Breaking in

songdog

I know, i know. This has been asked before. I have read the threads that i can find about breaking a NEW barrel in. But i have just one question. When you start the breaking in process, is there an advantage over using a lighter bullet over a heavy one, fast burning powder over a slower one, fast load over a slow load?I know i wil catch hell for this but i could not find my answers with the search option and i am to damned lazy to search over the internet all night long. Like always all remarks are appreciated, even the smart @$$ ones are fun to read.songdog

ghotie_thumper

You've stirred up the hornets nest again, ow, ooh, oh !$#%!, Seriously, I think if you have the time and extra ammo why not? I've "broken in" the last couple of rifles of mine and it hasn't hurt them. When you think about it why not? Again I ask why not? Ok broken record. My opinion, humble as it is. If properly breaking in a barrel could at all possibly improve the accuracy by any degree at all, isn't it worth trying? If you don't do it you will never know, if you listen to some of the members of this board you shouldn't worry about it. But, with this in mind the obvious should be just that, obvious. Even if it doesn't improve the potential accuracy of your barrel it will immediately allow you to become more "intimate" with your particular firearm. You will get to know the trigger pull, the feel of the action, the cheek weld, and become very familiar with cleaning it. With all this in mind, I'd say break it in. Either way you only come out ahead. I hope some of our members will come out with their detailed break in procedures because there are some good ones. The last barrel I had put on I think went something like this. First completely clean it, before firing at all. Then shoot 1 round and clean it completely using hoppes, sweets, and whatever else you can find, Just get all the crud out between every shot, I used the brass cleaning tips for this. I kept doing this for 25 or 30 rounds. Each time cleaning between rounds. Very monotonous, Just take some of your other pets with you though and turn it into a day of shooting. It actually took me about 8 hours, spread between 2 days to complete. It's my daughters 257 roberts we're talking about here. I used light, 100gr handloads for the break in, now she shoots the 115 gr bullets for hunting, The rifle is a rem700 with a leupold m8 4x scope. She can shoot 5/8 inch groups pretty consistantly with the rifle. Now I believe if one were to put a higher power scope on it tighter groups would be possible, jmho. But all the doubters will have the typical, why waste your time for only 5/8 inch group, well this was my daughters first rifle and She did all the break in shooting. I had my son and 3 or 4 other neices/nephews with me and we had a couple really good range days. My daughter is very confident in her rifle and took her first buck with it in October. I think it paid off. Okay doubters, fire for effect.

idsman75

Since you are trying to seal the "pores" opened by the cutting and lapping of the metal, I would guess that a light fast bullet would accomplish this more quickly. Any comments? www.winchester-*/faqs/firearms/fq06.htm [This message has been edited by idsman75 (edited 12-19-2001).]

whiteclouder

First, Oh never mind!Clouder..

22WRF

1. Clean the barrel2. Go buy a couple of boxes ammo for it.3. Fire the 2 boxes of a ammo thru it.4. Clean it again.5. Put in the gun safe 'til next time.Unless your going to be shooting some sort of super match with it. Anything else is not worth the trouble.

idsman75

I asked about my new .270 the last time this topic came up. Someone suggested that it extends the life of any barrel regardless of what it is used for. I'm wondering if Beach would weigh in on this YET AGAIN.

Josey1

I agree with .22,unless you got yourself a custom,big $ tackdriver it really is not going to make a big a difference.Unless of course you are doing it to make it easier to clean after break in,however as far as accuracy goes,you will not be accurate enough in shooting to notice any improvement.Breaking in a match barrel properly is a costly and time consuming propisition.for the first 10 rounds,shoot 1 round then clean barrel(1st with a good lead solvent[Butchs',Hoppes,Breakfree] next with a good copper solvent[Sweets 7.62,Hoppes benchrest],next with a good lubricating solvet[Breakfree CLP,RemClean]repeat for 10 rounds then every 5 rounds for the next 20 repeat above bore cleaning.Next every 20 rounds for the next 100 clean bore thouroughly adding in a good scrubbing with a high quality bore paste,finishing off with CLP.

songdog

Thanks for all of the replies.Ghotie- how does your daughter like that 257 roberts? In march i bought a 257 ackley improved from a guy who was going through a divorce. How ever sad the situation was, i gota hell of a deal on that rifle. The guy shot match with it and after i reworked some loads I was shooting consistent groups under .3 I shot one group at .087. This was asweet deal that i got on this rifle. I only payed $350 for the rifle, the guy had invested over $1500 on it. He gave me all of the dies and cases for if as well. I wish i could find some more of these deals around.songdog