before the first shot has fired? Factory Browning X-Bolt, blue.

curious to know how you prep the barrel before ever firing a shot.

thanks in advance.

I look down the bore to make sure there's nothing except air inside.

Yup.

I usually drag a boresnake through it to make sure it's clean.

I run some solvent through on a couple patches to get out any goo that isn't obvious.

Yup, just make sure it's clean and ready to fire.

If I’m unsure of its potential I’ll push a patch through. If I’m confident it’s a barrel worth keeping, it gets DBC before a bullet ever travels down the bore.

^^^^ This

lol, thanks for the replies. yes, the do or don't do the DBC on a cherry tube was part of my wondering...

I shoot them before deciding to DBC, because with many of today's barrels (both custom and factory) it often isn't needed.

This.




This.

Yes, me too.

In all my shooting and hunting since 1972, I've never 'broke in' any rifle/handgun ---- other than shooting them in the process of grouping, practice, and hunting. IMO 'brake in' is a waste of time, $$$, & components.

Jerry

That plus I will run a patch with solvent through it just to say I did...

I like to run some Wipeout foam through the bore to ensure no meatal fouling,etc. I then spray or run a soaked patch with EZ-Ox and let dry overnight. Next day I run a boresnake through it. I will go ahead and workup loads, etc and just run a boresnake damp with EZOx a couple times between different powders/loads. I do not, however, shoot in any benchrest or competition, my rifles are hunting rifles. I have done the whole barrel breakin dilly before, but truthfully, saw nothing better than the EZ-Ox method...for me.

Run a clean patch through.

Theory being to get any tiny fragments that might remain from tooling. Might have my head up my butt on that

Can’t see doing any of the detailed break in procedures ....

on a good tube, I still shoot a couple and clean, and build up the group size a bit. Its generally when I'm already starting to test ammo anyway so no big deal.

IMHO the barrels I've "broken in" have fouled less than those not. It really doesn't take that much extra time either.

That said on the 257 wtby factory gun, I never had time, didn't have time to DBC either, its been zero'd and shot and that means maybe 40 rounds total over the years, and never cleaned.... so far so good, hovering at moa or so...

DBC I can't find hurting any tube but like John says, it may not be needed in some, though I tend to eventually put it in for nothing else RE corrosion help...

I run a patch with JB down the bore and with factory rifles that have not been test shot almost always some metal will come out. Sometimes really big machining chunks.

To break in or "season" a barrel may be better accomplished by pouring really good home made BBQ sauce down the bore. I think a Chipotle pepper sauce would lightly take the burrs off the rifling and help improve the throat and the amount of more BBQ'ing needed in the future.

Wipeout then shoot like hell.

Yep, that’s why all my keeper tubes get DBC, whether they’re foulers or not.

How many rounds do people put through a new barrel before cleaning for the first time?

I have to fireform 50 .257 Roberts AI cases soon. Do I shoot all 50 at once or 25, clean, 25 and clean again? I know Mule Deer has written to shoot a new barrel until accuracy diminishes then clean, but as I'm just fireforming would you guys put 50 rounds through a new barrel?


It's easy to say yes to someone else but when it's your own barrel (and $$$) it makes you a bit more cautious.

I wipe the new barrel out then I give it about 100 strokes with JB bore paste. Give it a patch or two of Hoppes, wipe dry and start shooting.

I clean, shoot ten shots, clean, shoot ten shots, clean, shoot ten shots, I’m good to go. Then clean hunting rifles once a year.

This

Stick had a video on new barrel break-in...

Clean, shoot.

I always run a solvent patch followed by a brush, then dry patches. Just to make sure there aren't any chips in the bore. You may be surprised how often I get fine steel chips out of match barrels.

I am still learning after over 50 years of center fire rifle shooting. One of the problems is there are so many good shooters, custom rifle shops and barrel makers that have differing opinions and give conflicting advice.


I would like to see and in depth survey done of some of the bench rest crowd and what their opinions are. I am thinking they will be all over the board.

For Alaska, most shots are under 200 yards and the critters are big, so finding a rifle/load combo that will give "MOA critter" is fairly easy. I don't have the patience for my type of shooting to spend the time needed to wring out the max potential of a barrel and load combo, so I find my self saying "that is good enough".

I like to hose them out with brake parts cleaner to get rid of any loose debris and gunk. I follow this with a couple of Ballistol wetted patches and a couple of dry patches just to make sure. I have found crap I was glad I didn't run a bullet over.

If with the Cream of wheat method a dry patch after every couple of rounds to knock out any build up. If with bullets then you could go all fifty but I would usually clean just to let the barrel cool. I got in a hurry and ran about 80 .280AIs down the bore fairly rapidly. The barrel got pretty hot and I should have had longer cool down times. Probably started some throat erosion but not enough to see without a bore scope.

However many I wind up shooting during the first range session.

I have close to 500rd though the Benchmark on my 243AI, and it hasn't seen a patch yet. The Shilen tube on my .22 Creedmoor has a little over 150 though it, and the same story. I dont have a clue what the Criterion on my AR has...I have lost count. I have run the odd dry bore snake through all of them after a particularly wet and nasty hunting trip...other than than, nada.

If they start shooting like crap, they get cleaned.

In order to keep costs down, factory barrels are no longer made according the the old world standard.

Sako still adheres to many of the techniques that make their factory barrels more accurate than the rest. About the only way to get a factory barrel to shoot is to cheat. Breaking in a factory barrel doesn't work, so use one of these. Talk to your gunsmith about getting one. They are charm bags. He will explain how to use it.



Aftermarket specialty barrels are another matter altogether. There are several important things that have to be done with them.

1. Immediately after it is finished, the barrel has to be hung for three months using a jute string. Indian jute, no other kind. It doesn't leave rust rings. Jute wicks away any water. The Corchorus plant has long been used by knowledgeable barrel makers and gunsmiths as a source for jute.

2. Barrels must be properly air dried. The drying room must be at 3% humidity or less, and it is best if the room is south facing. This ensures an even, natural heat is applied to the wall which slowly heats the metal all the way through. Artificial heating methods have been tried, but they do not work as well as natural sunlight. Barrels dried this way are less likely to rust or pit. They also dry straight.

3. The room must be properly sealed to prevent contamination of the metal.

4. Benchrest barrels require an extra three months of what is referred to as "long seasoning". These barrels are subjected to 30 hz passive vibration and produced in small batches. Six barrels are suspended in an oak lined drying cabinet. Standard barrels are not. Horn speakers are built into the walls of the dying room to provide the 30 hz.

5. Some are wrapped in dried palm leaves, but after 50 years, barrel makers are still debating the merits of wrapping. I believe that more competitions have been won with palm wrapped barrels, but I do not have a citation. This is where the term "Palma Shooting" got its name. In the past, competitors used only palm wrapped barrels for LR competition.

You forgot the small white dog in the room. Something in its breath helps the metal.






P

I think someone has been drinking white dog.

These barrel break in threads are never dull......never helpful either

On all rifles ( unless it came with a Match grade barrel) and a couple of handguns, go thru a polishing regiment, prior to the first shot fired. I get automotive polishing compound, liberally coat the barrel (inside of the barrel, for those in Rio Linda, Ca.), and run a tight fitting patch back and forth thru the barrel. You do this, for a lot longer than your arm will appreciate.....then do some more. Thru this process, you will likely need to add compound.

I had a friend that had purchased a new (early production SS Rem.25-06) with a very rough barrel. He wanted to shoot Barnes X ( the original) bullets, but couldn’t get it to group, 5” or so groups being the normal. I (finally) convinced him to try this method ( he had nothing to lose). Upon completion, he was getting 1 1/2” to 1 3/4” groups. Nothing to brag about......but a huge improvement.

I’m convinced that it will help, and I guess that’s all that matters! memtb

Clean well before the first shot,then shoot and clean after every shot for the first ten shots,then after every five shots for the next twenty.Don't know if it makes any difference,but the rifles I've broke in this way will usually shoot the same whether it's from a clean or dirty first cold bore shot.

Somehow I could foresee the ultimate direction of this thread. Perhaps I can predict the future!

I followed these directions to the letter and got this:





Oh, wait a minute, I forgot, all I did was load the magazine and shoot.
Barrel break in is BS.





P

Congratulations! I’ve had a couple like that also....but most factory barrels can use a little help! To each his own....hopefully you can continue to get barrels of that quality, and a properly bedded stock, and all of the other little things that produce those groups! memtb

I’ve been lucky so far.

Model 70 XTR (circa 1980)
Weatherby Accumark
Tikka T3 .223
T3 Superlite .223 (because it’s a 1-8” and I thought that mattered)
T3 .30-06 that I gave to my dad
T3 7mm-08
Superlite 7mm-08 that my brother tricked me out of
Superlite 7mm-08 I bought to replace it
T3 .30-06 that I bought to replace the one I gave to my dad
T3 7mm Rem Mag
Vanguard Back Country .30-06 (the original, in stainless)

No barrel break in and every one of them is sub-MOA. But heck, I won’t tell a guy not to. If it increases confidence I’m all for it.




P

It seems to me that most of my barrels shoot better after roughly fifly to one hundred rounds have gone down the barrel.....yes....some shoot fine immediately.....as far as I'm concerned.....barrel break in is a myth.

Steve: That's not a real charm bag. That looks like a Sears charm bag. It's got a mix of Ceremonial Magick, New Age and Amerind symbology. No good shaman would sell you one, unless he thought you were a tourist.

The real thing is filled by the querent himself and adorned with symbols that mean something to him. For a deer rifle, a guy might make it out of hide from his last big buck. I also advise using things that evoke a man's spirit guides.


If you want to get down to it, this is one of the best OTC faith-based barrel preps I've found:



If you follow the instructions provided, it really will improve things. I've used it on a couple dozen rifles so far, and I'm quite impressed.

If nothing else, the prep work prior to application does a great job of polishing the barrel prior it being shot the first time. If it isn't working for you, try huffing some of the alcohol prep before starting. By the time you're finished, you and your spirit guides will be having a grand time.

from which volcano does this DBC come from? How many virgins must be sacrificed to get the magical silver bottles with black caps?

Brownells has it. Amazon used to. I don't know if they do anymore.

Just the many many swipes with JB bore compound and a tight patch as recommended in the prep instructions probably is as good a prep as anything. It polishes up the bore and dulls any little burrs that might be left over from cutting the rifling.

Channeling Zappa?

At least run a couple of patches to make sure it is clean. Sometimes there is amazing "junk" in there that shouldn't be. Then shoot until you feel like cleaning later sometime, maybe decades into the future.

Can I interest you in a pair of zircon encrusted tweezers?

I like to hang a new barrel in the smokehouse overnight. Apple wood seems to be the best for smoking/seasoning- guarantees a mild flavor and tight groups. Hickory is a little harsh and groups open up a tad. Brush the bore with a good BBQ sauce to eliminate fouling.

You're welcome to use this in y'all's next edition of RiflesandRecipes, John.

gnoahhh,

Thanks!

Actually, there's going to be an entire chapter on cleaning and "breaking in" rifle barrels in GUN GACK II. We're still anticipating the publishing date being sometime around October 1st.

I've done similar via Firelapping, especially on a stainless barrel. My last one was a few years back. It was a factory new Mod 700 SPS SS in .300 RUM. I ran 10 of the Medium grit then 20 of the polish. Had the rifle pillar bedded, some trigger work then it went to town!

You're killin' me (sha)man!

I said earlier in this thread, IMO barrel break in is a waste of time, $$$, & components.
I see that I’m not alone.


Jerry

I degoo the barrel then shoot the pi$$ out of it.

On a factory rifle, I clean it and shoot it.

On a custom, I shoot it once and patch it out. Repeat until the first shot leaves no traces of copper. Usually 5 to 8 shots for this.

To each his own.

All this assumes that I have ever owned a new rifle...

Happy Trails

Do I get a prize for agreeing with you, now that you’ve agreed that I agree with you?





P

:), Well it’s not our first time to agree

So...no cigar !


Jerry

I’ll buy you a beer next week.



P

I was in the process of doing my fifth or sixth rifle, using my first bottle of DBC, so I'd done maybe 500+ runs up and down a barrel with a tight patch. I was sweating, my shoulders were numb, I was covered in black. The room is filling up with alcohol fumes. I'm starting to slip in and out of a trance-like state, and having visions. That's when I realized the use of DBC was NOT based on rationality.

Barrel Prep
Take Hoppe's #9 or alcohol if you have no solvent and patch to clean out any left over shavings and debris out of the barrel.
Barrel prep over