Hunting Tip: How to Plot Your Cold Bore Point of Impact
Commonly, hunters won’t have the ability to fire one or two fouling shots before heading out on a hunt. Therefore it’s important that a hunter understands how his rifle shoots with a “cold bore shot”. Both the point of impact (and possibly velocity), may be different with a cold bore than with a barrel that has been warmed and fouled with a series of shots. In this video from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), you’ll learn how to determine your cold bore point of impact (POI) for a rifle that just been cleaned, as well as the cold bore POI with a barrel that has already been “fouled in”.
SGT Joe Hein of the USAMU shows how to plot cold bore POI with both a clean bore and a fouled bore. Note that the “cold bore” shot from a fouled barrel was closer to the follow-up shots than the cold bore shot from a clean barrel. This is typical of many factory barrels. SGT Hein provides a simple way to understand your rifle’s cold bore performance. Hein’s advice can keep you from missing that long range shot at that big buck on opening day. A little time spent on the range before that critical first shot will help ensure you have meat in the freezer this season.
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Tags: Cold Bore, hunting, Point of Impact, USAMU
As correctly surmised, the first shot from a clean cold barrel prints differently.
I experimented for a long while to come up with some product which I could “treat” my bore with after cleaning and oiling it, which would allow me to maintain the same/very close to the same zero as my fouled barrel.
After much experimenting, I found that PROLIX did just that. I understand that if left for a long while Prolix can cause some rust, but if it is used a little before firing, the benefit of the same zero is for all to experiment with in their rifles.
Thank You
My solution is to clean bore to metal & after a wash with alcohol, dry burnish in WS2. I store all my bores dry like this.
With cold-bore load development, and this pre-fouling, my 1st shot can be counted on as good as any further.
I use boron in alcohol to coat the bore after cleaning. The first shot is within 1/2″ of the group in my factory guns.
I have not had issues with cold bore shots after using Patch-Out.