Is barrel break in a myth

Are you shooting a chrome bore or did you pay out the rear end for a hand lapped barrel?
If not, I would clean pretty often for the first few boxes at least till things get slick.
When every thing is said and done, its about fowling and some fowl worse than others. So, Yes, I feel there is something to it.
 
supposedly barrels travel more if you dont run them in. dont know how true that is but it doesnt hurt to do it. I 1 shot cleaned for the first 20 shots, then 2 shot clean for the next 15 or so, then 3 and 5 shot cleaned.

that may be going overboard but the only thing it wastes is my time and solvent, small price to pay overall really.

thats with my target rifles, i imagine a hunting rifle doesnt get used often enough for it to make any difference.
 
No , it isn't myth. Some barrels shoot much better after a break in period. The required cleaning routine might be a myth but break in isn't.
 
One day while I was at our local range a guy came in with a new rifle--uncased it and took one shot, then recased it and left--explaining to me that the gun was brand new and he was breaking it in. I guess he thought that " shoot and clean" meant shoot one at the range, then take it home and clean it. Duhh!
 
To each to his own.. it makes some people feel warm inside to "break in" their barrel. Fact of the matter is, that it is in by no means necessary, and does not effect the accuracy of your barrel. Ask yourself this, how would running a patch with cleaning solvent, physically alter a barrel to shoot better? It wont. A barrel is sort of like a processor in the fact that from the moment you fire a round through it, you're starting the degradation of that barrel. Same as a processor from the moment your power it on the silicon begins to degrade over time

http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html

Lmao this never gets old

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRahHX9Zkg
 
Barrels generally get best accuracy after 50-200 rounds. As far as the break in procedures? I don't follow them. How often have you heard of people talk about "new engine break in procedures" over the years?

Just have fun shooting. The barrel should settle in for optimum accuracy after a hundred or so rounds.

Jimro
 
That's generally for barrels chambered using a reamer with a dull throater leaving burr on the the riflings. Then you will see a increase in accuracy after 50-200rds, usually the amount it takes to "burn" or "smooth" out the burr.

But yeah just shooting it is the way to go. Also regarding cleaning, i used to clean after every shooting. I got tired of it and now am doing what most shooters do, when there is a degradation in accuracy.. clean it :D
 
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I bought my Vanguard brand new and the instruction of "Barrel Break in" came with it, so I went exactly by the numbers. I could'nt tell you honestly if it helped or didn't so I just say to myself that it sure as heck did,,,, otherwise I shot a hell of alot of ammo for nuttin. Truthfully though anytime I get to fire my rifles, itsno waste of time because we become better!!!!



P.S. I used the last part of my "break in" to sight my rifle in!!!;)
 
While you can show me a number of articles that say breaking in a barrel is a waste of time I can probably show you more articles that tell you to do it. Now I dont know if it is a waste of time or not, but what can it hurt?
Howa
http://www.legacysports.com/pdf/NewRifleBreakInProcedure.pdf
Savage
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/proceduresbarrelbreakin/
Shilen
http://www.shilen.com/faq.html#question10
Krieger
http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/Rapid...ommon/viewPage.cfm&PageId=2558&CompanyId=1246
Lilja
http://www.riflebarrels.com/support/centerfire_maintenance.htm
Noveske
http://noveskerifleworks.com/impdf/barrelcare.pdf
Badger
http://badgerdefense.com/closed/procedure.pdf
CheyTac
http://www.cheytacrifles.com/cheytac_barrel_break-in.php
Armalite
http://www.armalite.com/images/Tech Notes\Tech Note 28, Breaking in Match Barrels, 030205.pdf

http://www.idahoarmoryguns.com/uploads/IDAHO_ARMORY_-_BARREL_BREAK_INS.pdf

http://www.eabco.com/Reports/BarrelBreakIn.htm

http://www.centerfirecentral.com/barrel_break.htm

http://www.montanarifleman.com/New_barrel_break_in.pdf

http://www.larrywillis.com/Barrel.html

http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/breakin.html

http://www.accuracysystemsinc.com/Barrel_Break-In.php

http://www.rifle-accuracy-reports.com/barrel-break-in.html

And theres plenty more where these came from
 
As I learned in .50 cal long range shooting, EVERY shot breaks in the barrel and with every shot, the barrel changes. The first 10-100 rounds are not particularly special unless you are trying to blast out some imperfection such as a burr with bullets and then it is likely only the first couple of shots...and blasting out burrs is not considered to be a good idea.

Some folks call it "seasoning" a barrel. As near as I can tell, the "seasoning" disappears with each cleaning. As such, the issue is one of fouling the barrel for consistent shooting since the barrel will be fouled more often than clean when shooting, unless you are a bench rest shooter and clean after every shot.
 
Been shooting sub-MOA with centerfire since 1950. Never heard of "barrel break-in" until coming to TFL in 1998.

According to what Gale McMillan posted here, back a dozen or so years, one of his competitors in the barrel-making business dreamed it up as a way to get guys to shoot more, early on, and burn the leade faster than otherwise. This would let him sell more barrels to the bench-rest crowd. They're picky about group size, right?

So somebody hears guys talking about this wondrous methodology, and repeats it here and there. Some youngun takes it to heart, grows up and goes to work for Remchester and talks about barrel break-in. Next thing you know, it's in their instructions. So then somebody from Savage reads it and away we go.

Then comes the Internet and Oh. My. Gawd. "Everybody knows."
 
Now I dont know if it is a waste of time or not, but what can it hurt?
Click to expand...

I don't know if shooting on a Tuesday is better than a Wednesday, but what can it hurt? You should try it.

But if the month starts with a J, I prefer shooting the day after a full-moon because you know the earth gravitational pull may or may not be stronger than the day before, but what can it hurt? You should also try it.

Then my coup-de-grace - jelly filled donuts before range time is better than apple fritters.

Things work different here north of the equator.

All kidding aside, just load, lock, and shoot.
 
Ive heard of it and, I have heard of a lot of weird things to break in a barrel. My 2 cents is just shoot, shoot, shoot,shoot, shoot and shoot, then finaly clean with any good solvent and grease and or oil everytime your done with the range.
 
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