Accuracy and powder fouling

[Char-Gar]

My 1901 choped (22 " barrel" Krag is my all time favorite rifle...bar none. I bought it for the sum of $15.00 in 1960 and killed my first deer with it that year. It wears an old Pacific receiver sight and a Redfield Sourdough front in an 03 band. The barrel has strong sharp rifling but shows the frosting that comes from years of use with chlorate primers. It slugs out at .3095.

I have noticed the accuracy droping off after my last two range session. I thought I might be developing some leading, but I can't find any. I decided to give the barrel a good cleaning and found the worse powder fouled barrel I have ever seen. The only thing worse would have to be black powder.

I finallly had to go to 000 steel wool around a brush and lost of Ed's Red to get it clean. I even ran some Sweets 7.62 down there, to see if there was any metal fouling I missed.

The barrel is now super clean and I will see if that helps, I can come up with no other reason from the accuracy to start to degrade. The groups didn't start to get wild, or change POI, they just opened up to about double the normal size.

I have put about 200 rns. of cast pushed by 52/WC872 down this tube that caused this problem. We all know how much crap this powder leaves in it's wake.

I think I will switch to faster powders as I really have no need to push the old rifle that hard.

I was wondering if any of you have experience with accuracy degrading persuant to powder fouling.

[Pilgrim]

I usually run a Boresnake thru the barrel after a day of shooting. No chemicals, no nothing but the Boresnake. So far no problems noted, but there is plenty of time yet for me to find some. I also do not run super slow powders for the cartridge of interest. I more or less try and find a "full power" load and leave it at that. For example, 4895 in my .35 Rem, VVN135 in my .358 Win., etc. FWIW Pilgrim

[Char-Gar]

I have no had any problems with any other rifle..but this is the only with without a smooth finish in the bore.

[waksupi]

Charger, my .358 had fallen off in my last outing, and I suspect I have the same problem, and it needs a good cleaning. Of course, I've probably shot 4-500 rounds since I last cleaned it....

[Blackwater]

Chargar, this is just sheer speculation, but after THAT many rounds, and I'm assuming it's quite a number, do you think the throat may have moved forward some? If your bullets have a lube groove sticking out, lube is notorious for collecting grit from the air, etc., and MAY (???) have been enough over time to wear the throat.

As I said, this is sheer speculation, and likely wrong, but have you checked your OAL to verify you're making contact with the grooves, IF indeed you ever were with your load?

Just a thought.

[Char-Gar]

There hasn't been THAT many round through it in all of those years. It never would be better than 4 MOA with jacketed bullets due to the .3095 bore. I killed a couple of deer, but never could get interesting in it and probably put no more than 100 rns through it in the first 40 years I owned it. I took it with me deer hunting as a back up/spare, but never used it on deer after 1962.

I then started shooting cast and got good result. I probably have about 1K through it since I started with the cast bullets. Good loads will get about 2 MOA.

Krags have very long throats and any cast bullet that will feed through the magazine, probably won't contact the rifling. I just try and use a fairly hard alloy and expect the bullet to hit the rifling on the run and accept what that does.

Accuracy would improve if I seated the bullets out and didn't use the magazine, but I don't want to do that.

I never shoot cast bullets with exposed lube. Any grooves outside of the case never contain any lube. I am shooting .3117 bullet through this rifle.

I can think of no other reason, other than the fouling, that this rifle would start to enlarge it groups. WC872 shoots dirty in the extreme and the bore of this rifle is anything but smooth and probably accumulates and hold fouling much worse than a rifle with a smooth barrel.

I won't know for certain until I fire it again, now that it is clean. I will assembly some proven loads with fast powder and see what happens. I am betting the rifle does back to doing what it has done for years.

I noticed the enlarging of groups over the last 40 rounds I have fired. I doubt if there has been any dimensonal changes in the barrel/throat.

[Dale53]

It may take you a few rounds before the barrel starts shooting well. Have to lay down a bit of lube, don't cha' know? After that, I bet you will get a return to accuracy of old.

Dale53

[Bass Ackward]

Chargar.

I suspect that your assumption on cleaning is correct. For my hunting level loads, cleaning is done after each range outing. Loads are developed clean and that is how the barrel remains during the season minus a fouler. Especially if I have to clean because of rain. I shoot softer bullets using slower powders that complete combustion isn't guaranteed. Still some powders are better / worse than others, but this becomes a bore diameter and cartridge specific discussion.

Now for cast loads, shot like cast loads, then the gun is left as it is until accuracy goes south. Seems to me I hit time levels anymore. Because if the rounds aren't leading, what in there is different than was in there last week? So it is still fouling only build-up is slower.