Barrel break in
- Thread starter davis21b
- Start date
If you're going to do a 'classic' break-in, you will fire 1-3 shots, then clean the barrel thoroughly (not just powder solvent/ but a heavy-duty copper-cleaner as well).
Then 5 shots and another solvent/copper cleaning session
Then another 5-10 shots (etc/copper etc)
And another 10-20..... (you get the picture)
The bore snake aspect sorta gets lost in the wash here when you consider you need to soak the bore for 10-15 minutes in powder solvent (MPro-7 or KG-1) and then scrub/patch it out dry/ditto with copper solvent (I recommend KG-12 only).
After this first "break-in" session the bore snake is just fine as final clean-out, while still using (at very least) a pull-through cable to soak the bore w/ solvent/semi-dry it out/apply final BreakFree CLP after the snake.
post script: The whole concept/utility of 'Break-In' on modern quality barrels is highly debated -- but gee,... it can't hurt
Then 5 shots and another solvent/copper cleaning session
Then another 5-10 shots (etc/copper etc)
And another 10-20..... (you get the picture)
The bore snake aspect sorta gets lost in the wash here when you consider you need to soak the bore for 10-15 minutes in powder solvent (MPro-7 or KG-1) and then scrub/patch it out dry/ditto with copper solvent (I recommend KG-12 only).
After this first "break-in" session the bore snake is just fine as final clean-out, while still using (at very least) a pull-through cable to soak the bore w/ solvent/semi-dry it out/apply final BreakFree CLP after the snake.
post script: The whole concept/utility of 'Break-In' on modern quality barrels is highly debated -- but gee,... it can't hurt
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I remember reading a long article here about how barrel break ins are a myth. I cant remember the exact wording but whoever posted it had done a vast amount of research. Shoot the thing and clean it when your done - that is how it has been done with many guns I own and the barrels are all fine. "Breaking in" a barrel - nonsense.
Two Ruger 10/22s bought at the same time. They are 5 numbers apart in serial numbers. One by myself and the other by my brother.
One was broken in by the "classic" barrel break in and the other was just shot until it needed cleaning.
One year latter one will shoot under 1 inch groups all day long at 50yds and the other struggles to make 2 inch groups with the same ammo. With both being shot by the same shooter.
Guess what one shoots the 1 inch groups.
One was broken in by the "classic" barrel break in and the other was just shot until it needed cleaning.
One year latter one will shoot under 1 inch groups all day long at 50yds and the other struggles to make 2 inch groups with the same ammo. With both being shot by the same shooter.
Guess what one shoots the 1 inch groups.
Darren Roberts
New member
What is your definition of "shot untill it needed cleaning"?
For purchsed rifles, if you clean your rifle after each use, and periodically if not being used, your barrels will be fine.
If you machine your own rifle and turn your own barrel...then yeah, I could see where someone might want to break it in.
I never have "broke" one in by a specific step by step process, and rifles I,ve had for several years still shoot MOA or Sub for their respective ranges.
For purchsed rifles, if you clean your rifle after each use, and periodically if not being used, your barrels will be fine.
If you machine your own rifle and turn your own barrel...then yeah, I could see where someone might want to break it in.
I never have "broke" one in by a specific step by step process, and rifles I,ve had for several years still shoot MOA or Sub for their respective ranges.
Barrel Break In is a myth...IMO and others.
http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html
http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html
warbirdlover
New member
I've found a new rifle either shoots good groups or it doesn't. Barrel break in wouldn't make any difference. You have a good barrel or a bad one.
But!!!
After I put the new Boyds stock on my Ruger 77 MkII the rifle that used to shoot good groups no longer did until I had it free floated, pillar and glass bedded by a gunsmith. So just remember the barrel is NOT the only part of the equation.
But!!!
After I put the new Boyds stock on my Ruger 77 MkII the rifle that used to shoot good groups no longer did until I had it free floated, pillar and glass bedded by a gunsmith. So just remember the barrel is NOT the only part of the equation.
arizona98tj
New member
Interesting story but it proves nothing, unless you can certify (somehow) that both chambers/bores were identically produced at the start. Just because they have a very close serial # means nothing. The barrels may have been made months apart....and pulled from a pile of barrels during assembly and marking.
Also the accuracy increase that most get from "breaking in" a barrel is due to a barrel being cut with a reamer with a dull throater leaving burrs that are smoothed out after 100-200 rounds or so. Custom barrels don't tend to have this problem, as factories let reamers go longer than your local smith would.
Another note how does running a patch through the bore with solvent on it, alter the barrel to shoot any better?
Another note how does running a patch through the bore with solvent on it, alter the barrel to shoot any better?
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Gale McMillans advice. Taken from an early post here.
Posted: 01-25-2000 05:19
I just read the Feb edition of rifleman. No wonder it has shrunk to a few pages when they print such garbage as the barrel break in. It's lucky it doesn't
have much following now. As a life member and a barrel maker of long standing be assured I will call them on this BS!!! I can say that there are enough
barrels ruined by ignorance without encouraging the masses to commit mechanical suicide with such BS
Posted: 01-27-2000 08:57
I will make one last post on this subject and appeal to logic on this subject I think it is the height of arrogance to believe a novice can improve a barrel
using a cleaning rod more than that a barrel maker can do with 30 years of experience and a * million dollars in equipment . The barrel is a relatively
precise bit of machining and to imagine that it can be improved on with a bit of abrasive smeared on a patch or embedded in a bullet. The surface finish
of a barrel is a delicate thing with more of them being ruined with a cleaning rod in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to use one. I would
never in a million years buy a used rifle now because you well may buy one that has been improved. First give a little thought to what you think you
are accomplishing with any of the break in methods. Do you really believe that if what you are doing would help a barrel that the barrel maker wouldn't
have already done it. The best marketing advantage he can have is for his barrels to out perform his competitors! Of coarse he is happy to see you
poking things in your barrel . Its only going to improve his sales. Get real!!!! I am not saying the following to brag because the record speak for it' self
McMillan barrels won the gold at 4 straight Olympics. Won the Leach Cup eight years running. Had more barrels in the Wimbledon shoot off every year
for 4 straight yearsthan any other make. Set the national 1000 yard record 17 times in one year. Held 7 world records at the same time in the NBRSA .
Won the national silhouette matches 5 straight times and set 3 world records while doing that . Shot the only two 6400 scores in the history of small
bore and holds a 100 yard world record that will stand for ever at .009 of one inch. All with barrels the shooter didn't have to improve on by breaking
them in.
Posted: 01-25-2000 05:19
I just read the Feb edition of rifleman. No wonder it has shrunk to a few pages when they print such garbage as the barrel break in. It's lucky it doesn't
have much following now. As a life member and a barrel maker of long standing be assured I will call them on this BS!!! I can say that there are enough
barrels ruined by ignorance without encouraging the masses to commit mechanical suicide with such BS
Posted: 01-27-2000 08:57
I will make one last post on this subject and appeal to logic on this subject I think it is the height of arrogance to believe a novice can improve a barrel
using a cleaning rod more than that a barrel maker can do with 30 years of experience and a * million dollars in equipment . The barrel is a relatively
precise bit of machining and to imagine that it can be improved on with a bit of abrasive smeared on a patch or embedded in a bullet. The surface finish
of a barrel is a delicate thing with more of them being ruined with a cleaning rod in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to use one. I would
never in a million years buy a used rifle now because you well may buy one that has been improved. First give a little thought to what you think you
are accomplishing with any of the break in methods. Do you really believe that if what you are doing would help a barrel that the barrel maker wouldn't
have already done it. The best marketing advantage he can have is for his barrels to out perform his competitors! Of coarse he is happy to see you
poking things in your barrel . Its only going to improve his sales. Get real!!!! I am not saying the following to brag because the record speak for it' self
McMillan barrels won the gold at 4 straight Olympics. Won the Leach Cup eight years running. Had more barrels in the Wimbledon shoot off every year
for 4 straight yearsthan any other make. Set the national 1000 yard record 17 times in one year. Held 7 world records at the same time in the NBRSA .
Won the national silhouette matches 5 straight times and set 3 world records while doing that . Shot the only two 6400 scores in the history of small
bore and holds a 100 yard world record that will stand for ever at .009 of one inch. All with barrels the shooter didn't have to improve on by breaking
them in.
Oh boy...
Do I now presume that normal cleaning (which all that "break-in" is, other than that cleaning taking
place with greater care -- and in sequence -- with the first several dozen shots) inflicts some damage
greater than the first several hundred high pressure/high speed bullet rounds?
As to the opinion of expert barrel-makers, John Krieger provides the most common sense... as noted in a post above, and again below.
http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/Break_In__Cleaning-c1246-wp2558.htm
.
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Every time I go to the rifle range there is some poor sap sitting there with sweat on his brow doing a "barrel break in". I just sit there and enjoy shooting my rifle. I don't ask what they are doing... I don't give my advise or opinion, I just do what I came there to do.. enjoy myself.
If they ask me while I am measuring and recording my group sizes what I did to break my barrel in, I tell them I sighted it in... and cleaned it before I put it away.
Every time you fire your rifle that rifling is degrading, so why pump extra rounds through it. Every time you improperly clean it with some cheap Hoppe's kit cleaning rod with out a proper guide, you degrade that barrel a little more.
Just shoot the damn things and have fun with it, clean it when you go home.
If they ask me while I am measuring and recording my group sizes what I did to break my barrel in, I tell them I sighted it in... and cleaned it before I put it away.
Every time you fire your rifle that rifling is degrading, so why pump extra rounds through it. Every time you improperly clean it with some cheap Hoppe's kit cleaning rod with out a proper guide, you degrade that barrel a little more.
Just shoot the damn things and have fun with it, clean it when you go home.
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
Don't you just hate when two recognized experts have polar opposite opinions?
I'm in the "can't hurt, might help" camp.
"Can't hurt", if you know how to clean a gun. If you don't, why are we talking barrel break-in? Learn how to clean a gun first.
Might help, for all the reasons in the link above.
I'm in the "can't hurt, might help" camp.
"Can't hurt", if you know how to clean a gun. If you don't, why are we talking barrel break-in? Learn how to clean a gun first.
Might help, for all the reasons in the link above.