Don’t Hunt With A Clean Rifle Barrel
Something that Texas custom gun maker Lex Webernick told me years ago stuck, and has served me well on deer hunts all over North America the last 30 years: Know your rifle and when the barrel gets dirty enough to start affecting accuracy. For example, you shoot a lot at the range and find that your rifle starts to open up a group after, say, 20 rounds. I’d clean that rifle barrel after every 15 rounds, or five 3-shot groups. But I personally never take a completely clean rifle on a hunt. I usually run 3 shots through a clean barrel to dirty it a bit, that seems to be the sweet spot accuracy-wise, and then go hunting.