have been giving a tighter seal on the bore.

[Timberland]

Clean away accuracy? never heard of that. Leading is when smeared led sticks to the barrel, it sucks. Cleaning a dirty bore is fine, but you can go without it. I would delead a barrel before use.

[superior]

Ed Harris's sticky on cast loads for military rifles says if the nose of the boolit will fit into the muzzle loosely without being engraved by the rifling, accuracy will seldom be satisfactory. He also says "once a uniform bore condition is established, the gun behaves much like a 22 rimfire." It seems the more shots I fire, the tighter my groups get. After about 20-30 shots, the boolit noses become very tight in the bore and are definitley engraved. He also says that between matches, he just swabs the bore with hoppes and then uses 3 dry patches just prior to shooting. He doesn't say whether he scrubs the bore occaisionally... Therefore, I'm not sure if he EVER scrubs the bore like I did. I'm wondering just exactly what is a "uniform bore condition" and could it be destroyed by cleaning. I've also been advised by experienced members of this forum that some bore riding boolits shoot fine when the nose will fit into the muzzle without being engraved.

[Bret4207]

You had fouling of some sort in the muzzle. Was it lead? Powder? Lube? Does it matter? Not if you have accuracy with it there. I'm a believer in "seasoning" the bore, that each lube acts differently, however minutely, and that with some guns it takes several to dozens of shots to get the bore "seasoned" and conditioned for that lube.

In the future I'd leave well enough alone until the gun tells you it needs to be cleaned.

[303Guy]

He also says that between matches, he just swabs the bore with hoppes and then uses 3 dry patches just prior to shooting.That's to prevent corrosion. That is an interesting point you raise. I never knew!

[runfiverun]

i sometimes remember to push a wet patch down my bbl.

[largom]

Any sign's of lead particles on your brush and patch while cleaning?
If not you probably just had powder and lube fouling which would not have to be removed. Usually leading will cause accuracy to go south.
Larry

[HangFireW8]

After firing 30 shots through my Lee Enfield, I noticed that a 314299 boolit nose wouldn't fit into the muzzle of the rifle. I then ran a cleaning brush soaked with Hoppes #9 through the bore as part of my cleaning ritual before finishing up with some dry patches and a lightly oiled patch. When I tried to insert the nose of a boolit into the muzzle again, it fit right in with no problem! Is this a sign of leading? I would much rather have the tighter bore obviously so my question is this: Is it ok to not clean the bore between shooting sessions? Did I clean away my "uniform bore condition"? Should I have left it alone? The rifle was shooting accurately before I cleaned it. How often should I clean it (if at all)? Did I clean away some of my accuracy?:confused:

Was it the same boolit? Was the bore the same temperature on both attempts?

Lee Enfields are infamous for having a type of crown wear due to the pull-through cleaning systems the UK used to issue. A related type of wear is from using a cleaning rod from the muzzle. Either way you get a flare at the muzzle that is not conducive to accuracy.

-HF