Even I Didn't Know I Could Pitch Like That

Weekends are for shooting and having fun. They’re not for working. Yeah! Right!

Saturday I drug out an Eliseo Competition Machine I’d left uncleaned and neglected in the corner for the last four years. It had poked a few targets for me at a PRS one day match in 2022, then was unceremoniously overlooked for a few seasons.

I’ve taken up shooting these Dakota 600 matches lately and I thought the 6mmBR barrel on the tube gun would do really well, mostly because of the bipod Gary makes for it. This bipod goes higher and has more stability than a standard “under the chassis” bipod. Much of the stability comes from its wider stance, ski feet and how it circles the handguard in attachment.

The shoot is a couple of weeks away, but with the speed time has begun passing in my older age, a guy’s gotta get out ahead of things, sometimes.

The first order of events was to clean a barrel that hasn’t seen compassion for its lifetime. Twenty seven and a half inches of Lilja three groove barrel ending at .920” at the muzzle was getting 105 Berger Hybrids flying at 2850 fps from its treading/birth. But if anyone knows how to neglect stainless steel it’s Moi!

ThorroClean - the bore cleaner from BulletCentral.com - was invented by Chris Harris to help the Help Les overcome. Lyman bore scopes were invented to allow Les Site to be able to see if progress was being made. Less than fifteen minutes into threatening Lilja with a bronze brush she showed a shiny bore as if she was newly threaded/chambered and never shot at all!

So I put 1.25” straight 6.5 Creedmoor 30” BRUX in the cradle, stroked it, and minutes later it was shiny and bright inside, too!

Time has given us tools and help in so many ways. I remember Rick Jamison - technical writer for Shooting Times Magazine for many years - getting his first bore scope. He’d thought his rifles’ barrels were clean. Heck, he knew what he was doing! But he found out that every rifle on the rack was streaked with copper, some egregiously.

Today we can check it out with a bore scope for a reasonable price, getting instant feedback. We have cleaning products, like ThorroClean, which can strip what ails ya outta yer bore so quickly we feel remorse for not doing it on a regular basis. Well, remorse might be a pretty strong word for the Heart Les among us.