Good morning y'all- looking for thoughts and advice. I have an old 1968 30-06 Belgian BAR with new Zeiss glass that I love to hunt with. The barrel can copper foul and mess up the accuracy on me easily. I do spend a fair amount of time cleaning it so it is manageable (but still annoying at times). When clean it will shoot 1" groups. My best accuracy has been with 168 gr. Barnes Vortex, but I'm willing to try other stuff too,.... any recommendations?

Well not sure about helping with fouling but in my hunting group we all use Federal fusions we get them for $20.99 a box at Runnings & has been consistent & have not had one bad round in two years 2 of us shoot the 165gr .308 & 2 shoot 165gr 30.06 worth a try our Rugers semi to like shooting them

I'd try the new American Whitetail loads, as long as they will cycle a BAR action. I've shot some in my .308 and really like it. Factory ammo is comparable to some of the best handloads these days, so I'd stay with handloads. If copper fouling is such an issue, then why use Barnes solid copper loads? You might want to try cast bullets instead.

Some States require lead free bullets to be used. Then you don't have a choice but if you can use a lead core bullet the jacket will be much harder and leave a lot less copper in your bore.

Another option for a rifle that has a rough bore is to have someone that reloads load up a batch bullets that are designed to polish the bore. Midway and Brownells offer them. They actually have an abrasive on them and you shoot the first 5, then clean, then second 5, then clean etc until they are finished. I think it is 20 bullet set. Your bore will now be smoother and less likely to pick up copper from the bullets.

There is also a chance that you have a very fouled bore and just needs a really good cleaning. There are electroplating cleaning systems or chemical cleaners that will ensure that all the copper is gone. I have been warned that the aggressive chemical copper removers really need to be cleaned out and the bore oiled to make sure you don't ruin a barrel.

Karl

Hi. New here, but I'd like to second what was said about Hornady American Whitetail. My wife and I gave them a try last summer and they seemed to shoot great out of all our rifles: a Remington 600 .243; a Savage II .243; and my 300 WinMag. We used them exclusively this year and the results were great. I took a WT doe and a decent mulie buck w/ my 300, and a mulie doe w/ my Remington .243. Holly shot a forkhorn mulie from 260yds w/ her .243 and dumped him. We'd had some trouble in the past w/ Remington Core Lokt bullets going to pieces out of the .243's but not the American Whitetail. We're using the 100grns and 180grns.

I have no idea how they'd shoot out of your BAR, but I just bought a Ruger American in a .308 - I ran a box of 165grn Hornady American Whitetail and couldn't get them to group. But I'd say they're worth a try in any hunting rifle.

Try Federal fusions in the American all of ours like the 165gr

I've been shooting my Remington 788 .308 rifle since 2013. Been using Remington cort-lokt 180 gr. ever since. Always works for Whitetail, bear & hogs, as well, no need to change.

My Browning x-bolt 308 loves 150 grain Federal fusion ,really work good on deer .