Some years ago, I bought a Hawkeye in 223. Immediately started looking for the right load. The rifle would shoot a great group or two and then a bad one - real bad. I fiddled with the screws and the stock and shot it with a clean bore and a dirty bore, and got random results. It was the scope.
As for when to clean the bore, I clean when groups open up (now that I have a good scope on it). That varies with each rifle. Shoot them enough and you’ll know when it’s time.
