I clean them throughly when i first get them, then fire about about 20 rounds or so getting the optic set. I clean them again down to the steel (verified by bore scope) and start load development. Once i get my load I clean them down to the metal again and live happily ever after and let the barrel tell me how often it needs to be cleaned.
This is close to what I do minus the bore scope , don't own one.
All barrels shoot better after a few rounds have been through them. Some may only need a dozen or so before reaching optimum accuracy potential. Others may need 200+. But as far as a strict routine of firing X number of rounds, cleaning,and then firing 2X number of rounds and cleaning again I ain't buying it. The barrel can't count. Shoot it, clean it when it is dirty. It'll get better over time and get easier to clean.
Most people don't really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.
I’m not arguing for one way or another. I’d just point out that those being adamant that a softer metal can’t polish/wear a harder metal, have maybe never stropped a knife blade on cloth or paper. Heat does stuff. Just saying.
Bob[/quote] Sounds about right Bob. By the way, how's the weather out your way?[/quote]
Weather report of the "storm of the century" was premature at best. A few flurries and melted right off. Dry right now but now the report says rain for the next few days.... hope there is a little tracking snow next week for the 11th Lion hunt in Lapine...
Bob
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.
Q. Does Lilja have a recommended cleaning and break-in procedure?
A . Yes we do and it depends on the type of barrel: rimfire, centerfire, .50 BMG Break-in Procedure (centrefire)
For an effective break-in the barrel should be cleaned after every shot for the first 10-12 rounds or until copper fouling stops. Our procedure is to push a cotton patch that is wet with solvent through the barrel. This will remove much of the powder fouling and wet the inside of the barrel with solvent. Next, wet a bronze brush (not a nylon brush) with solvent and stroke the barrel 5-10 times. Follow this by another wet patch and then one dry patch. Now soak the barrel with a strong copper removing solvent until all of the blue mess is removed from the barrel. The copper fouling will be heavy for a few rounds and then taper off quickly in just one or two shots. Once it has stopped or diminished significantly it is time to start shooting 5 shot groups , cleaning after each one. After 25-30 rounds clean at a normal interval of 10-25 rounds. Your barrel is now broken-in.
Q. What is hand lapping?
A. The hand lapping process, that all of our barrels undergo, ensures that you will receive a rifle barrel that has the very best and most desirable type of internal finish that we can provide. The lapping operation brings the final internal dimensions up to size and also improves the finish. No production barrels are hand lapped, only the finest custom barrels receive this very important operation. And it is partly for this reason that hand lapped barrels cost more than lower grade production barrels.
In practice, a lap is cast around a rod placed inside the barrel. The profile of the rifling is cast into the lap ensuring a very precise fit with that individual barrel. The lap is then “charged” with lapping compound, oiled, and pushed and pulled repeatedly through the length of the barrel. The lap is “recharged” and oiled many times and several new laps will be cast before the lapping procedure is completed. The man doing the lapping judges when the barrel is finished by a very experienced feel for the job, inspecting the internal finish as it develops with a full length borescope, and by measuring the diameters of the lands and grooves.
We have, over the years, developed a process that we feel gives us the very best finish and uniformity of diameters the full length of the barrel, that we can obtain. And the proof is, in our opinion, in the very minimal amount of bullet jacket fouling that our barrels produce, and in their outstanding accuracy.
Our process completely eliminates tooling marks from the inside of the barrel. And very importantly the resulting finish runs parallel with the rifling.
*********
Over the years we have developed a proprietary lapping system that allows us to create a superior internal finish. We have found through our testing what is the optimum lapping material and grit. With the finish our barrels are shipped with (especially the stainless steel barrels), bullet jacket fouling is almost nonexistent, and accuracy is at its peak.
One of the reasons we believe that fouling is minimal has to do with the direction of the surface finish in relation to the rifling. When a barrel is lapped, the resulting surface lies parallel to the rifling. The bullet does not have to rotate “against the grain” as it would have to with an unlapped barrel or with a barrel treated in another manner.
Another factor in surface finish has to do with its smoothness. While it is very desirable to have a finish running parallel to the rifling, the finish can be too smooth. In our extensive testing we found that a lapped barrel could be made too smooth and that these super smooth barrels would foul more than our conventionally lapped barrels. We have drawn an analogy between these “too smooth” barrels to racing slicks on race cars. These tires have no tread so they can get better traction (or more friction) on the asphalt or concrete surface. It seems as though a similar situation results between a bullet and barrel if the finish is too smooth. But in this case, the result is increased fouling, not increased performance.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
Brad says: "Can't fault Rick for his pity letting you back on the fire... but pity it was and remains. Nothing more, nothing less. A sad little man in a sad little dream."
If you are using a custom barrel that has already been lapped by the maker, the only tooling marks left are in the throat from the chambering reamer/throating reamer. Those will be smoothed out by any of the already mentioned procedures. If you want to smooth out the throat before shooting, a little JB (the light brown, not the red) on your choice of mop or patch applied in and out a number of times through the throat only, followed by a cleaning of the full barrel will do.
Brad says: "Can't fault Rick for his pity letting you back on the fire... but pity it was and remains. Nothing more, nothing less. A sad little man in a sad little dream."
Brad says: "Can't fault Rick for his pity letting you back on the fire... but pity it was and remains. Nothing more, nothing less. A sad little man in a sad little dream."
I've probably read about 100 threads about barrel break in and there is one thing that I have NEVER heard defined. That is what constitutes a barrel that is broken in. In this thread we have had posters share their methodology but no one ever says that if X happens then the barrel is officially broken in. Shoot one, clean, shoot another one, clean, shoot three, clean doesn't tell me chit about what's going on inside the barrel. I've broken in a bunch over the last 45 years and my definition is that when a barrel quits copper fouling heavily on every shot it is "broken in". My exposure is mostly with BR quality barrels from most of the top shops in barrel making and I've had barrels that broke in with one shot and never fouled much again and I seen some that continued to foul for nearly 100 shots. I gave up on the 100 shot wonder barrel and vowed to burn that SOB to the ground in a P-dog town. It broke in and stopped fouling some where north of 100 shots. I've had only one premium quality barrel that never broke in and continued to foul and never quit. It was a Hart that in my view was too smooth. Many other barrels broke in in a more typical 5 to 10 shots. If I apply my definition across the board I contend that the majority of factory barrels NEVER break in because they continue to foul their entire lives. It is therefore a total waste of time, effort and money to even attempt to break them in. Load em up and shoot em is about as good as it gets.
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