well I'm glad to report my somewhat controversial down to bare metal cleaning has resulted in exactly what I hope to see. a rifle that was shooting around an inch and a half group at 50 yards to shooting a half inch group at 50 yards.. now to get the Target down range and get loads dialed in..
another note on extended brush life I use carburetor cleaner to spray out brushes with after being in harsher cleaning solutions.
Glad it worked out!
But a more interesting experiment might have been to shoot before the final carbon-cleaning, and see if there was any difference in group size--especially with more than one group.
Might also comment that I watched the Hornady podcast, and their experience has been my experience: How much cleaning "needs" to be done for the smallest groups depends on the individual barrel, bullet, powder, etc.
Have also visited many pressure labs, including those of ammunition manufacturers who make far more than Hornady, and that's been their experience as well. Oh, and their testing is always done indoors, in very controlled conditions.
