Rifle barrel break in? Really?

Yes, some people break in barrels, some don't. Even barrel makers don't agree on whether or not it is necessary or if it has any effect on barrel life or accuracy. I do, others don't, but if you feel like breaking in your barrel do it.
 
First New rifle

Just brought home my very FIRST new rifle. I have a few used ones.

It is a hawkeye 6.5x55 (european distribution) and I do not plan on "breaking" her in. The swede round is not so hot that it will
burn a barrel in 1000 shots. I think any ballistic that in UNDER
2800 FPS is a no brainer, no break in, no problem round.
Moving a 6.5 caliber, 140 grain projectile at 2700 FPS is a mighty
potent missile. It is a nice average between a .2xx caliber 3000 FPS
plus and a .3xx caliber 2500 FPS minus.

I shoot .244, .257, .264, .284 and occasionaly a.30x projectile.
Those crazy "wild cat" derivatives in the low .2xx stuffed into
a obscene case are great, but my gunsmith charges a bit too
much to headspace a new barrel every 1000 rounds.

BTW, the new ruger Hawkeye trigger is really a step up from the
Mark II M77's. Those timney triggers got expensive !!
 
If you do a search for "Gale McMillan + barrel breakin", you'll find the opinion of the world record-holder in benchrest competition.

I never heard of barrel break-in before coming to TFL in 1998. But I'd been getting sub-MOA from my hunting rifles since 1950.

Whatever...
 
No thank you, I buy a rifle for $700.00+ I expect it to be ready to shoot and alread broken in as much as needed. Never followed a break in proceedure, and never heard of it until recent years yet as others said we've been getting sub MOA's out of rifles for years.
 
http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html

It's a myth said so from the man himself ^ (Gale McMillan) A lot of people do it because i honestly think it helps them sleep at night. But if you ask them how shooting a round, then running a patch with solvent on it through the barrel, alters the barrel to actually shoot better, well they can't give you a straight answer. Except for "it reduces copper fouling" which is true but has nothing to do with the argument. All in all it's just a waste of time IMHO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRahHX9Zkg

Ah i see Art beat me to it.
 
Barrel break in is neither myth nor hard fact and as usual most internet forums are fairly BS laden...this one no exception. I particulary love reading about my [fill in the blank] new gun that shoots 1/2" out to a mile all day etc. etc. Truth be told most guys have no idea what goes on in a barrel and would be shocked if they ever look inside one with a borescope. Some barrels, read, SOME barrels, even the best damned hand lapped match barrels, for some reason, foul like hell and lay down copper and for you scientists out there, no book ever written will explain to your satisfaction exactly why. You actually think some of the best shooters in the accuracy world of BR do this because they're superstitious? There is a fair amount of science that suggests in the forward part of a barrel, when it's new, tends sometimes to have a greater tendency to lay down copper when, through the max heat of compustion, the base of the bullet goes through somewhat of a plasma stage. This is all caliber, load, barrel, shot frequency, etc. dependant so there are lots of variables. The point is that a sane break in for the first 15-20 shots is decent insurance and take little time. Generally for a match barrel, lots of guys go 1-2 clean, 3-5 clean, couple 5 shots groups clean, good to go. The higher the pressures vs caliber size the more potential use this may be. Remember most BR guys push 6mm bullets in the 60,000 psi window, HV.22 cf's not far behind. Me, for what I spend on a gun for fun or competition, that 20 minutes out of the life of a barrel is not terribly inconvienient IMHO.
 
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Great post Tim S. Any inprovement in accurracy is subtle. And the vast majority of shooters including myself couldn't tell the difference in 1/2 MOA VS 3/4 MOA on a bet. But, I can tell the difference between taking a couple of patches to get copper out of a bore and taking ten. If your barrel picks up a lot of copper a breakin will help. I have done it enough to know.

I still don't understand what McMillans comments about his custom hand lapped barrels has to do with my off the shelf rifles.

And Mcmillan himself explained why a barrel settles down and shoots better if the throater has left a burr.
 
I break mine in as Bench shooters do. Time is on my side. Fouling is much less,cleaning is easier, Barrel has time to cool in between shots. does it make a difference in accuracy?. Can't answer that one as i have never NOT broke one in this way. I have heard both sides of the story and as said previous- There is only what you decide to do. One way or the other,it's all your choice.
 
Some barrels have burs left in them in a sense from a dull drill or whatever tool they use to cut the rifleing from what I understand and a couple of rounds are needed to burn/smooth them out and the barrel really starts putting out accuracy. Tendency for how dull the tool gets is up to the barrel manufacturer. So factory rifles yes there might be an exception, but IMO and just how I do it, most high regarded custom barrels do not need breaking in.
 
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Lathe? The only time a lathe comes into play with a barrel is when a chamber gets cut and crowned, which has nothing to do with barrel internals. Barrels are made in 3 principle methods, hammer forging, cut rifling, and button rifling, the second using a cnc maching doing 1 groove at a time, the third where a carbide button forms all internal lands/grooves in one sweep.
 
idk what I was thinking tried to edit fast haha, trying to plant beans and type on my phone, I can't multi task. So excuse my ignorance. That's where I understood the process came from though.

Just now realized this thread was started in 08
 
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Wow

Both of my new Colt LE6940s got a break in period...Out to Buffalo Chips Shooting Complex.Jun 2nd.Each one fired appx 250 rounds: consisting of FEDERAL 55GR 223,Federal 62GR 5.56 NATO GREEN TIP AND 55GR PMC one sighting in a Nikon 223 scope other one factory iron sights out to 100yds. Took our time (son and I) over the course of 4hrs...had the rifle range to our selfs...then both stripped down and cleaned..2 days later Jun 4th at the FUN GUN SHOOT outside Wall SD they both fired 1k plus rounds..half at full auto (Bump Slide).both right on target out to 200yds.Cleaned em up pretty the next day... Colts run strong outta the box (these two did).
 
My understanding,which could be wrong:
I spent years building and running plastic injection molds.I can tell you that even polyethylene,if it gets between the surfaces of the mold faces,will make 4140 steel look like it has been beat with a ball pein hammer.Soft plastic,under pressure,will dent steel harder than barrel steel.
So,what does that have to do with barrels?
When a premium barrel is lapped,that bore should be just fine,and there is nothing the shooter can do to improve it.That is what you pay the barrelmaker for.Also,the lap finish is the direction of bullet travel.So far,so good.
Enter the chamber reamer.Now we have some problems.it cuts across the direction of bullet travel.So it is unavoidable there will be some tool finish and burrs in the leade/throat of the barrel.(crossing the lands is an interrupted cut.It will drag some burr))
As the first rounds are fired in our new barrel,some copper dust/flakes/bits or cut/scraped off by the burrs and tool finish.Some of this remains in the bore.
As the next round runs over these particles,they can be pounded into,and leave an impression in,the nice lapped bore.
So.while "deburring by fire" and burnishing the throat/leade areas,(cut by the chambering reamer,not the barrelmaker),it may be beneficial to clean the copper bits out before shooting the next bullet over them.
It makes sense to me,and I do a clean routine for the first 20 rds or so.
 
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I havent decided what to believe about barrel break-in procedures just yet. As we can see, there is a lot of conflicting information with some very credible sources to claim that it is unnecessary. There was a posting on here from a couple of years ago citing an article about Hart and Shilen barrels among others. I am not saying that I think it helps or hinders but playing as the devil's advocate, I did run across an article written by Dan Lilja from Lilja precision barrels saying that he recommends a barrel break in.

Here is the link:

http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/barrel_making/barrel_fouling.htm

So we have some credible barrel makers on both sides of the argument. I just thought that was interesting.
 
I have a bushmaster .223 with a 24 inch barrel. It was broke in by cleaning every shot for the first 20. Then every other shot for the next 20. Then every 4 shots until you get to 80 shots. I am proud to say the rifle shoots dime sized groups at 100 yards, and at 50 yards I once hit the primer of a .223 and set it off! All in all, yes its a pain in your keister, but it will double the accurcy of the rifle. I garrantee it.
 
Think about it like this>>>>>>It's hard to believe that a barrel that's rated for thousands of rounds can be influenced by the first 10 or 20.......:eek:
 
I don't know if this will get you there as a link,but Krieger bbls has an explanation on their site under barrel break in and cleaning.
http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/Break_In__Cleaning-c1246-wp2558.htm
Badger barrels along with Northern Competition,makes a similar suggestion for a break in process.Once again,its not so much about the bore on a lapped barrel,it is about the imperfections left by the chambering reamer.
Y'all do whatever makes you happy.
 
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