how many of you break in your barrels?

[Joe S.]

Never done this before and never really noticed a difference in accuracy (I'm not a target shooter), but I promised my buddy I would just to see. Put 10 rounds thru irt a couple weeks ago. Shoot, clean, shoot, clean, etc...

Now finally have some free time so here I sit with my 20 round box of remington UMC ammo. Bout to shoot round 8 as the barrel is now cooled. At round 16 for the rifle I started cleaning every other shot.

Just wondering if this is necessary and when is good enough?

Think I'm gonna stop the cleaning between every second shot at round 20.

What say yall on this subject?

 

[mattsbox99]

Complete waste of time... I've done it and never noticed any difference.

 

[Snake45]

It's been pretty conclusively proved by now that this is a myth, complete voodoo. Don't waste your time.

A barrel may become "broken in" after several hundred rounds (or several thousand), but the clean-after-every-round ritual is a complete waste of time.

 

[pcgod]

I have done it and can't really say it helped the accuracy of the gun. I do believe it made the guns easier to clean and they seemed to have less copper in them. But not all guns just some.
I still do an abbreviated version and try to use some factory ammo during the process. This gives me a good feel for the gun and expected accuracy prior to starting the reloading process for real.

 

[Joe S.]

Cool. Thanks yall

 

[rugerjunkie]

The big thing I notice here is the ammo. When people break in a barrel it is done for hopes of the best accuracy possible and I would sure want better ammo than Rem umc if that was my goal.

 

[Joe S.]

Funny you mention that. I have a friend that shoots UMC exclusively in his remington 700. He said he gets better groups with it than any ammo he has shot. Including his own handloads. I've seen his groups. Can't argue with him.

But the supposed "purpose" of breaking in a barrel is to allow the barrel to heat and cool at a controlled rate, thus "heat treating" the barrel. and to knock out all the imperfections in the chamber and bore left at the factory. Not to get the barrel set up to a certain type of ammo.

Or so I thought???

I have my handloads and will be shooting match kings and either barnes or game kings for hunting

 

[cruzerlou]

Not to doudt any of y'all ,but Craig Brodingtion swears by it .I did it this way ,one shot ,clean, for the first 20 rounds .and the sighted the guns in .my Remingtiom M700 SPS in .308 would hold 3/4 " 3shot groups at 100 yds with Hornaday 150gr SST's all day long .My Weatherby Vanguard in .300 Wby mag avraged 2" 3 shot 100 yd groups no matter what ammo I ran through it. The test target that came with this gun had a 1 1/16" 3shot 100 yard group .Both guns were shot off of a Steady Rest rifle rest ,so I don't know if I wasted 20 rounds in each gun or not .I got one 3/4 " group out of the Weatherby the rest were all 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 .I expeced much better from the weatherby .
Lou

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

I have done it and can't really say it helped the accuracy of the gun. I do believe it made the guns easier to clean and they seemed to have less copper in them. But not all guns just some.
I still do an abbreviated version and try to use some factory ammo during the process. This gives me a good feel for the gun and expected accuracy prior to starting the reloading process for real.

Very good point! Its not so much to improve accuracy as it is to facilitate easier cleaning (copper fouling).
I have had the pleasure of owning 7 different .220 Swifts (down to two now) a .22PPC and a couple of .22/250's. I used the barrel break in method on all of them. There is a BIG difference in cleaning in my opinion,
much easier!!!
Terry

 

[Joe S.]

If it makes cleaning essier then its worth it IMO. we'll see

 

[PJR]

There is a range of views on this subject. They range between it being essential to ensuring the best possible accuracy from your rifle to a it being a waste of time and potentially harmful to your barrel. I'm somewhere in between.

I usually but not always break-in a brand new rifle. Clean after each of the first ten shots, after every second shot of the next ten. I don't know if it actually improves accuracy but it is a chance for me to get acquainted with a new acquistion and set it up to my liking. It's not an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon.

I always do it with a used rifle to ensure the previous owner cleaned it sufficiently. I've achieved accuracy improvements with a used rifle because the former owner didn't keep the bore clean.

If I thought it did any harm I wouldn't do it. But either way I am not convinced it makes much difference except with used guns.

 

[rugerjunkie]

Joe,

Good point. My reasoning with the ammo wouldn't really matter until it was broke in...

I don't do a strict break in regiment. I will clean while at the range but put more than one down range before I do. I will however clean a new one before firing it to get any gunk left over from the factory. That's about the extent of my break in.

Jeff

 

[6mmsl]

Shoot and clean the first 20- after that I don't shoot and clean at the range. I may shoot 20-30 rounds a session at the range and never found it necessary to clean at the range after -breakin. Some swear by breakin -some do not. I like to and do and it works for me. I don't think it has ever damaged a rifle all mine shoot and clean up good.
The heat treating idea does not make sense to me - I don't think you could generate enough heat with normal shooting to effectively heat treat a barrel at the range? Possibly some roughness in the barrel after manufacturing could be smoothed out- I just like the ritual and have always done it.Like I said works for me-
I get them home -clean them well-shoot and clean first 20-clean and head back out. I believe it takes 200 plus rounds to start breaking a barrel anyways.Mine have some small variances in accuracy until then. I also hunt with them dirty- 3-5 rounds at the range then go hunt.

 

[Joe S.]

I Hunt mine dirty as well. Get it zero'd and don't touch it til after the season

 

[patrickjames]

I run a patch of Wipe Out through the bore after I shoot it the first time. I don't seem to have the problem of copper fouling as bad after that.

 

[gunman42782]

I used the David Tubb firelapping kit to break mine in. I did see a small improvement in accuracy. As mentioned, the best thing about it is it will cut cleaning time a lot. My 77MK2 30/06 with ER Shaw barrel will clean up in half the time as my wifes 77MK2 in .308.

 

[mattsbox99]

I lap with JB Borepaste, firelapping is a little more than I want to do. 100 strokes and its all good. Easy as can be cleaning and no need to mess around with break in, and best of all it can't hurt your barrel or any other voodoo magic.

 

[6mmsl]

I use wipe-out as well. Great product. Also, I don't use brushes , really I don't have to with wipe out.
The idea with shooting and cleaning is to smooth the bore - brushing especially with brass bristle has the potential to scratch even if they are fine. This all leads to accuracy problems-learned all this from an old time benchrest guy . Made sense to me and all my rifles have been great.