Barrel breakin

[hrubison]

I am on the fence if it is really neccessary to break in a new rifle barrel. I have a new Savage 110 in 30-06 and can't decide wether or not to do it. I guess it couldn't hurt though. i have asked seeveral gunsmiths and half say I should, wjile the other half say it's a waste of effort I won't see a difference. Has anyone seen first hand that breaking in a new rifle barrel is benificial? Thanks

[rjtfroggy]

I have done it both ways. Shoot clean, shoot clean, and just shoot 20-30 then clean and repeat and have found no difference in the end results.
Remember every time you scrub and brush out that barrel you are taking away future shots from the life of that barrel.

[358Hammer]

Shooting and clean is always a good thing for a quality barrel. Factory, I would suppose can benefit from a break in period as well.

On a $300-$400.00 barrel I always break them in even though the manufacturer I use has such a smooth finished bore.

Heat regardless where it comes from along with friction causes every barrel to respond in some manner. Shooting and cleaning takes all material that does not belong in a barrel out until the bullet laps the bore. The more hard material that goes down the bore and gets imprinted the more the chance of loosing accuracy and getting a shorter barrel life.
If you are a minute of deer shooter then breaking in probably isn't needed.

Another important part of breaking in a barrel is setting the harmonics and making sure you haven't overlooked something when inletting the barreled action to a stock. Making sure the tang is floated if using a Savage or correct torque on the mounting screws. Breaking in procedures are not only for the barrel. Some have been doing this so long that it is like second nature.

Neal

[82boy]

Welcome to the site.
If you use the search feature you will find hundreds of threads dealing with this topic.

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/index.php/topic,12866.0.html

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/index.php/topic,9952.0.html

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/index.php/topic,8319.0.html

http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/index.php/topic,14169.0.html

Here is the first 4 I found off of doing a search. (there is over 7 pages.)

[bigedp51]

If you have a custom made hand lapped barrel you are told to break it in, BUT how do you "break in" a standard commercial barrel when the button rifling looks like this.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/990900081.jpg

You would need to fire between 200 to 500 rounds just to knock off the high spots and "partially" break in the barrel.

Shoot your rifle and when you get home from the range use foam bore cleaner and let the foam clean your bore. Then only use synthetic fiber brushes and cotton patches, more rifle barrels are damaged during cleaning than at any time in their life span.

The United States Military is now using foam bore cleaner, the bore cleaning foam removes without brushing the powder and copper residues.

Satisfied bench rest shooter.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/Milfoam-Forrest-Bore-Cleaner.jpg

Tank barrel, not scrubbed to death with desert sand in the barrel.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/Milfoam-System.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/Before_Cleaning.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/After_Cleaning.jpg

No.4 British .303 Enfield with frosted bore and foam bore cleaner after firing 50 rounds. (NO brushing)

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/IMGP5065.jpg

[frank1947]

I do what mfg. suggest for the first 20 savage says clean after every shot remington says 25 go to Krieger barrel web site they have a whole article why it's all about fouling

[KTV]

I am on the fence if it is really neccessary to break in a new rifle barrel. I have a new Savage 110 in 30-06 and can't decide wether or not to do it. I guess it couldn't hurt though. i have asked seeveral gunsmiths and half say I should, wjile the other half say it's a waste of effort I won't see a difference. Has anyone seen first hand that breaking in a new rifle barrel is benificial? Thanks


Or you could follow the recommendations on Savage's website:

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/proceduresbarrelbreakin/

[tammons]

These are my opinions so take them with a grain of salt....

For a lapped barrel I don't think it matters. I just shoot it.
I have used the recommended break in procedure on a lapped barrel and I never thought it made any difference.

That said after every target session, or hunting season I clean barrels with wipeout.

For a normal hunting barrel I don't think it matters so much either.
If its a hunter that shoots fairly tight that's okay with me. I just shoot it.

If its a hunter shooting over 1" and I want to tighten up the groups I would rather run a set of tubbs bullets
though it and that will usually cut the groups in half.

I would not want to run tubbs on a 22-250, 220 swift prairie dog barrel or any of the other hot rounds
due to barrel life, but for a normal hunting rifle its okay. If it shot really bad and it was a cheap barrel maybe.

For a hot high end target barrel like a 243 or 6x47 lapua I would have to think about it but a high end barrel
should not have issues.

[5shot]

Some benchrest barrel manufacturers say clean every 10 rounds. Everyone's opinion is different on the issue.

For a factory barrel I wouldn't be too concerned - just go shoot it and then clean it down to bare metal and run an oiled patch through it.

[frank1947]

As I read all the different comments people have made , it occured to me no one really knows, those who have not done it don't know because end result is how their gun shoots, those who have done a specific type break in don't know either for the same reason, the only way anyone would know is if you had two identical barrels in everyway, then if one shot better then the other you then could say, maybe the one that was cleaned everyshot , shot better but with all other factors you can't really say that , so it is a matter of build up of fouling is the only reason for breakin to make sure on a new barrel until it has a bit of carbon build up to make sure that it does not build up copper fouling in barrel or even brass. Like someone else said all MFG say something slightly different but the reason is the same (fouling) and they all say break it in so I would think if ALL MFGs say to do something for break in I would do something to break in my new barrel , and I do, can't say if it helps or not but I have no foulings. Would I have had problems if I had not? impossible to know.

[82boy]

As I read all the different comments people have made , it occured to me no one really knows, ... the only way anyone would know is if you had two identical barrels in everyway, then if one shot better then the other you then could say, maybe the one that was cleaned everyshot , shot better but with all other factors you can't really say that , so it is a matter of build up of fouling is the only reason for breakin to make sure on a new barrel until it has a bit of carbon build up to make sure that it does not build up copper fouling in barrel or even brass. ... Would I have had problems if I had not? impossible to know.


Actually it would take more than that. To start, no two barrels are identical. The only way to truly know would be to take the same action, in the same stock, using the same brass, powder, and bullet lots, and take a large sample say 60 barrels from x maker chamber with the same reamer, and fired in a controlled laboratory setting. (Say inside a warehouse shot at 100 yards.) All the barrels would have to be fires the same amount of rounds, (say 500 each barrel.) Then you would have to do a break in on 30 barrels and the other 30 would have no break in. The you would truly tell if one way worked better than the other. The problem is the cost you would be looking at a fortune to do this, and I doubt you would ever find conclusive evidence to prove one way or the other.

To dig deeper into the subject, there is other arguments that throws everything for a loop, and that is that use of cleaning rods, bore bushes, and that cleaning put more wear on a barrel than not, or using patches.

Here is my thought and observation. I have tried both ways of break in and have never seen an advantage to it. Some would argue that the best rounds fired out of a barrel are the first one, and each rounds fired is a bit worse.

On cleaning this is my observation of benchrest shooters. I have gone to hundreds of matches, and there is many different ways to clean a barrel, but from what I have seen is the majority of shooters clean their barrels after each target. (about 5 to 15 rounds) They use a bore guide and a one piece brush, and bronze brushes, and they clean with two wet patches, and 10 strokes of a brush, and patch out dry then use some kind of lubricant. Now if there was a argument that cleaning kills a barrel it would show there, but heck these guys can get 3000 rounds to a barrels, and some ever re-chamber and get another 3000 out of them. So if excessive cleaning could kill a barrel it would be seen there. These guys require the utmost accuracy from a gun. Now you have Jackie Schmidt doing the complete opposite with his 30br, he shot a record group aggregate and never once cleaned between rounds. Is one way better than the other?

In closing I would say what ever make you feel good do it, if you feel good about break in then do it, if not then don't. If you like cleaning with a brush and rod then do it if not then don't. All in all it doesn't matter either way we are just splitting hairs here.

[ultramag44]

As I read all the different comments people have made , it occured to me no one really knows, ... the only way anyone would know is if you had two identical barrels in everyway, then if one shot better then the other you then could say, maybe the one that was cleaned everyshot , shot better but with all other factors you can't really say that , so it is a matter of build up of fouling is the only reason for breakin to make sure on a new barrel until it has a bit of carbon build up to make sure that it does not build up copper fouling in barrel or even brass. ... Would I have had problems if I had not? impossible to know.


Actually it would take more than that. To start, no two barrels are identical. The only way to truly know would be to take the same action, in the same stock, using the same brass, powder, and bullet lots, and take a large sample say 60 barrels from x maker chamber with the same reamer, and fired in a controlled laboratory setting. (Say inside a warehouse shot at 100 yards.) All the barrels would have to be fires the same amount of rounds, (say 500 each barrel.) Then you would have to do a break in on 30 barrels and the other 30 would have no break in. The you would truly tell if one way worked better than the other. The problem is the cost you would be looking at a fortune to do this, and I doubt you would ever find conclusive evidence to prove one way or the other.

To dig deeper into the subject, there is other arguments that throws everything for a loop, and that is that use of cleaning rods, bore bushes, and that cleaning put more wear on a barrel than not, or using patches.

Here is my thought and observation. I have tried both ways of break in and have never seen an advantage to it. Some would argue that the best rounds fired out of a barrel are the first one, and each rounds fired is a bit worse.

On cleaning this is my observation of benchrest shooters. I have gone to hundreds of matches, and there is many different ways to clean a barrel, but from what I have seen is the majority of shooters clean their barrels after each target. (about 5 to 15 rounds) They use a bore guide and a one piece brush, and bronze brushes, and they clean with two wet patches, and 10 strokes of a brush, and patch out dry then use some kind of lubricant. Now if there was a argument that cleaning kills a barrel it would show there, but heck these guys can get 3000 rounds to a barrels, and some ever re-chamber and get another 3000 out of them. So if excessive cleaning could kill a barrel it would be seen there. These guys require the utmost accuracy from a gun. Now you have Jackie Schmidt doing the complete opposite with his 30br, he shot a record group aggregate and never once cleaned between rounds. Is one way better than the other?

In closing I would say what ever make you feel good do it, if you feel good about break in then do it, if not then don't. If you like cleaning with a brush and rod then do it if not then don't. All in all it doesn't matter either way we are just splitting hairs here.


I think 82boy made a very important point. I's not the actual cleaning that damages a barrel, it's IMPROPER (or lack of) equipment and technique that damages barrels.

[Spe]

One thing I remember seeing is that you clean the barrel to get a lot of pieces and chunks out that would get embedded into the barrel, this is most likely to happen at first. And never clean it to the metal... after a bit of a break in it builds a layer so that it’s harder to cause problems.

I've also talked to someone who didn’t "break in" his gun and said he couldn’t get it to shoot at first, but it got better as he went. So I think that if you have a good quality gun/barrel it may need less/no break in. It’s not that some people don’t break in a gun, it’s that they don’t do it with as much cleaning and purpose as others.

I think maintenance is another thing though. Some people say not to clean as much as others... in the end I think it’s a personal preference and down the line when something goes wrong, do you want to have to ask yourself "did this happen because I didn’t clean it as often as I should of?"