New rifle breakin

[seitz 555]

Is there a procedure to do if you suspect a rifle was not broken in (don't know if that is the correct term or not), correctly. I had a friend who has since passed that was very particular with the break in of a new rifle. If you believe that a rifle was not properly given it's first start, is there something you can do to fix that situation ?

 

[instructor]

A standard procedure for braking in a barrel is as follows:
The procedure is a tiring one, but the results are worth it in my opinion and starts with shooting some 20 rounds with cleaning of the bore after each shot. Do not concern yourself with accuracy at this time. After some 20 rounds then shoot 5 rounds with cleaning after the fifth round and do this for three times or a total of 15 rounds plus the original 20 for a grand total of 35 rounds. During the 5 round phase you could monitor the accuracy of the rifle and the load at that time. Would point out that the number of 20 or the 5 sessions are estimates only as to the number for your particular rifle and would view those as minimum numbers to determine if the process is helping you or not. For my long-range rifles such as Palma matches (8, 9, 1000 yds.) would also use what is known as JB Compound which is a heavy grease with polishing grit embedded in it and that is the final step, or it was for me. David Tubbs sells a series of bullets that are embedded with a polishing compound ranging from heavy to light polishing and have not used it but hear good results from it. Tubbs is a champion shooter and offers good products, Google him for his web site if you wish for full explanation of his approach to breaking in a barrel. There are those that say that breaking in a barrel is a waste of time and wears out a barrel. I am not a fan of that school of thought and used only quality barrels of either Krieger or Douglas and found the break in period does indeed help to reach that goal of sub minute accuracy regardless of range. Speaking from my experience for breaking in a barrel.
Best of luck to you.

 

[seitz 555]

Instructor,
If memory serves me well, that is about the description he used to preach. It was lengthy and involved an awful lot of cleaning patches and time. Thanks for your time and help, it took a while for you to type in that answer.

 

[hittman]

Holy cow! That IS a lot of work.

May be safe to say about 1% of all rifles made have gotten that treatment.

 

[seitz 555]

For my friend, it was over a 2 day process.

 

[Montelores]

I am curious about the effect that this procedure has on the barrel.

New guns, I clean the heck out of the barrel before first firing, just my habit. I do understand that most new guns have already been fired at the factory.

I was wondering if the difference is measurable, broken-in vs. non-broken-in, and it seems that the issue is the build up of copper in the throat, which becomes more difficult to remove after more accumulation.

I went to the Krieger website (I'm not this kind of a rifle shooter, BTW, just curious -), and found this explanation:

BREAK-IN & CLEANING:

With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these reamer marks.

Because the lay of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, very little is done to the bore during break-in, but the throat is another story. When your barrel is chambered, by necessity there are reamer marks left in the throat that are across the lands, i.e. across the direction of the bullet travel. In a new barrel they are very distinct; much like the teeth on a very fine file.

When the bullet is forced into the throat, copper dust is removed from the jacket material and released into the gas which at this temperature and pressure is actually a plasma. The copper dust is vaporized in this plasma and is carried down the barrel. As the gas expands and cools, the copper comes out of suspension and is deposited in the bore. This makes it appear as if the source of the fouling is the bore when it is actually for the most part the new throat.

If this copper is allowed to stay in the bore, and subsequent bullets and deposits are fired over it, copper which adheres well to itself, will build up quickly and may be difficult to remove later. So when we break in a barrel, our goal is to get the throat "polished without allowing copper to build up in the bore. This is the reasoning for the fire-one-shot-and-clean procedure.

Every barrel will vary slightly in how many rounds they take to break in For example a chrome moly barrel may take longer to break in than stainless steel because it is more abrasion resistant even though it is a similar hardness. Also chrome moly has a little more of an affinity for copper than stainless steel so it will usually show a little more color if you are using a chemical cleaner. Rim Fire barrels can take an extremely long time to break in, sometimes requiring several hundred rounds or more. But cleaning can be lengthened to every 25-50 rounds. The break-in procedure and the cleaning procedure are really the same except for the frequency. Remember the goal is to get or keep the barrel clean while breaking in the throat with bullets being fired over it.

Finally, the best way to tell if the barrel is broken in is to observe the patches; i.e. when the fouling is reduced. This is better than some set number of cycles of shoot and clean as many owners report practically no fouling after the first few shots, and more break-in would be pointless. Conversely, if more is required, a set number would not address that either. Besides, cleaning is not a completely benign procedure so it should be done carefully and no more than necessary.

https://www.kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin

Monty

 

[The Norseman]

My break-in process is lengthy too, because
of that I take several guns to the Range.

Short version: All screws inch pound torqued
correctly, I shoot 3, foam bore clean, 2 oil
patches, for 20 cartridges/more.

Along version, I cleaned the copper out of the
bore with my routine of three 30min foam
cleaner pushes (well used wore down
caliber bore brush & small patch) and two
final lightly oiled patch pushes (synthetic motor oil).

All done through the rear of the action never muzzle,
unless a lever action (then done very carefully).

Chamber cleaned with needle eye patch
holder and semi-tight patch. You can
figure that out.

No more jamming tight fitting brushes and
scraping rods on muzzle and inside bore.

The final oiled patches help clean and lays a
protective oil barrier down on bore and readies the bore metal to metal contact with
the bullet. Just like machining metal.

This routine has worked very well on three
rifles, so I clean all my rifles like this now, foaming and oiling.

I would keep it simple, unless you run into
some unforeseen trouble.

 

[wv.citybilly]

Barrel Break-in Procedure

 

[krw]

You need to get on some precision rifle websites and read about breaking in new bbls. Gazillion different opinions. From ky real world experiences, lots diff between factory bbls and custom hand lapped bbls too. I answer to question, clean the bbl and shoot it!!

 

[instructor]

As witnessed here not all shooters practice break in periods of their rifle barrels and if that is good to go for them, so be it. One has invested considerable money in a fine long-range rifle and for me to take the time to do the process it is well worth it. I have shot NRA long range matches for nearly 50 years and finally achieved High Master rating and would point out such shooting is prone, shooting mat, sling, micrometer rear peep sight and globe front sight. No optics and no artificial rests are permitted for those items are reserved for F class shooting. For the task of cleaning the bore after shooting I found that while shooting at Camp Perry for quite a number of years it was a common thing that very few had a super clean barrel for those matches. A bit of fouling gives more consistent performance than a super clean bore especially if there are no sight in shots permitted. More barrels are damaged by improper cleaning steps than actually shooting the rifle I have been told by quality gunsmiths.

 

[Mobuck]

I've done the 'break in' both ways--shoot and clean for several shots and so forth or just blast away. It doesn't hurt anything to spend a little time shooting and cleaning for the first few shots--my preference BUT it may not be worth the time/effort to go through the tedious and costly multi-day ritual of extended breakin process for a $100-200 barrel.
I don't bother doing a specific break in of AR barrels although I would recommend limiting initial shooting to 10-15 shots before cleaning. The TC Compass II 6.5 that I brag on is scary accurate--I shot it 8-10 shots per session for the first 40+shots. I wouldn't call that a 'break in' but it worked fine.
I don't recommend the 'shoot it until it smokes' break in procedure but I've seen some very accurate barrels than began life in this way.

 

[mikem2]

All great info.

Barrels differ.

Savage rifles shoot better dirty, cleaning opens up groups until the barrel has 10 - 20 rounds through (5.56, 7.62x39, 308).

Ruger RARs, are accurate dirty or clean

Ruger M77s, are accurate dirty or clean

Ruger #1s, finicky accuracy, unless squeaky clean and forend to receiver/barrel float

Remingtons, depends…

Barrel break in option
5 rounds, brush/clean/lube/cool to ambient temp
4 rounds, same
3 rounds, same
2 rounds, same
1 round, same

Each rifle is different,

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

I'm a firm believer in braking in a barrel for all .22 centerfire varmint & target rifles. It makes future barrel cleaning so much easier IMHO.

 

[seasterl]

Before I decided to shoot IHMSA, I had already given a big down payment toward the build of a formal Benchrest rifle (6PPC, right hand bolt, left feed, bottom drop / eject). I was geared up with reloading gear to do all the little things to get accuracy to be competitive. (I was coached by several guys that competed nationally in the class.). As much fun as I expected it to be, I decided to back out of my plans due to the extremely high amount of time and effort to get the satisfaction I wanted, not to mention a lot of formal Benchrest shooters I talked to were retired and travelled from venue to venue across state lines and I knew I didn't have that much time with a busy job. With IHMSA, even though I still put a lot of time into case prep, loading, and cleaning, the enjoyment I derived was extremely high and the venues were closer. I say all this support the idea that IF you want to have an accurate, competitive rifle (that you paid big bucks for), you'll have pay extra attention to lots of little things like manufacture-suggested barrel break-in and cleaning techniques as well as your load development techniques. It would mean the difference between a great finish and "also competed". But hey, sometimes just having fun is more important than accuracy, especially if going after that last 10% costs you excessive time from other things you'd rather do. Sorry to ramble and get a little off-topic, but when I read your post, it brought back a lot of old memories.

 

[beentheredone]

Most "Break-in" methods are simply ways to wear out a barrel quicker. Buy it, clean it, shoot it -- break-in accomplished.

 

[OM41]

I like Gale McMillian's method.

 

[FlyingZebra]

It depends on whether you have a bull barrel or a cow barrel...

 

[57springer]

I see there are many opinions on this subject , it will make for an educational thread .

 

[The Preacher]

Buy it. Clean the bbl. Pull the stock. Check for "anything" and clean up. Replace barreled action. Check all screws. Sight in. Shoot a few groups to check loads. At home clean the bbl. Repeat as load development progresses... When you find your load "proper barrel break-in" is complete..... Other than that; it's your time and money.

Preacher