Barrel break-in

[AKWannabe]

Hey guys,

what kind of barrel break-in routine do you follow? I'm sure that this has been gone over in the old forum, but for those of us who are too lazy to search there, how's about a rehash?

I've been doing a starting cleaning, fire one round, clean and so forth for the first ten rounds. After that, I do 3 rounds between cleaning for ten 3-round groups. I've heard that some go ten shots after that between cleanings.

I'm in the process of doing my .375 and I still need to do my .30-06 too. Time sure flies. Been way too busy lately, but today is a good one to get out.

Thanks for any/all responses.

Dave

[Jeff L]

Barrel break-in

What kind of barrel do you have? If it is a hammer-forged I have never done more than you are doing now,of course ALWAYS use a good copper cleaner, then rinse. If you are breaking in a custom barrel I have always followed Krieger barrel recommendations which is more time consuming and if it's a .338 and up is costly and hard on the shoulder. I try to kill several birds with one stone. Do bullet/load selection at the same time you are zeroing and breaking in the barrel. Keep in mind that you may decide that if you are getting great accuracy why not continue your break-in on game? Jeff L

[RayfromAK]

The first thing I do for a rifle is to remove all the grease and other stuff from the action and barrel, but before separating the barreled action from the stock, I make sure that I have the reassembly instructions (torque values if any, etc.).

The next step is to run hot soapy water through the barrel in the kitchen sink, as I also run a nylon brush through the bore to make sure there is no soap left in the barrel and chamber. You don't have to do this, but I do it to make sure there are no metallic shavings in the chamber and rifling. The action gets pretty hot, so i have a towel nearby when I do this. After washing it and drying it, I lubricate and assemble the the rifle, leaving an "almost dry" film of oil on the rifling, and just as much on the action.

I buy the cheapest possible ammo just to break-in the rifle and shoot one round, clean the bore, shoot another round, clean the bore, and do this until i have fired ten rounds. Three rounds, clean the bore, fire three more, clean the bore, and do so until I have fired the 20 rounds. I always put a very thin "almost dry" layer of oil after firing the rifle. The idea is to use just enough oil, but not too much as follows: oily patch, followed by a dry patch.

By then my rifle is ready for hunting, but eventually I shoot another box of cheap ammo, cleaning the bore every five shots or so.
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Keep in mind that I break-in the rifle my own way, but there are breaking-in data all over the internet. Barrel makers have their own instructions you can download.

[AKWannabe]

Thanks...

...for the replies guys!

Ray, I know what you're saying, I think I kinda have a handle on it. I'm just trying to see what everyone else does. See if there are any different wrinkles.

Always nice to have this stuff accessible for newbs too.

Dave

[Ronnie]

new old wrinkle

This is going to sound kinda funny to you all but I tried it 6 years ago when this national ranked bench rest shooter showed me how to do it because I thought he was pulling my leg and it works as he said it would.He shoots the most expensive barrels made and alot more rounds in a year than we will ever will so here goes ,on a new barrel or one that fouls pretty quick clean barrel with what ever you usually use doesn't matter what brand the key is to make sure the barrel is absolutely CLEAN no copper or anything left in barrel then dry barrel completely coat a patch with SLICK 50, thats right the engine oil treatment,run through bore until bore is fully coated I mean dripping wet,let stand in barrel 20 minutes then dry barrel and go on and shoot as many rounds as you want.When you get through with your session just go back to your normal cleaning procedure not only will you do away with the shoot one shot and clean then two and clean but the bore will clean up twice as fast with less scrubbing.I know this sounds like I'm pulling your leg but I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.We average about 1000 rounds a day on a praire dog town it used to take about 30 to 45 minutes of cleaning at mid day before we went back at it after noon break now it takes about 10 minutes and thats after about 500 rounds without cleaning and our barrels get hot enough to fry eggs on. I have about 6000 rounds through one 223 and almost 10000 through the other they both clean up in about 10 minutes and will still shoot under a inch if I do my part.All my new rifles get this treatment no matter the caliber and I have yet to tell any difference in this way of break in and the others except mine clean up quicker...Good Shooting Ronnie

[RayfromAK]

...for the replies guys!

Ray, I know what you're saying, I think I kinda have a handle on it. I'm just trying to see what everyone else does. See if there are any different wrinkles.

Always nice to have this stuff accessible for newbs too.

Dave

Over 10 years ago, I did find metallic shavings inside the chamber of a stainless rifle. And then I was reading the instructions on how to smooth a rifle's bore using JB Compound, and that's where I learned about rinsing the chamber and rifling with hot soapy water over the kitchen's sink. The soap and hot water is used to remove the JB's grease and abrasives, but it also works well on a brand new rifle.

[AKWannabe]

Sounds good!

This is going to sound kinda funny to you all but I tried it 6 years ago when this national ranked bench rest shooter showed me how to do it because I thought he was pulling my leg and it works as he said it would.He shoots the most expensive barrels made and alot more rounds in a year than we will ever will so here goes ,on a new barrel or one that fouls pretty quick clean barrel with what ever you usually use doesn't matter what brand the key is to make sure the barrel is absolutely CLEAN no copper or anything left in barrel then dry barrel completely coat a patch with SLICK 50, thats right the engine oil treatment,run through bore until bore is fully coated I mean dripping wet,let stand in barrel 20 minutes then dry barrel and go on and shoot as many rounds as you want.When you get through with your session just go back to your normal cleaning procedure not only will you do away with the shoot one shot and clean then two and clean but the bore will clean up twice as fast with less scrubbing.I know this sounds like I'm pulling your leg but I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.We average about 1000 rounds a day on a praire dog town it used to take about 30 to 45 minutes of cleaning at mid day before we went back at it after noon break now it takes about 10 minutes and thats after about 500 rounds without cleaning and our barrels get hot enough to fry eggs on. I have about 6000 rounds through one 223 and almost 10000 through the other they both clean up in about 10 minutes and will still shoot under a inch if I do my part.All my new rifles get this treatment no matter the caliber and I have yet to tell any difference in this way of break in and the others except mine clean up quicker...Good Shooting Ronnie

Bingo! I was hoping to hear this kinda stuff. Might have to try it with the '06. Thanks for sharing that Ronnie!

[AKWannabe]

JB

Ray,

thanks for the tip on JB bore cleaner! I've used it for years on shotgun bores that would stubbornly retain lead fouling from slugs. Works great for that, I can imagine that it would have a bit of a burnishing effect on a shiny new bore with sharp edges on the grooves.

The hot soapy water thing used to work well for me as well in the military (shhhh, we'll keep that a secret!) on filthy M16 uppers. Officially, they only authorized the use of Break Free CLP but many of us used a little Hoppe's and hot water too. CLP just seemed to take longer, and no matter how many clean patches you'd run through, that stuff just seemed to constantly come up with some more carbon!

Dave

[Ronnie]

More on slick 50

Dave this will also work on a rifle that has a rough bore doesn't have to be a new one to slow down the copper fouling.I had a custom built 375 on a weatherby action shilen barrel put together by shilen that would copper foul bad with just about anybodies bullet in 3 rounds and just forget barnes bullets altogether 2 shots and accuracy went away.I had lapped the barrel real good before I started shooting so the barrel should have been pretty slick but it sure fouled easy I treated it with the slick 50 and I could get 20 rounds through it before accuracy started going away so it will work on rough barrels as well as new breakins the key is in the ultra clean barrel before you coat it with the slick 50 .If the barrel is very hard to clean use the J B bore paste it will clean any barrel when everything else fails again good shooting and good luck...Ronnie

[elmerkeithclone]

Shooting in a rifle

Gun shows are full of fairly new guns that the owners got rid of because they wouldn't shoot. I have purchased several rifles from various manufactures that had never seen the field because they wouldn't shoot. Most of these guns come around once cleaned and fired and cleaned and fired some more.(shot in). I own a 22-250 that would shoot no better than 2 1/2 inch groups out of the box. A couple hundred rounds later and the same gun was shooting the same ammo under an inch. I suppose a real fine lapping compound would have accomplished the same thing. For several years after cleaning the bores in any of my rifles, I have run a patch down the bore covered with TC's bore butter. I read somewhere that it seasons the bore and cuts down on copper fouling. I believe this to be true. I would imagine the slick 50 is doing much the same.