Bought it!

[diverwcw]

I purchased my Savage 11 Trophy Hunter XP rifle in cal .308 the other day. Unfortunately, here in CA, I'm forced to wait 10 days for my background to clear with CaDOJ.

Any thoughts as to the traditional break in, whether or not it's needed?

[COplains]

You will find as many opinions on break in as there are calibers.....laffin. I take it all apart first, clean and lube, go shoot. After 20 rounds, run a brush w/cleaner than patch until clean, than a patch with lube. After that, I clean it when I get home from a days outing.

[emtrescue6]

Shoot it like you stole it.... ;)

[foxx]

I use to do some barrel break-in routine of cleaning after every shot for about 5-10 rounds, then ever 3 shot for about 5x then every 5 or so. It made me feel better. I thought I was doing something worth while. To confirm my theory, my groups started to tighten up after about 50-100 rounds. That's when I figured my routine was completed successfully. Then I learned it was all a waste of time. I still get better groups after about 100 rounds, but it doesn't matter how often I clean it initially. So now, for new barrels, I try to clean them after 20-25, then shoot another 20-25, just because I can't stand not to do so when it's new. After 100 rounds, I clean it and only then start to judge its shootability. From that point on I clean it when accuracy starts to fall off, and then shoot 5-7 fouling rounds before expecting consistent accuracy.

[emtrescue6]

I use to do some barrel break-in routine of cleaning after every shot for about 5-10 rounds, then ever 3 shot for about 5x then every 5 or so. It made me feel better. I thought I was doing something worth while. To confirm my theory, my groups started to tighten up after about 50-100 rounds. That's when I figured my routine was completed successfully. Then I learned it was all a waste of time. I still get better groups after about 100 rounds, but it doesn't matter how often I clean it initially. So now, for new barrels, I try to clean them after 20-25, then shoot another 20-25, just because I can't stand not to do so when it's new. After 100 rounds, I clean it and only then start to judge its shootability. From that point on I clean it when accuracy starts to fall off, and then shoot 5-7 fouling rounds before expecting consistent accuracy.

What he ^^^^ said....