Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Barrel break in...myth or what?

I've never quite figured out why a guy would buy a maker's best grade of barrel, handlapped and checked for straightness, have it installed by a good gunsmith who I would think would check for burrs and smooth out his work and sharp edges, and use well prepped loads in said well prepared, polished, and lapped barrel- and think it needs to be further broken in?

I can see it in a factory assembly line barrel where they are cut, drilled, and the rifling gouged out with a hydraulicly pulled rod , leaving lots of microscopic burrs and voids. A bit of polishing might be due in that case, along with filling some of those microscopic machining voids with gilding metal in order to create the illusion of a smooth surface, but isn't the point of having a premium barrel to avoid some of the inconsistencies and mass produced issues of factory arms?

Just my 2 cent's worth- I'll get my nomex underwear on now and pick up some popcorn while I'm at it.....

Bob

Sounds about right Bob. By the way, how's the weather out your way?

As George Gardner says it's not break in, more like seasoning. Watch the video it make make sense to you.

I used to follow a break-in procedure like Krieger barrels recommends. Once I moved to AK and lost access to private ranges where I had the time to clean between shots I quit doing it. I can't tell if I get any more fouling than I did following a break-in procedure, but I'm not shooting competitive either.

“Break in” procedures are self abasement.


Load, shoot, repeat.

In my experience there isn't a one method fits all. There are way to many variables to consider.....Design/method of rifling, quality of cutter, button or mandrel, quality of steel etc. etc.

There are several different techniques used for rifling a barrel - cut, button & hammer forged being the most common, and numerous rifling designs such as 5R, polygonal, 3 groove, 4 groove, 6 groove etc. A "break in" technique or method often suggested by a manufacturer for one type of rifling (Krieger cut for example) may be different for another manufacturer or type of rifling (Lilja button for example).

In my experience cut rifled barrels (even those hand lapped and produced from top quality barrel manufacturers like Krieger & Bartlein) require quite a bit more "break in" and shots before fouling is in check and top accuracy is achieved.

Button rifling and hammer forged rifling generally don't require the amount of break in or shots fired before fouling is in check and top accuracy is achieved. This too depends on a lot of variables including condition of the button or mandrel.

Using a good borescope goes a long way in determining bore condition and when break in or cleaning is needed..

I run a patch with Hoppe’s No. 9 through the barrel of a new gun and head to the range. Do my best to allow the barrel to cool down a bit between shots (also try not to heat up the barrel on my ‘older’ guns).

Only barrel I ever broke in was the $249 Vanguard I bought last year. Did it to avoid warranty issues in case of accuracy problems, and maybe just to gave the experience. Boring!

My two favorite writers disagree on this. JB seems to think it's unnecessary; Brian Pearce seems to do it quite a bit, and from his articles, I'd say that it at least may speed up the break-in that ordinarily occurs with normal use.

Take your pick. As a lazy old fat man, I'm siding with Mule Deer, unless the maker if an expensive rifle insists on it as part of their warranty. Thankfully, Barrett doesn't.

I pretty much do it as George Gardner describes in the video above.
Side note and somewhat unrelated - I've never met George but after watching enough videos featuring him, I'm pretty sure I could be fast friends with him - very pragmatic and unassuming.

Barrel break in - does 2 things accuracywise - and the 3rd impacts cleaning

1) is smoothes the machining marks if the barrel wasn’t lapped.

2) it leaves some copper which normalizes how bullets shoot (note changing bullets that have different types of copper jackets will push the barrel into shooting wierd until the new copper is more coated...

3) Cleaning - smoothing the bore by shooting it.... of course makes it easier to clean.

- Considering all 3 - cleaning while shooting the first so many shots (breakin) gives you a more consistent smoothing & copper coating (no powder junk) so it’s beneficial to cleaning, and performance..... But if it’s lapped... you won’t need it as much.


SO - Breaking depends on what your shooting - at the end of the day if you are an accuracy nut - barrels “settle” down fairly fast, but really start performaing after 150 rounds.
for your typically field shooter the first 5-10, at worst 25 shots do it....

Wipe the bore clean first...then go shoot it.


Till you're done.


Then you can clean the bore again if its something you feel strongly about.

Like it. I feel break-in is a waste of time and effort.

It all depends on if you goal is minute of a dime , or minute of a pig , accuracy.

Today's manufacturing procedures, along with more consistent steel manufacturing processes, and add to this, much cleaner burning powders, had made barrel breakin's more of a thing of the past, but that doesn't mean its not a good idea, especially for those big bores, burning lots of slow powder.

This like the Chevy / Ford arguments, men will do what ever they were told first and foremost !

1. Clean bore
2. Get on paper
3. Shoot groups

Exactly. How could you tell, what would you be comparing it to?

Just curious, not referring to a full on cleaning but do you guys pull a bird snake through from time to time?

I've done this, but I won't wait 500 rds before I clean it again, ha. I try to clean every 20-30 rds or so.

I've never seen the difference..

[/quote]


Totally agree. Just go shoot the damn thing! If the groups start opening up, then clean them. All my rifles have been great-shooters and I have never done a "procedure", for break in.