What is your barrel break-in procedure?

M

Mark204

New member
I have a friend who is looking to buy a new rifle, the first one since I have known him. So I asked him what he does to break-in a barrel. He gave me the deer in the head light look and said He just takes it out and shoots it.

He asked what I do to break-in a new rifle and I explained how I do it. I clean after every shot, 1 through 5, after that it a cleaning after every 5 shots till I get to 50.

I explained to him the "why" behind doing it, but he doesn't seen to think it's necessary to go all through that.


I was hoping some of the members would share what they do to their new rifles/barrels. I don't want this post to turn into a "my way is the best way, the only way" type post. I just want him to see what we as shooters do to get the most out of our guns.


P.S. This is the same friend who was going to take a 9mm for bear protection, lol.




Here Kitty Kitty
 
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My McGowen barrel I had made was hand lapped and they still wanted it to be cleaned every shot for the first 10 and then every 5 for the next 50.
 
I agree with your friend.

I just take them out and shoot them and don't think there is any benefit to doing all that.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: Mark204I have a friend who is looking to buy a new rifle, the first one since I have known him. So I asked him what he does to break-in a barrel. He gave me the deer in the head light look and said He just takes it out and shoots it.

He asked what I do to break-in a new rifle and I explained how I do it. I clean after every shot, 1 through 5, after that it a cleaning after every 5 shots till I get to 50.

I explained to him the "why" behind doing it, but he doesn't seen to think it's necessary to go all through that.


I was hoping some of the members would share what they do to their new rifles/barrels. I don't want this post to turn into a "my way is the best way, the only way" type post. I just want him to see what we as shooters do to get the most out of our guns.


P.S. This is the same friend who was going to take a 9mm for bear protection, lol.




Here Kitty Kitty

I think one should clean a brand new barrel before shooting it for the first time. I also think it should be cleaned after a shot or two. After that, I think you should shoot the daylights out of it until the accuracy drops off, then clean it again.

Clean it means just that. Get it completely clean.

All that break in business is a waste of time, in my opinion.

Hope this helps.
 
Out of curiosity though, maybe explain the "why" to the rest of us. I've heard some fairly rational explanations, which, I, based on my own experience, no longer agree with them, but they are at least rational. But I find an awful lot of guys doing it and don't even seem to have much of an idea what they hope to gain from it. Or the explanation they give defies logic and rational thought.

Why do you bother with it? What good do you think it's doing? How do you think your procedure accomplishes this benefit?

- DAA
 
my way of doing things for a brand new rifle is,

take it home and run a few patches down the bore.

give it a good look over to make sure there is no obvious issues that stand out.

probably mess with trigger.

mount optics.

go sight it in and shoot the crap out of it.

never really believed in the break in train of thought.
 
Some manufacturers of rifles I have purchased, have stated in writing that the warranty will be void if the buyer does not follow the shoot 5 and clean to 50 shots then every 10 shots to 100.
I basically follow that cleaning policy as it shouldn't hurt anything.
Each new rifle I clean has a different level of contamination. Some obviously really need it. The groups sometimes tighten up sooner with cleaning.
Does it need it?
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Some manufacturers of rifles I have purchased, have stated in writing that the warranty will be void if the buyer does not follow the shoot 5 and clean to 50 shots then every 10 shots to 100.


how would they confirm if you did or did not?
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: tripod3Some manufacturers of rifles I have purchased, have stated in writing that the warranty will be void if the buyer does not follow the shoot 5 and clean to 50 shots then every 10 shots to 100.


how would they confirm if you did or did not?

I thought the same thing while reading it. Then I saw some of the crap that came out of a couple barrels. I have the time.
If the patch comes out clean initially, it just feels better.
 
Ok............Well I guess there's no truth to barrel break then, I've been misinformed before.

Disregard OP....go out and shoot the crap out of them.




Here Kitty Kitty
 
Originally Posted By: DAAI agree with your friend.

I just take them out and shoot them and don't think there is any benefit to doing all that.

- DAA




I agree. I read some where years ago a famous barrel maker ( can't remember who he was) said a well made barrel needs no break in at all.
 
I had never done a break in process before until this summer when I picked up a Savage 10 .308. The guy at the store said "Now make sure you break in the barrel". Having never heard of that before I asked how. His process was shoot 10, clean, shoot 10, clean shoot 10, clean, and it's broke in. I did it, but dont think it did anything.

I didnt bother to "break in" my latest rifle (Tikka T3 22-250), and I wouldnt be able to tell the difference.

Not sure if any of you guys know of this guy, but GunBlue490 on youtube, he's a wealth of knowledge about reloading, ammo, and guns in general. Nice fella, he's always provided well wrote out answers to any questions I've posted in the comments. Now mind you, this is just another guy on the internet talking, so I'm not saying his word is law, but if you watch a few of his videos he seems to know his stuff. He did a video specifically on the break in process. Link below, but the gist of it is that it's not needed.

GunBlue490 Gun Breakin Process

 
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my break in procedure for a new barrel - load magazine, empty magazine by pulling trigger, repeat as necessary. clean as you would every other gun you've ever fired.


i'd say its safe to say that >95% of shooters will never be able to tell the difference in one that follows some strict break in procedure and one that's just been shot. i mean, lets be honest here, when discussing firearms owners how many people can really truly say they shoot well enough, all the time, to be able to discern the difference - if there even is any gain to be had by it. My bet is that number is pretty [beeep] small.

just my $0.02 USD.
 
You know, over 40 years ago when I got my Ruger M77V .220 Swift I never heard anything about barrel break in. I loaded that ammo with the hottest loads that I could find and went out and shot the dog crap out of it. Right off the bat it shot five in a dime groups and it stayed that way.

Am I going to say that no barrels need to broken in? Heck no. For all I know there may be some out there that do. But I have never done it and never seen the need for it. I dont think that will change most likely.
 
The point in the video I linked to above that drove it home for me was this:

Copper and lead are much softer than steel. You're not going to wear down steel burrs with copper or lead. It's like rubbing a soft metal on a hard file. The softer one will always be the one that gets worn down. Guns are test fired at the factory, so anything loose enough to get removed by a bullet is already long gone. I definitely recommend watching that video.
 
Thinking you are "fixing" a new barrel that you have no accuracy data on seems silly. Clean it properly then shoot it and see how good it is. Then decide, acceptable or needs work.
 
I run a snake to clean out any gunk left over from manufacturing, quick clean on the action for the same reason.

And that's it. Ez peezy, go to the range.

I can't remember which barrel company is on record saying the only reason the give instructions is because no one that asked believed them when they said it wasn't needed.
 
Originally Posted By: Mark204

I explained to him the "why" behind doing it, but he doesn't seen to think it's necessary to go all through that.


I was hoping some of the members would share what they do to their new rifles/barrels. I don't want this post to turn into a "my way is the best way, the only way" type post. I just want him to see what we as shooters do to get the most out of our guns.



There used to be a couple members here who hammered, completely hammered guys for even considering breaking in a barrel, same thing on the Hide. You explained it well above, just because someone does it or doesn't do it, doesn't make one or the other right or wrong. Just because I use hand calls to kill a coyote doesn't mean the fellas using a snow machine or an e-caller are wrong, and it won't do any of us any good to [beeep] about it.
I personally think it aids in the ease of cleaning your rifle down the road, but have had no data to back the process aiding in making your rifle more accurate or "precise".
I'm 100% sure there are way more fellas out there who have killed WAY more than we have, and don't know what breaking in a barrel even is... Buy hey, I enjoy doing it.



 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: rush709 Guns are test fired at the factory,

i would bet there is more that are not than are.

By law they are required to have what as known as proof loads fired in them before they can leave the factory. These are much higher pressure than factory loading are and are designed to make sure that the weapon is sound and of sufficient strength before anyone buys it. I would bet that in today's lawsuit happy society that then guns are checked better now than they ever were on one time.
 
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