Barrel break in, how many rounds?

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

ripnbst

New member
To be clear, this is not another how do you break in a barrel thread. I do not wish to discuss procedure as there is more than enough information regarding procedure out there.

My question is, regardless of procedure how many rounds would you put down range before really trying to sight in for accuracy? Or really think that you are at optimal accuracy? Is it 10 rounds? 20? 50?
 
Zero.

I clean the bore to get any oil out, mount the scope, bore sight and start shooting. I clean it when it gets dirty or accuracy starts to go away.

Just shoot and clean normally. The compex procedures sometimes recommended are a waste of time. Often a gun will prove more accurate after a few rounds. It could be 20 or 100, but no special procedures are needed.
 
I usually meddle around with load development, looking for the tightest groups. I dunno. It might take fifteen or twenty rounds of thises and thatses before I get into the sub-MOA groupings. Maybe that many more; it depends on blind luck, usually. And decades of experience, I guess. Add in whatever tweaking might be needed in the bedding, and then testing. I've never really noticed any dramatic improvement, once I'm getting to sub-MOA.
 
I'm of the opinion that barrel "break-in" or "seasoning" is how a liberal would approach gun ownership. Things like this sound good and maybe give a warm fuzzy but there's absolutely zero reality behind it.
 
Sorry, what I answered wasn't exactly your question...the term break-in gets me going! :) As to your question, usually your best shots for accuracy aren't either a old or hot barrel. Number of rounds to stay within that depends on cartridge. The other factor there would be how far you spread shots out taking cartridge into consideration.
 
As I'm sure you know . There is great debate if barrel break in is even needed . I believe the lower quality barrels would not be hurt to be and may even benifit from a barrel break-in including chrome lined barrels . I have only did one barrel break-in and was sighting in the rifle at the same time I was breaking it in . I feel there is no need to just waste ammo . You might as well be trying to hit something while you break it in . If barrel break-in even works , It's not like the rifle isn't accurate right out of the box already .

That sure was a hole lot of words to say no more then 50 . When I did mine I used 20
 
I don't know of any top ranked competitor who breaks in a new barrel. All it does is wear out the barrel X rounds faster; factory or after market.
 
I often wonder if it is not so much a matter of breaking in the barrel as it is the whole rifle, getting the parts to work together, polishing the various surfaces that work with each other, etc. I am far from an experienced long range shooter, a few years ago I took one of my SIG SHR 970s-.270 Winchester-to sight in, the rifle was NIB, tightened the screws, first group at 100 yards about 1.5", next group 1.25". Perhaps advances in machine tools and techniques-CNC, e.g. allow more quality control oriented manufacturers
to achive finer tolerances, smoother surfaces, etc. Also different steels.
 
Factory barrel or a premium aftermarket barrel?

Factory barrels are pretty poor barrels compared to premium barrels. They are drilled, reamed, and button rifled, or they are hammer forged. Either way, they get no attention to interior finish, so they tend to be kind of rough. These are the barrels that may benefit the most from break-in, but deserve it the least.

Premium barrels are typically lapped to very fine microfinish and only need minimal break-in to burnish the interior. Your first sighting in session will break them in just fine.

I had never heard it called break-in, but 30 years ago when I bought broach-cut barrels, I was told to shoot and swab until the barrel quit shaving copper from the bullets, about 25-50 rounds. Nowadays that is called break-in, I don't know if we had a name for it back then.
 
Regarding broach-rifled barrels. . . . .

The ones made at the USA government's Springfield Armory for M1 and M14 rifles as well as the pre-'64 Winchester 30 caliber match barrels, when their teeth were worn down enough to have groove diameters under .3000" shot great from the first round. And the dozens used in 7.62 NATO Garands I've seen and had all had a lot of copper wash after 3000 to 4000 rounds of barrel life even when the copper all got periodically removed with non-embedding abrasives and non-corrosive chemicals. So, I don't think shaving, scraping or plowing off jacket material hurts accuracy as long as it's uniform around the bullets.

Regarding burnishing of premium barrels. . . . .

I've never had a premium barrel that needed any burnishing. They all shot great from the first shot down range. A good shot can sight in a premium rifle using premium ammo with one round anyway; maybe two if he's having a bad day. Even if the sight ain't aligned dead center on the target when it fires.
 
I offer no scientific supporting evidence, just my observations. Brand new Sako Quad in .17hmr, shot exceptionally good from the first shot. Brand new Sako .308 took maybe a box of 20 before I was getting good groups. Re-barrelled Sako 22-250 took about 100 rounds before I started to achieve small groups.
I've loosely followed barrel break in cleaning regime in some rifles, where in the past I haven't & have noticed no long term difference in accuracy between the 2 methods.
 
Always big debate over words and happen with barrels.

If you look at Bartlein site and other custom barrel sites they all recommend something different.

I follow Bartlein advise from their site

"The age old question, "Breaking in the New Barrel". Opinions very a lot here, and this is a very subjective topic. For the most part, the only thing you are breaking in, is the throat area of the barrel. The nicer the finish that the Finish Reamer or Throating Reamer leaves, the faster the throat will break in."

I'm sure I can do without that step and I know some that skip it but takes me just couple rds so no big deal breaker.

In the factory rifles who knows. You have factory rifles that sell with test targets and when I use to buy Rem 40x that came with two 5 shot test groups I'm sure they didn't clean between shots.
 
Bart over time I have for the most part come to respect your knowledge of barrels and shooting . However ( I thought you deserved a fancy but)
A good shot can sight in a premium rifle using premium ammo with one round anyway
Click to expand...

Com-on , one shot :rolleyes:. So you bore sight your new rifle how ever you please . Take one shot adjust your scope and your readdy to shoot the first round of the comp your in ? I've been real close in 2 shots and dead on with the 3rd confirming shot . Maybe one shot to be accurate enough to hunt dear or someting you got a nice size target to hit but to be dead on in one shot . I think that's one of those thing I would need to see to believe :)
 
Metal God, how well can you call your shots?

Oops, I forgot to mention. My one-shot (maybe two) referred to shooting from the standing position, 4.6 pound trigger, no rest or sling and apeture rear and post front sights. For example, an M1 Garand's sights with a brand spankin' new barrel that's not been bore sighted. It's a lot easier with a bolt gun and a scope.
 
Last edited:
I usually fire a shot just to see that everything is in working order. I have tried the one shot method before but always end up firing another shot or two just to be sure but it can work if you have a vice or something to lock it into. However if your rifle doesn't like that bullet/load you may be "zeroing" on a bullet that shoots a 6" group at 100 yards which can obviously cause problems. Besides I just can't stop at one shot anyway. Ammo was made to be shot!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top