Barrel Break In: Visible copper in rifling

J

jsr75

New member
Hello All-

Just started to break in the new Rem 700 LTR. Currently on the fourth round due to time constraints. Prior to break in I managed to get 99% of all visible copper out of the bore with the use of Hoppes 9 and Sweets and an ever so small amount of JB. Between shots I've cleaned with Shooter's choice to the point where a wet patch came out clean. BUT, upon visual inspection of the muzzle end I can see trace amounts of copper. Several reapplications of Shooter's Choice still does not lessen what I can see. My question is: Is it absolutely necessary to get every last bit of copper out of the bore between shots? Or is getting 90%+ adequate for my non-match barrel? Any help would be much appreciated.

TIA

-jsr75
 
All I can offer is my experience with my own rifles. I never heard of breaking in a rifle barrel until I came to TFL. You can hunt up Gale McMillan's comments on break-in via the "Search' feature.

After 30 years of mostly cleaning my favorite '06 and .243 with a patch with WD 40 and then a dry patch, I had a bit of degradation of group size. Getting to 1" or 1-1/4" at 100 yards instead of 3/4" with the '06 and 1/2" with the .243.

I used the copper-removing bore cleaner per directions. The next time I shot the '06, I was regularly back at 2/3" and got one three-shot group of 1/2". The .243 is putting three shots behind a dime, regularly.

My personal opinion is that barrel break-in is not worth the bother, unless you just want to increase the amount of wear on the barrel. All I've ever done is sight in, meddle with bedding if necessary, maybe work up a better handload, and go hunt or plink or whatever. I'm just stuck with 50 years of what works for me, I guess.

I am also of the opinion that if your patches are coming out without any hint of the blue of copper, you have nothing to be concerned about.

FWIW, Art
 
I have a 700 LTR in .308 that I've put a little over 100 rounds through and it does about .5 MOA easily. I didn't do any of the barrel break-in nonsense. Just shoot the dang thing, always use match quality ammo (Hornady 168g BTHP Match seems to work best for me), and give it a good cleaning at the end of the day. My 2 cents on cleaning:

- Lose the Hoppes and Sweets. They don't cut it, and will leave the copper remnants near the muzzle that you're seeing.

- Use Shooters Choice bore cleaner for general cleaning. Get a bottle of Barnes CR10 to clean out the copper. This eats up the copper that the Sweets doesn't handle.

- I always use a Dewey rod and Midway bore guide.

- I *never* put any kind of metal bore brush down the barrel. Only push soft patches through.

Barrel cleans up in a jiffy after a range trip.
 
Thank you both for the advice. I have to admit that the break in process has been frustratingly slow. How can I argue against 1/2 MOA? Thanks, Chessman. I think I'll follow your lead from here on.

Best Regards,

-jsr75
 
308 LTR

I did a half-assed break-in last week on my new LTR. I would still be there today if I followed some directions! Even now I still have copper stains in the muzzle.

But I got a three shot <.2" group! In fact after I adjusted the trigger, all grps were less than 1/2".
 
jsr75, Gale McMillan was to competition shooting what Earnhardt was to NASCAR or Michael Schumacher is to F-1 racing. From the standpoint of building rifles, he ranks with George Bignotti in Indy cars.

Art
 
Two things.

Butch's Bore Shine is pretty phenomenal stuff.

I use two passes of a clean bore snake (with Hoppe's #9 on it) as the last stage in cleaning my M1A before drying and oiling the bore. Leaves it really clean. Good idea or not?

Regards
 
Well, MY gunsmith, who got three out of the four "guns" at the NBRSA Nationals for 1999, sez to break in the barrel...

Butch's x 3
brushx10
Butch's x 3
dry
patch with sweets to test for copper (don't let it stand)
repeat if you see blue
clean with butch's x 1 and dry patches

repeat 1/shot for five shots

repeat 1/3 shots for 15 shots

You should be through.
 
http://www.compasslake.com/kreiger.htm

This is a link to Krieger Barrels where an alternative breakin theory is presented.

Their explanation is that breakin has more to do with the crown than the bulk of the rifle.


This probably makes little difference with my skills/near stock/cheap weapons - just wanted to present the link - either of these guys knows a lot more about guns than I do.


Battler.
 
Now this was the best and most informative post I have seen. I can just see myself looking like a total nit at the range with an AR, shoot, clean, shoot clean and so on.
I haven't ever broke in a handgun barrel and the barrels were great 5 or 6 years later. The Inaccuracy was on MY behalf.
 
Bogie said:
Butch's x 3
brushx10
Butch's x 3
dry
patch with sweets to test for copper (don't let it stand)
repeat if you see blue
clean with butch's x 1 and dry patches

repeat 1/shot for five shots

repeat 1/3 shots for 15 shots
Click to expand...

Actually, this only works if you do it during the second full moon of the month, and you MUST be wearing your Hagar the Horrible helmet-the one with the horns.

Honestly people, all this neurotic gun cleaning accomplishes nothing except wearing/damaging your weapons.
More firearms are destroyed by cleaning than by shooting.
 
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