Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB/MD - From C&C to Monolithic

John (and anyone else with tested experience):

There are basically two opinions (and seemingly no real consensus) regarding the switch from common cup and core bullets to monolithics, with particular reference to bore cleaning.

1. Clean to bare metal when switching from C&C to monolithics;
2. Don't worry about it and just shoot.

When it comes to accuracy, have you (or anyone else) tested the two opinions in order to verify whether or not it makes any real difference? If you've already written about it, perhaps you can point me to an article or book chapter.

Thanks, as always.

Mike

Have you tried it? Did they shoot as hoped/expected?

Mike,

I have tested it plenty. There was some truth to it with the early X-Bullets, because they usually fouled bores pretty, uh, solidly. But since the TSX and other grooved-shank bullets, both from Barnes and other manufacturers, I haven't seen much problem. A good example might be my Sisk 6.5 PRC, which I've used alternately with 127-grain LRXs and 129 Nosler Accubond Long-Range bullets. Groups very well with both without any cleaning, they shoot to the same point of impact.

John

MD, that has been my experience, too. I loaded some of the old Barnes X and the blue coated ones for a friend's 300 WBY way back when, and he got significant fouling from them.

I shoot a fair amount of modern monos now (Barnes TTSX and TAC-TC, Hornady MFX, a smattering of Lehighs and Hammers, and formerly some ETips as well, back before Nosler decided they were more valuable than gold) and never encountered issues with fouling or accuracy issues going back and forth between them, c&c, and cast in the same rifles. I work up and shoot both mono and traditional bullet loads for everything I have.

I'm not much of a bore scrubber, either. Usually I run a couple patches through them to clear the powder leftovers and call it a day.


TLDR summary... my answer is #2

I'll just add that even where this is a problem, DBC seems to mitigate the effects.

My experience as well....

👆👆👆

Though I will also add that the Lilja barrel on my 6.5 PRC has never been DBC'd. But Dan makes very smooth barrels....

The posts below answered his question without a round fired...

I shoot 95gr LRXs and NBTs interchangeably in my 6CM, different powders, but very nearly same POI and group sizes. I wipe out the bore at the end of the season and that’s it so far. Next time out, I’ll run the Garmin and see what I’m getting just for grins, but ignorance has been blissful so far.

I'm hoping, so we shall see...

I have been interchanging between Partitions, TTSX, and Federal TA in my .270 Winchester without any ill-affects.

I use various bullets that would include Barnes and Hammer monos, never had any problems going from C&C bullets to the monos and back again. I clean the bore periodically but never do it because I'm switching bullets.

While my experience falls far short of many here, I did start using the Barnes X Bullet in ‘91 in my rifle, and soon after in other rifles.

They indeed had a reputation for badly fouling bores, and accuracy seemed to suffer badly if the bore was not thoroughly cleaned from previously shooting cup and core bullets.

However, this didn’t seem to be a problem for my rifle……I strongly suspect that it was because it was a match grade barrel with a much better bore than conventional factory barrels. After realizing this, I began to hand lap all rifle bores that I planned to shoot the X Bullets in. I also convinced a friend to do likewise. While it didn’t make “target rifles” of the other rifles it reduced fouling and improved accuracy!

The newer productions from Barnes …..TSX, TTSX, and LRX (all grooved bullets) seem to have ended the fouling issues!

If fact, whether needed or not, after those experiences I now hand lap the bore of any new rifle we get….even did the bore on our 14” Contender! I figured that it couldn’t hurt! memtb

Agree with those swapping between C&C and Mono's. Maybe with the older mono's, but with the newer ones, no problem, IME.

I've used CEB, Hammer, Barnes and various C&C's interchangeably without noticing a fouling issue.

Most of my barrels are DBC and don't seem to have problems with excessive fouling regardless of bullet type.

DF

I give up… could someone decode and tell me what DBC is? thanks!

Dyna Bore Coat.

Works really well. Some say it's getting hard to find. I have a couple bottles in my shop fridge, not sure of the shelf life, but reportedly better if kept cool.

DF

thanks, DF!

Next dumb question is where does one find this stuff?

I went to Midway, Midsouth, Graf, and Blue Collar and did a search without results. Thanks!

As has been mentioned recently on this forum, DBC is pretty much unavailable. But apparently one of the guys who developed it for Dyna-Tek, Chet Fish, is making and selling a similar product, under the Jen-Tek name, in Polson, Montana. Google it, but be aware there are two companies named Jen-Tek. The Montana company is the one you want to contact.