"I always like to team up 'break-in' and load development, at the same time, kills two birds with one stone."
Bighorn, that's what it do as well--unless the rifle is "pre-owned," so I assume it's been shot enough to be broken-in.
Will also note that I have talked to more than one gunsmith and even barrel-maker who made up some sort of break-in technique just to give to customers who insisted that they wanted to break in their barrel "properly." The smiths and barrel makers grew weary of telling such customers that they could just go shoot their rifle, finding it a lot easier to provide a break-in routine. They got more work done, and the customers convinced that break-in was absolutely necessary could waste their time instead.
Interestingly enough over years of playing the games, I noticed accuracy between broken in and not, was not enough different to tell a trend. OTOH some of the non broken in tubes fouled noticeably. While broken in ones never fouled to the same level.
I'm not sure that any of it matters as I'm kind of in the park that once you get to level X of fouling you can't get worse basically. Carbon has to be dealt with though. But copper not so much.
That said there is ultra bore coat or whatever the name is these days....of which I'm a FIRM believer in.
I am a believer too that it takes some number of rounds to get settled in for best accuracy to start.. in my mind that number was around 100 or a bit more and the tubes usually had made us happy.
