It seems that for years folk have struggled with the cold, clean bore shot--when the answer to the issue has been handy all along. Just because someone is a pedigreed "match winner" that does not mean they have the market cornered on knowledge.
There is a way to get your cold, clean bore shot to land right inside MOA. The problems that most folks experience with CCB shots are compounded by obsessive/compulsive bore cleaning--never a good thing in my opinion. So if we assume that the shooter has learned the detriments of stripping every last vestige of fouling from his rifle's barrel, we can proceed farther toward making the CCB shot land in the group.
Here are some examples of CCB shots with one or two follow up shots...
This next target was shot during load development... powder charge for the 338LM load had been perfected, but seating depth had not been worked with yet... the CCB is low and right of the group center...
After altering the seating depth by only .005" (shorter), here was the result:
So it's very possible, with the correct handloading technique, to develop the load to the point that it'll put the CCB shot into the group. There's never a need--once you have the right load recipe--to fire a fouling shot or two, hoping to get the rifle to "settle down."
This is done with OCW load development (google my name "Dan" and "OCW" and you'll find the page)...
...OCW load development will include seating depth adjustments, or "depth tuning" as I call it--after the powder charge has been perfected. Many folks begin with an arbitrary distance to the lands (DTL) and stick with that, using the coarse adjustment of powder charge to make that particular DTL work. The DTL is the "fine" adjustment--the powder charge is the coarse adjustment.
Once you've settled on the load recipe and perfected it, it then becomes a matter of not performing "death by unga-bunga" on your barrel when you bring the gun home to clean it. Just because these harsh, aggressive bore cleaning chemicals exist that does not mean you need to attack your barrel to the extent that you can't see one whit of fouling on the patch. Todd Hodnett has much to say about this matter--and he knows that of which he speaks, so objections to this barrel cleaning philosophy will be hard to bolster in light of the evidence. He's seeing thousands of rounds of good accuracy from 338 Lapua Magnums--whereas many others don't get near that much. Too much obsessive bore cleaning appears to *shorten* barrel life.
Our Practical Long Range Rifle matches are designed on the philosophy of
first round hits. Each competitor has 5 shots he can take at each stage. The plate only needs one hit for score. A first round hit scores 100 points... for each additional shot needed to hit the plate the shooter loses 10 points.
In real world scenarios, one never really gets the opportunity to shoot 5 or 10 shot groups on anything. Game animals aren't going to stand there and let you plink away at them just so you can get a good aggregate.
One shot, one kill... should be the mantra of practical riflery, and our course is designed on that philosophy. Here's how we do it...
http://bangsteel.com/Rifle_Matches.php
Dan