Breaking in a new rifle

[Vinton]

I have purchased a Savage 116 in 308. I have read on different forums about breaking in a new rifle. What do you suggest. This is my first centerfold rifle.

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[Model10shooter]

straight off of Savage's website: There may be different schools of thought on barrel break-in, however, this is what Precision Shooting Magazine recommends: use of a patch with 2 drops of oil after the cleaning so that you are not shooting with a dry bore. It is also advisable to use a powder solvent and copper solvent from the same manufacturer to be sure they are chemically compatible.

Step 1



Fire one round.
Push wet paches soaked with a powder solvent through the bore.
Push a brush through the bore 5 times in each direction.
Push dry patches throug the bore 2 times.
Push wet patches soaked with a copper solvent through the bore
Push a brush through the bore (5 times in each direction)
Push dry patches through the bore (2 times)
Push a patch with 2 drops of oil through the bore.

Step 2



Fire a 3 shot group
Repeat the cleaning procedure from STEP 1 after each group
Repeat 5 times.

Step 3



Fire a 5 shot group
Repeat the cleaning procedure from STEP 1 after each group
Repeat 5 times.
​

https://www.savagearms.com/expert-advice/barrel-break-in/

[Robinhood]

Clean barrel and dry thoroughly. Fire one round. Take 60 seconds to talk to the guy next to you. Fire second round. Walk down the line to see if there is anything interesting. Look at your brass etc. Fire third round. How hot is the barrel? If cool wait 60 seconds and fire again. Repeat until it is very warm/hot to the touch. Let cool. Repeat until you are out of ammo or tired. Clean, sleep with rifle, repeat, clean, sleep with rifle.

[RC20]

Pretty much yep, but remember, this is an opinion!

The best one from a barrel maker was

"Well, we don't know of any way to do it that works any better than any other way" but because people keep bugging us, here it is, for what its worth

Shot 1, clean 1, shoot 2, clean 2, etc.

ps: Using the IMRs new (Enduron ?) powders seems to help quite a bit, aka IMR 4451 etc.

[want2ride]

I shoot 10, clean, but no brushes or copper solvent. Then I shoot until it doesn't hold great groups anymore, then clean thoroughly. At the end of season, clean it again and oil and count the days until the snow is gone.

[hereinaz]

Clean gun, shoot one, clean the bore. Shoot 3, clean the bore.

I don't think all the fastidious shooting and cleaning really has a huge effect. But, if there were an issue it's going to be done by that 4th shot, in my opinion.

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[m12lrs]

With a new barrel you are breaking in the throat more than anything. Tool marks strip copper from the jacket. This vaporized copper plates the barrel. On a premium hand lapped barrel there may not be much of.this but with a stock savage......

My procedure

Start with a clean bore

Shoot.one and clean for 5 shots. I use boretech eliminator. It gets the copper. If you are still seeing.blue on the.patches repeat until it.stops. might have to soak it a little. Wet patches first. Then 5 strokes with a nylon brush soak 10 minutes and patch.

No blue shoot a 5 shot group and clean. No blue after cleaning you are.done.

This will tell you a lot about.the.bore of your barrel. Some really just like for.the.copper to fill in the rough spots. If it shoots better dirty so be it.

Of course all my barrels are premium hand lapped. It has been decades since i cleaned a stock barrel.

[7887mm08]

Clean barrel and dry thoroughly. Fire one round. Take 60 seconds to talk to the guy next to you. Fire second round. Walk down the line to see if there is anything interesting. Look at your brass etc. Fire third round. How hot is the barrel? If cool wait 60 seconds and fire again. Repeat until it is very warm/hot to the touch. Let cool. Repeat until you are out of ammo or tired. Clean, sleep with rifle, repeat, clean, sleep with rifle.
x2!

[pisgah]

This is a question that quite literally cannot be answered. Why? Once you've used a particular break-in procedure (or not) there's no way to go back and try it again to tell if it worked. Done (or not) is done (or not).

Do as you please, 'cause you'll never be able to tell the difference.

[TheFNG57]

Ryan Cleckner says it is totally unnecessary unless you have a not so good barrel, but do what makes you feel good.

[RustyShackle]

More likely to damage a barrel repeatedly cleaning vs just shooting the thing. An initial cleaning may be warranted to remove any and all material or debri left over from machining or collected during shipping. Shoot until accuracy starts to degrade or copper starts to build up, then scrub it out.

And if you're using an aluminum cleaning rod, do yourself a favor and throw it in the trash, I'm going to stop myself before I squirrel and get off subject.