Sep 22, 2014 4 min read

I’ve always said that its never too early to sight-in your deer rifle. That lesson was realized again by me during the spring when I checked my primary varmint outfit.

The previous summer, I had a great-shooting Remington chambered for my favorite varmint round, the .220 Swift. This particular rifle was topped with a 12-power Leopold, and with it, I shot less than 1/2-inch groups.

Using a 50-grain Sierra Blitz King bullet, my velocity was almost 3,900-feet per second. If I spotted a groundhog within 400 yards, it was in trouble.

Knowing how well this outfit was, I sort of ignored it while getting ready for the first hay cutting. I didn’t need to develop a load for the Swift – or at least I didn’t think I needed to.

As most know, ammunition and hunting components have been hard to get, so instead of shooting the Swift, I played with my other varmint rifles in the cabinet.

It wasn’t until the last week of May that I finally decided to check out the Swift. Using the same reloads I had shot the previous year, I put together my first group.

I sat there in shock. The rifle that had served me so well the year before, was now placing a six-inch group at 100 yards. I couldn’t believe it, so I asked John Dino to shoot a group.

The results were the same, another six-inch group.

Now I faced a problem. What was wrong?

Could the barrel be shot? I didn’t think so because they don’t go bad overnight. My experience is that a barrel will deteriorate slowly.

With that in mind, I started a checklist of possible issues.

I had eliminated one problem. I had another person shoot it and the result was the same.

Next, I turned to the screws holding both the scope and stock and action together. Everything looked OK.

Then I checked the hand loads. Were the wide groups caused by a reloading mistake?

I carefully loaded the empty cases again and headed to the range. Again, I got terrible groupings.

I had cleaned the rifle carefully before shooting it, but I figured I’d clean it again. Metal fouling doesn’t come out easily, so I soaked and scrubbed the barrel.

While some barrels do not foul quickly, those with faster rounds do. A faster bullet will leave more copper deposit behind. Also, a rough barrel that still has machine marks will foul quickly.

I have seen brand-new rifles that fouled in less than five shots. With that in mind. I cleaned the bore again. There was no improvement.

As I pondered the problem, I came back to the outfit and wondered about the scope. I thought about trying another scope, but hated to take everything apart.

I decided to try one more cleaning before pulling the scope.

This time I ran the bore cleaner through the barrel and left it sit for 12 hours to soak. Then, I used a bore brush and let it sit another four hours.

After that, I went back to the bench rest. The groups shrunk to the familiar one-inch size.

As I look back on the problem, I realize there are lessons to be learned.

First and foremost is not to wait until the last minute. That holds true in most instances.

And just because you’ve already tried one solution doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it again.

Just because you cleaned the darn thing doesn’t mean it isn’t fouled. Sometimes, copper fouling requires a harsh cleaning to remove.

When you’re faced with a problem, check the easiest and most inexpensive solution first. With the popularity of big cartridges, some shells seem to hold a coffee cup of powder. I would expect a lot of fouling in those instances.

My rifle required five cleanings before it was where I needed it to be.

I relate this tale of woe to alert and remind others to check everything out well before the rifle and outfit are needed.

George H. Block writes a Sunday outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.