Barrel Break In

[Brad Clodfelter]

My point was in reference to what actually breaks the barrel in. Shooting and cleaning for so many shots will not help a bad barrel shoot any better. Barrel break in is a myth that someone cooked up that in doing so the barrel turned out to be a good shooter when in fact the barrel wa agood shooter already. I've done the shoot and clean and I have not done it. My findings is that a precision barrel is what makes a gun a shooter above all else. If the barrel ain't made to precision, no matter what else you do to the gun or who else you get to shoot it, all else is irrelevent.

 

[heyduke]

Honestly, I'm surprised I don't see more of an "in depth" cleaning regiment given here. I know I almost fell over dead when I saw what some other people do with their rifles on some other gun threads per barrel cleaning habits.

I know some guys who will clean and swab between EVERY shot.

I also know some guys who use their guns years without cleaning.

Guess I'm in the middle.

After a hard days shooting, I will clean the barrel and gun before I put it away. I will however clean the gun and barrel before I first shoot it.

Personally, what I've found for myself is that it's not so much the cleaning in between shooting or "barrel break in" when first shooting, but how often you shoot in one session, and how hot the barrel gets, which can affect it's accuracy (at least for myself).

What I can say is that I have some older rifles that are just as accurate as when I first bought them, and so far I haven't seen any deterioration in accuracy in any of my guns due to my habits.

 

[j.chappell]

Brad,

If you read the Krieger information they state that your "premium" barrels have already been lapped, that their throats have already been polished. This is not the case with a factory barrel, for the most part.

A break in period is not going to turn a 3" rifle into a SUBMOA rifle, but it can and has been proven by many shooters that a rifle can become more accurate over a period of time and has been referred to as the rifle breaking in. I personally had a Remington Classic who’s barrel was as rough as can be. It was one of my favorite cartridges so I decided to keep it and see what some polishing and work could do for it. The rifle before lapping fouled quickly and accuracy was nonexistent, 2.75"-3.5" groups were the norm. I took the rifle to my smith. He polished the chamber (extraction was also sticky), throat, and lapped the bore. That same rifle with the same loads shot 1.5"-2.5" groups afterwards. I have had it a number of years now and the more I shoot it the better it becomes. I haven’t broken 1" yet but darn close.

My point is that some may think that breaking in a barrel is a myth. Some may have evidence of their own, but if all of that evidence is gathered with premium grade barrels then they will not see the differences that one may see when breaking in a factory barrel.

Not all barrels are created equal, some will have a rougher interior finish than others, those that do may benefit from a break in procedure, and on the other hand they may not.

The only way of guaranteeing that you are going to have a great barrel is to have a quality smith install a premium barrel from one of the top makers.

J.

 

[Brad Clodfelter]

J,

I see your point. But most barrels I have shot as new, shot very good for a hammer forge barrel. A hammer forge barrel is the preferred way of making a barrel from the biggest gun companies because it is the fastest way. It's not the most accurate way to make a barrel. Remington, Ruger, Sako, CZ, just to name a few all hammer forge their barrels. Savage button rifles their barrels. That process in itself to me explains why the Savage high power rifle barrels seem to shoot better than the others. But my point is that a barrel made right from the start will shoot as good new as it will with say 100 rounds or 500 rounds through the barrel. That has been my findings.

Your mileage may vary.

But I honestly believe if a barrel is going to be a shooter, breaking it in with a shoot and clean procedure isn't going to improve the accuracy of the barrel.

 

[kristop64089]

Glad I stopped in here

I'm definitely not new to rifles, but this "breaking" in is stumping me.
I just picked up a new Howa 1500 300wm, and I'm going to sight it in tomorrow.

As I was leaving, my FFL reminded me to break the barrel in, or I'll ruin it. He's an accuracy nut, and swears by it. Honestly, I have NEVER broke one in and NEVER had an accuracy problem.

But, where I never had an issue before, now that I've read it, I'm going to obsess over it.

 

[Brad Clodfelter]

As I was leaving, my FFL reminded me to break the barrel in, or I'll ruin it. He's an accuracy nut, and swears by it. Honestly, I have NEVER broke one in and NEVER had an accuracy problem

.

There lies your answer.

If you feel better about breaking in a barrel by shooting a shot and cleaning for the first so many shots then shoot 3 shots and clean, then 5 shots and clean, by all means go ahead and do it. But in my honest opinion it is just wasted effort on the shooters part. Those that say otherwise have no proof to back up their statements or testimonies. I have no proof either about not doing the shoot and clean, but what I do know is that I never had a bad barrel that didn't shoot good that wasn't broke in by the shoot and clean method. Accuracy is all in the barrel, not by the shoot and clean procedure to get the barrel to be accurate.

Every gun I ever bought brand new, I always cleaned the barrel real good with a good brush and patched it clean before I ever shot it.

Some say don't use a brush on rimfire barrels either. I say those people don't know what they are talking about.

 

[j.chappell]

I believe that breaking in simply saves more barrels than it helps shoot well by making the shooter take his time.

I have seen new (a year or two old) rifles that couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. The owners would complain and gripe about how bad it shot, how the POI changed, and anything else that they could think of.

Well one day on the range observing some of these shooters tells the tale. I don’t know how many times I've seen guys with sporter and light sporters in say 30-06, 270, 7mm REM MAG, 243, among others, sit down and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot, and 20 rounds later, moving their reticle with every shot, announce that the rifle is junk or the ammo is junk or the scope is junk when in actuality their knowledge is lacking.

I sat by one of these yahoo's one day and just watched the heat rise from his barrel, when he got all ticked off at his rifle for not grouping I said "hey, I think you might have it a little hot" he looked at me like I was a stupid kid as I was at least 20 years his junior. He said "it aint that damn hot" reached up, grabbed the barrel and screamed. I laughed and said "see, I told you it was a little hot" he never answered just packed up his stuff and left.

So does breaking in help, I think it all depends. I think your actual method of shooting and general care does more for your accuracy than your break in procedure.

J.

 

[vanguard_anon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRRahHX9Zkg

Someone pointed me to this video when I asked this question a while back.

enjoy

Damn it, I totally missed that step when I first bought my rifle. I wonder if there is any way I can recover now that it's had a few hundred rounds through it?