This.
I had never heard of de-coppering a barrel until about 30 years ago. Wow, what a difference that made. It still amazes me how few hunters know about the need to do this every couple hundred rounds or so. Sometime less than a hundred rounds. I once had a 308 whose groups would start to spread dramatically after only 60 shots. It would tighten right back up after de-coppering; I used a Barnes product.

I like a fairly light trigger pull-I shoot much better with a light trigger.Must be aware of that at all times with a round in the chamber,can be a tad dangerous.

Personally, for deer hunting, a three shot group(not ten shots) at a 100 yds that consistently stays around 1.5” is sufficient for me. 90% of game is taken under a 100 yds.

I am not saying a gun with great accuracy is no advantage Of course the better the accuracy is the better your shot should be ,But just speaking about me i am able to put 5 holes in a 2 inch circle without too much problem if I am set up on a benchrest .Now if I am out hunting many factors come into play .Shooting offhand, moving target, hurrying your shoot before the deer or whatever runs Minute of angle accuracy under hunting conditions I know I will never achieve

you can actually feel the constriction of the copper in some barrels , the patch is tight and gets looser farther down the barrel

if you build up copper because of a rough barrel , then you start sizing you bullets down early so that they are sloppy leaving the crown

it is a barrel constriction that you can clean out

some guns need copper cleaned a lot less
most need it after about 30-50 rounds from new then around 250 and it may go 3-400 then without build up again. all depends on the barrel

it can happen on 22s with lead I bought one cheap it shot a pattern you could hardly even see it had rifling , a good cleaning and it shot great

Lead is tough to remove. JB bore paste works pretty good

brass brush with strands of a copper chore boy wrapped around it helps some

they have some lead solvents out , never tried them but I have seen them advertised.

Yep all copper chore boy works great. Windex with ammonia works good for a bore cleaner. If copper or leading is real bad; plug barrel and fill with the Windex and let sit over night

Boy this is scary ...but ... I have to agree with Lefty. ......there I said it

Everybody's got their favorite caliber; it's like arguing trucks, or type of music. Pick a gun that you like, shoot it, then shoot it some more. Know precisely where that bullet is going to go at various distances. Use that gun for thirty years on paper and on 300 big game animals.

Jack

Bench shooting is not the best practice for shooting live deer.....I prefer to shoot sitting on my butt with shooting stix when hunting so that is how I target shoot centerfire. .22 I usually use a tree for a brace or free hand.

Had not shoot in quite a while and was able to visit a forum member yesterday and do some shooting. That went well, great range set up, good company and good times.....

I'm with left lane cold bore shot while hunting is the one to concerned with.imo also

I may have given up on that powder too soon. Focused too much on the 3 fliers instead of the group.

Learning to reload........that was a load ladder. Increasing in increments of 0.2 grains per round. I think the fliers started at the top end. Have since modified to process by making those cold shots and marking each hole made to ID the powder charge that made it. Was just shooting them over a chrony. Still do, but now mark the holes too.

But having 7 of 10 shots land that close........the middle of those ought to work. Move them left 1 1/4 inches and down 1/2 inch.......and lets eat.

If your gun is shooting with that consistent a grouping why not adjust the sights or optics and group them on the bull. - that's what they are for. See shooter's targets that have good groups all the time but not "zeroed" don't understand it. If you can't consistently kill game with that rifle how do hunter's do it routinely with a bow/arrow, lol. As Leftlane, I want to know what my rifle will shoot on the first cold shot as a second shot is very rare in our hunting. I also agree most hunters need better shooting and hunting skills than MOA accurate guns(though they are fun to shoot). I too have "seen" my sight age.

What powderand bullet was you working on? If i am shoots factory ammo anything under 1.5" I am happy with reloading I won't it under a inch. My buddy gas a savage high county 270 that will shoot .75" at 100 with h4350 and 140 grain eldx's. Every savage I have seen is pretty easy to work a load up for.

Most of the time it's just load development or seeing what ammo shoots better. If I testing box ammo or doing laid development I could care less most of the time where the group is on the paper as long as it's a group. Generally I shoot a group, adjust my sights shoot another groups ect ect. But again until I find a good load I'm happy with ,hitting the bull don't mean jack honestly

That was a Rem 700, 270 Win........IMR4955.......one of the Enduron powders now discontinued. Bullet was 130 grain Interlock.

Once a load is developed or ammo selected, I tend to sight them in centered 1 inch high at 100 yards. Then hold dead on any distance out to 200 yards, which is as far as that gun has ever shot a deer. And it's been doing it for over 50 years.

In my experience, using good quality rifles, bases and rings, scopes, and ammunition I have not had problems getting less than one inch groups at 100 yards. Many times one-half inch groups or a ragged hole. Remington, Marlin, and Ruger rifles. Some are factory stock condition. Some have been optimized. Only Leupold bases, rings, and scopes. Federal Premium or Hornady ammunition. Centerfire rifle cartridges of .223, 243, .300 RUM, and .45-70. In fact, the same applies to 12 gauge slugs shooting from a highly optimized Remington 1100. The guns are shot and zeroed from a bench in a Caldwell Dead Sled to remove shooter error. After that, when hunting the shooting accuracy is up to me. Whenever possible when hunting I use some method of steadying the gun - a Trigger stick, shooting sticks, the side of a tree, a backpack, or something else available at the moment.

As to hunting whitetail deer, sometimes the best locations are in the middle of the tightest nastiest cover where 30 yards would be a very long shot. Another great location is at the edge of nasty cover surrounded by more open woods where deer can be seen approaching or leaving the nasty cover. Nasty cover can mean blackberry islands, treetops left from logging, multiflora rose thickets, thorn apple thickets, overgrown apple orchards, swamps or marshes, or even standing corn. In these settings an accurate gun is important because of the necessity to avoid hitting an obstruction while hitting the deer exactly where desired.

I believe the mix of excellent equipment, preparation, practice, and skill result in success.

You know how many people don't know enough to let the gun cool down completely in between shots when sighting in. When hunting,,your first shot is always through a cold barrel.