too clean???

[375hh1973]

Today 9-17 is the opener of an early doe season in certain counties in Michigan on private land. I had been invited to hunt a small piece of property owned by my buddy's father so I figured that I would hit the range in the morning to check zero on my TC Omega .45 SS/Syn and then hunt the evening. I am glad I did. Understand that with 110 gr of loose 777 and Hornady .40 cal sst 200 gr sabots this is a very consistent 1.5 inch gun. My first 4 shot group looked like I shot a load of 00 buckshot at the target. We are talking 6+ inch groups. Hmmmm. Next group was about 4". By this time I am checking mounts (Leupold Dual-Dovetails), making sure that yes the brand new 777 I had purchased was 3f not 2f, scratching my head. I have always used the same powder measure, same wet patch followed by a dry one between shots, same pressure on seating, etc... Anyway the 3rd group was 2.5" and then the 4th group was 1.5" dead center at 100yds. Shot one final shot to make sure, dead nutz, 100yds. That got me thinking- Every year after the December muzzle gun season I run a brush with TC #13 bore cleaner a few times, run a dry patch, then run a patch loaded up with TC Bore-Butter. Never had any rust, always worked fine. Last year I was cleaning my other deer rifles with my usual Shooters Choice and Barnes CR-10 and decided to clean the Omega the same way. I got that thing CLEAN. I am talkin mirror finish here. That is the only thing that was changed this year. So my question is- can you get a gun too clean??? As it turned out I shot a big doe, the bullet went right where I aimed. Will post that in the hunting section.

 

[1Shot]

Your problem may be that your sabot is just a might too small for a very clean barrel. When you shoot it a few times the plastic from the sabot will leave deposits in the bore that you can not really see with your eyes. Once you get a plastic film on the bore it tightens up the gas seal and your groups tighten up.
I once cleaned the bore on a custom Rem 700 with a Shilen SS barrel in 25-06 that would shoot one hole groups at 100 yards really clean with Hoppe's Bench Rest Copper remover bore cleaner and like your rifle it shot patterns not groups. It took almost a box of rounds to get it to shoot good again. I have cleaned the rifle with different brand copper cleaners since then and never had any trouble. Some rifles are like women. They want only what they want, not what you want to give them.

 

[JD338]

I use T/C Bore Butter to season my bore. It might be worth a try.

JD338