used gun break in?

[muledeer]

My question is what if you have a used gun and have no idea if the barrel was broke in properly like you see being done here. Or you have a rifle and never new about a break in proccess. You just went to the range shot it 10-20 times took it home and cleaned it and did this over 2-3 years?
What are the negative effects? Can a Barrel go through a break in process after it has been used?

Thanks
Md

 

[Paul H]

I never seen a quantitative study to prove a barrel break in does any good whatsoever. I do believe in thoroughly cleaning the bore on a used gun, but asside from that, I don't sweat breaking in a barrel.

 

[Murphy]

Cleanin' the used ones.

Cleanin' the used ones.

M/D,

The whole process is just to get the roughness out of the bore and smooth it up. When it is smooth and uniform in diameter it is more accurate and cleans much easier. Many older guns which have been shot a lot are very smooth from all the wear, when you get all the crud and copper out of them, they shoot ok. Some of them shoot very well some do not. In general a rifle that was very rough from the factory that is taken to the range and fired 40 times without even cleaning the factory grease out, will never shoot anywhere near 1 MOA. There may be exceptions but I don't see very many. I have test fired several hundred used rifles and American made, Remington, Ruger and Winchester, Savage almost always fail to shoot MOA, usually by a large margin, if they have a rugged or unknown background. (The ones I have to clean for three days to see the bore.) Of the hundreds of Winchester model 70's (post 64) and Remington 700 I have cleaned and shot only a handful would make the grade. A cut gun barrel needs to be lapped or polished to be ready for a bullet. Most custom barrel makers do some lapping of their barrels. Usually not enough. When Gale McMillan made rifles they were hand lapped and were quarter MOA rifles. One of the very best (smoothest) barrels available is Lothar Walther, they are like glass. They are very fast (higher velocity) and accurate. There are others, I haven't seen them all. Shilen makes a very good barrel dimensionally but needs to be lapped or broken in well. Pac-Nor, Kreiger, Douglass are in this category as well. Most European barrels are hammer forged and don't need lapping so much as the cut barrels. Broached barrels are a mix, some need lapping some not so much.

Some people look at cleaning as a chore and if that's the case, their pursuit lacks passion. It is an integral part of the shooting game. Many folks go straight to the range with a new rifle, that is a mistake, always. Take it home, clean out the grease, adjust the trigger, check the function, tighten the bedding screws, mount the scope, then, with cleaning gear, go to the range. If ya' don't want to spend time cleaning, take up golf. A golf club don't hit any better clean or dirty.

When it is just you and your rifle and your target, there is no excuse, no second chance and no second place winner, make the shot. Good shootin'.

Murphy