At the range prior to my Tikka .223’s first shot, I’ve been removing the oil leftover from barrel cleaning. But I’ve been reading about how leaving this oil in the barrel may help prevent copper buildup from the first few shots, and that some shooters will run a patch with traces of graphite down the barrel prior to shooting in order to also prevent coppering. Has anybody observed increased copper buildup or long tern issues from a dry barrel as oppossed to an oiled one or one with a trace of graphite for the first few shots? Thanks
First shot barrel oiled or dry ?
- Thread starter Fisher1
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This is rimfire section. Might want to get a mod to move it.
To answer your question, I don't think you can truly dry oil from a bore with a few patches.
You certainly don't want to leave much oil there as it can cause pressure issues and bore damage.
So my thought is to dry it but the residual oil might help with copper fowling.
To answer your question, I don't think you can truly dry oil from a bore with a few patches.
You certainly don't want to leave much oil there as it can cause pressure issues and bore damage.
So my thought is to dry it but the residual oil might help with copper fowling.
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Whatever lube you put in the barrel ain't gonna stay there long. If you have good barrel with a nice smooth bore, copper buildup won't be a problem. If you have a barrel with a less than smooth bore, nothing is going to appreciably reduce the amount of copper buildup. Shoot, I would argue that if your barrel is bad enough, some copper buildup might be good.
Clean it. Shoot it. When it gets to top accuracy, keep shooting it until the accuracy falls off. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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