'Breaking In' New Pistol Barrel

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dmc235

Inactive
I'm finally going to the range tonight with my USP 40 and I'm interested in your opinions on "breaking in" the barrel.

I read an article in Handgunner or some other mag about shooting 1 round, cleaning the bore, repeat about 5 times, then shoot 3 rounds, and clean the bore and repeat, move up to about 5 rounds... well, you get the idea.

Is this really necessary? The article was about Thompson Contenders and "high performance barrels" or something like that, but I'm wondering how much concern I should have on my HK USP. I call it a "high performance" gun, or at least "high quality"!! I'd like to get the most out of it, but I don't really wan't to stand there on the range and look like a fool (while I pay for shooting time) !!

What do you think??
 
Breaking-in while useful for rifles and certain pistols like the Thompson Contenders (some say it's not even really needed there) is certainly not necissary for your average pistol like the USP's, glocks etc.
 
shoot 1, clean... is only applicable to rifle barrels and premium T/C barrels. It will make cleaning those barrels easier after broken-in and in some cases will improve accuracy.
 
I've taken a middle approach. I clean and lube before I shoot. Then I shoot 50, clean and shoot another 150. Then do a full cleaning, including mags. Then I'm done for the break-in.

Today, I just broke-in by new USP9. Gawd, is that thing accurate. Loud (they all thought I was shooting a .40) but accurate.
 
Well, I just got back from the range with my new USP .40. I shot 30 rounds, so that's good enough.

By the way, I shot EXTREMELY accurate with the USP! I couldn't find the first round on the paper so I pulled it back, and it was about 5mm from the "X". That was offhand at 20 ft.

This H&K is great!
 
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