So I can't decide if its time to clean my .375 H&H (Vanguard DGR) or not. Groups of 3 and 5 shots have opened up into the 1.5" to 2.0" range from the earlier groups .75" to 1.5" range. Had a look down the barrel with my super high tech bore imaging technology; aka the angled flashlight and saw a little bit of "colour". What do you say time to clean or not?

Diet since the last cleaning
-118 rounds of Federal Blue box factory (270 and 300 grains)
-98? rounds of barnes hand loads (235, 300, 350 TSX and 270 LRX)
8 rounds Woodleigh hand loads (300 grain Hydro solid)





Just in case dear reader you are taking me literally, the rifle is now nice and clean after 5 or 6 rounds of wipe out.

That's a fair bit of Wipe-Out.

Yup lots of “blue soup” in the plastic tub I use to catch the fluid that drains of out the barrel.

Really glad there is wipe out as opposed to the old days of wire brushes, elbow grease and hoppes #9

Might not have taken that many rounds to copper plate like that. My 375, 458 and 500 copper foul badly after a dozen shots or so. I only use Woodleighs but don't know if they have soft copper or something that makes them foul worse than others.

Copper fouling can be easily replaced after cleaning.
:-)

Yes, if the accuracy has gone "off" it is usually a sign you need to give it a clean. Of course, if that doesn't fix things you may need to dig a bit deeper.

Earlyagain

That’s the plan 😃

Dan; I’m sure she’ll shoot fine. I don’t clean the bores on my rifles until precision drops off noticeably and to a rifle precision picks up after cleaning.

I had a .223 that would go 400-500 rounds between cleanings, lots of blue soup when cleaning that one as well.

I got a 1999 Ruger #1V 223 in 2007 for $500 mail order that had that much Copper fouling.
I cleaned out the copper and shot (6) groups.

The Ruger is good for a factory rifle.

Nah, let it foul until it turns green. Duh…..

A life without the fragrance of hoppes #9 just isn’t worth living.

I read an article on test comparisons for copper treatment bbetween popular brands. It was reported Ballistol had very competitive results on copper. Ballistol is part of my regular barrel cleaning regiment. I may not use a dedicated copper treatment again unless accuracy really goes south.

Yep. Clean it, then consider fire lapping it to smooth out/polish the bore/grooves.

"A little bit of color"." LoL, I'd hate to see it with "some serious copper fouling........"

Smokepole; 😃 I did understate things a bit...