breaking in a new barrel

Rocky4winds

My brother just got a new Remington 700 BDL in 30-06. Someone told him that he would need to break in the new barrel. I've never heard of that but figured I would ask here to see what you all thought. Personally I would think the best thing would be to just go out and shoot it a lot, but let me know what you think.

Rocky4winds

I recently purchased a new Ruger No. 1 in 7x57. I have heard there is a proper way to "break in" a new barrel. Suggestions?

Sig220_Ruger77

I have never bought into any of the barrel breaking procedures myself. Shoot it, keep it clean, don't let the barrel get too hot and find that "sweet load" and the rest is up to the shooter.

Jon

MIKE WISKEY

IF THIS IS A "DEER RIFLE" JUST SHOOT IT AND CLEAN ONCE A YEAR (AFTER DEER SEASON).

nononsense

Rocky4winds,

There has probably been more argued over and written about barrel break in than any other topic. If you go to the upper right corner and select 'search' and then type in 'barrel break in' without the marks, you'll get quite a number of opinions and information.

Best.

gunnut505

Your BEST bet would be to go to barrel manufacturers' websites, and look for the information and reasoning behind those actions.
Bulberry recommends a lengthy and involved process, Green Mountain doesn't mention it, Shilen requires it, and several others are waffly about the whole thing.
If it's to be a minute-of-whitetail gun; do whatever you want.
If it is to be used for any sort of satisfyingly precision shooting; do it right.

nononsense

"Shilen requires it"

From Shilen's website:

How should I break-in my new Shilen barrel?

Break-in procedures are as diverse as cleaning techniques. Shilen, Inc. introduced a break-in procedure mostly because customers seemed to think that we should have one. By and large, we don't think breaking-in a new barrel is a big deal. All our stainless steel barrels have been hand lapped as part of their production, as well as any chrome moly barrel we install. Hand lapping a barrel polishes the interior of the barrel and eliminates sharp edges or burrs that could cause jacket deformity. This, in fact, is what you are doing when you break-in a new barrel through firing and cleaning.

Here is our standard recommendation: Clean after each shot for the first 5 shots. The remainder of the break-in is to clean every 5 shots for the next 50 shots. During this time, don't just shoot bullets down the barrel during this 50 shot procedure. This is a great time to begin load development. Zero the scope over the first 5 shots, and start shooting for accuracy with 5-shot groups for the next 50 shots. Same thing applies to fire forming cases for improved or wildcat cartridges. Just firing rounds down a barrel to form brass without any regard to their accuracy is a mistake. It is a waste of time and barrel life.


Shilen recommends not requires.

Every aftermarket or custom barrel maker has a differing opinion on what to do about breaking in a barrel. As Shilen states above, they only wrote it because customers expected it. How stupid! They button rifle their barrels and then lap out the chatter marks left by the button. A properly lapped barrel does not require a break in.

Remington hammer forges their mass produced barrels, so the only thing left in their barrels besides stress is maybe a sharp edge on the lands if the mandrel is close to being new. They do nothing more to their barrels except put them on actions and ship them out. They don't even test fire every rifle anymore

As Shilen also states, use this time to sight in your rifle and work up loads. Then you have the choice of calling it break in or working up loads depending on who you talk to. Push comes to shove, you can call it seasoning your barrels. There's lots of discussion about filling in the pores of the steel and smoothing out the rough or sharp spots in a barrel. Then someone tells you that the throat needs to be polished. On and on. Lots of this is nothing more than voodoo. All this discussion makes shooters afraid to NOT do something which I think is absolute garbage. All it does is waste components and sell lots of unnecessary little cleaning thingies.

Keep your barrel cool while shooting.

Keep your barrel reasonably clean.

Do not screw up your muzzle.

Keep your chamber clean and oil free.

There are lots of other steps you can include which will address the minutia of the entire process.

Read the threads in the search and make up your own mind.

Best.

scrubberguy

Rocky:
I don't buy the barrel break in theory either! It will shoot or not depending on the load.

What I think got this started is an unreasonable expectation of accuracy started by the writers at gun mags.

Lets face it every rifle tested seems to be able to do m.o.a. at 200 yards! If this is the case why doesn't the one John Q. Public bought at Wal Mart do the same? Obviously because he didn't break it in right!

Shilen is correct! Every bullet down the barrel shortens the life of the barrel. Make every bullet count!

Again expected accuracy is based on the type of rifle and it's intended use. If your brothers barrel does shoot M.O.A. pat him on the back he got lucky! It will most likely shoot 1.5 to 1.7 inch groups with good ammo at 100 yards, provided he has the skills!

If that don't get him his deer, tell him to crawl closer![8D]

Rocky4winds

Thanks to all for the responses. I did the search thing before I asked here but wanted to get current opinions. It will be primarily a deer and antelope rifle (he's in Wyoming), so he's not concerned about hitting a dime at 500 yards.

JustC

I break-in most barrels, but am running load development at the same time. In match tubes,..it may only take 10 bullets to get the horizontle chatter marks off the leade. If you cover it with copper, you won't erode the marks and fouling will always be more than had you cleaned between shots until you saw the fouling drop off. It isn't about accuracy,..it's about prolonging the period between cleaning due to fouling.

jedwil

JustC, I am new to all this barrel stuff and have come to my own conclusions about break-in. I am interested in your view of shooting a barrel in(if that's the right definition). Is there some guide as to how many rounds we need to shoot(with properly cleaning per our own protocol)
before the barrel is properly seasoned. I am sure it is greatly variable, but for a stock Savage M10 .223 would it be in the dozens or a 100 or so.

JustC

I find a light lapping with Sinclair ring lapping compound and a bore guide to smooth a factory barrel out quite well. It's good enough usually, but you have to keep an eye in the bore when cleaning after each 15-20rnds to know when the barrel has had enough erosion of the tool marks so that it remains accurate for longer periods before fouling affects it. The miniscule tooling marks at a horizontle angle in the new leade/throat have an abrasive affect on the jacket of the bullet as it is forced into the rifling. This copper is turned into a particulate and deposited down the bore under pressure as well as the jacket of the bullet erngraving against any imperfections in the bore. You will intially see quite a bit of orange streaking, and with subsequent firings and cleanings, it will begin to drop off. I see a lot of orange copper fouling (usually) present after only a few rounds in a new factory bore. The lapping (very light) makes for a lot less shooting and cleaning. Then it will usually foul FAR less after only a few cleanings and firings. Again, it will be evident as the copper fouling drops off. The key is keeping the bore down to bare metal with no layers of fouling forming that prevent the bullet and plasma from making shorter work of getting rid of these abrasive imperfections.

For match grade tubes, I clean between each firing and find them to quit fouling sometimes in 10rnds or less,..and other times maybe 20rnds +/-. The new brass can also start being formed during this time and you can evaluate any charges that may show promise. This way, the barrel life issue is a moot point.

This is ALL there is behind a "break-in". Too many people think it has some mystical connotation or is supposed to improve accuracy to world record capability however, this isn't the case at all. It is simply a method that initially treats the bore in such a way, that it smooths out quicker and fills in any pours. This makes for longer periods of "accuracy" between cleanings,...it doesn't make the barrel more accurate.

sandwarrior

+1 on what JustC said. I break all new barrels in whether they need it, can use it...or not. It just never hurts. And what you get is all the bumps knocked down as much as you can. It doesn't really make a barrel more accurate...just as accurate as it can be longer.

5mmgunguy

You need to break the barrel in, if for no other reason than it will greatly improve the ease when it comes time to clean the barrel. A proper break-in will make it 10 times easier to clean.