Savage 11 308 barrel Break In Peocedure

I realize that barrel break-in has many divided on supporting to do this or not. I am new to rifles and besides my muzzleloader have been a smooth bore Hunter for some time. I read through the savage manual and found it odd on how they mentioned the barrel breakin process as there being a divide on doing it but then listed what a magazine article recommends.

When I got to the range this was all new to me. A couple of guys there who were clearly shooting enthusiasts helped me quite a bit. I asked about barrel break in and of course their opinion was about as confident as the statement from savage. They explained why and when it is important and that with the consistency of savage manufacturing that it should not be needed. I then shot 30 or so rounds that day and focused on sighting the scope and barrel cooling between shots. Cleaning it between trips I returned to shoot another 20 rounds and accuracy was way off. I did not realize this until I got home but a loose scope is likely to blame for that.

I cleaned it with Hoppes solvent but have yet to use a copper cleaner. Did I just pollute my barrel by not following this barrel break in procedure?

Full disclosure is that I do not like the fit and finish of this gun. Weight is awesome as well as the balance and recoil. Where the barrel mates to the action, there is an ever-so-small mark on the edge of the rim that looks like a hammer was used or it was dropped. The top of the barrel also seems discolored if you remove from the stock and rotate it in good light. The clip on the magazine is also challenging to snap in reliably.

Just looking for opinions on the break in though. I will likely only keep one rifle and want something that at least in my mind for now be the right one in the safe. Beyond the cosmetic issues and the magazine not staying put, I really like this gun.

JMHO, You did no harm to your barrel. I don't do break in on Savage barrels or any other barrels. The cleaning done on a new barrel and the cleaning between shooting sessions you did is plenty.

As for copper, I use GunSlick foaming bore cleaner. It contains no Amonia and is so easy copper becomes a non issue.

Enjoy shooting your rifle and clean it when and if you feel it needs it.

That's My take...Jim :-)

No "pollution" there, just make sure that your bore is good and dry before you shoot and try to keep bore solvent from dripping down into the action.

I don't really subscribe to the bore break in but I can vouch for copper solvent making a difference in accuracy for older used guns that were possibly never cleaned with it.

My first high powered rifle, (not a Savage) I used copper solvent between range sessions. It was more of a break in period for me than the rifle. I had read that you really couldn't trust a rifle and your skills until you had put 100 rounds thru it. As I got past the 100 rd. mark I did notice a reduction in copper fouling, as my patch would no longer come out green.

I can't say the cleaning was what made it accurate or the practice of shooting, but I'm leaning towards the practice making the most difference.

Now I hardly ever clean a barrel of any gun until I notice a difference in accuracy.

BW

There are many different methods for break-in on new rifles and barrels. This one has always worked well for me !
First three shots - clean after each shot
next six shots - clean after 2 shots
next ten shots - clean after 5 shots
Now clean after every shooting session you go and shoot.. Remember that to shoot really tight groups it requires lots
of practice.. Main mistake most people make is raising up off the scope before the shot is complete. Squeeze trigger
slowly till your rifle fires and stay with it till you see a hole in the paper.. Good luck to you !!

I have done both break-in and no, on many many guns.
The truth of the matter is unless you use a bore scope, you have no idea what does or doesn't need "broken in".
" break-in " is just wearing down any supposed tooling edges in the bore. So go shooting, the smoothing of these edges doesn't magically stop when a VERY tight bullet gets pushed by 60,000 psi; unless there is a Butler there with yon nylon brush and a dash of solvent.

Shoot your rifle, enjoy your rifle, learn your rifle.
Anyone selling something (cleaner, barrels, more rifles) has a vested interest in suggesting things that would shorten it's life span. Then you can buy more.

just shoot the darn thing man, ya maan, in Jamaica we just down some rum to clean our throats maan, err not the gun maan.

i have done full break ins and no break ins as darkker has and have never seen a difference...my procedure now is to shoot 1 and clean for 3 rounds...not as break in but to tell me if the barrel is going to be a heavy fouler or not...i then shoot 10 rounds and let the barrel cool to ambient temps and clean...once again only to see if its a heavy fouler not as break in...and im done.

Guys shooting NRA high power clean every 500 to 600 rounds when accuracy drops off.

This is from the guy who ranked 8xth at Camp Perry.

There is a lot of very good information on savage barrel break in on this forum if you look.

Stockrex is right with the realization that those guys use the best barrels with the vest finish available.

i have seen fanatical cleaning and casual cleaning. truth be told there was no difference observed in my experience. now for me, to play it safe, i clean it before i ever shoot it. then when i go to the range for the scope sight in and initial shooting session, i clean after each shot for three shots, then five shots then 5, then 5 shots, then 5 shots. i use ballistol and a bore snake. so that takes care of my first session and box of ammo. then after that just regular cleaning when needed. simple and easy and has worked for years.

My Savage .308 24" heavy fluted barrel shoots great for 300 rounds or so, then falls off a cliff--2 moa. A very thorough cleaning restores it to 1/2 moa with essentially no run in rounds needed. After that, its only a couple of patches on a jag after shooting 30 rounds or so, just enough to remove powder residue really. I'm thinking the barrel is fine until the bore ID build up reaches a point where the mid bore id is less than the id at the muzzle, then the accuracy drops. This barrel is only fair under a borescope (visible machining marks, and not shiney and smooth like a hand lapped barrel) but shoots great out to 500 meters or so.

I'm thinking a .308 may be slower to detriorate than a hot rod high velocity round, even in a production bore.


Joe

Barrel break IMO is just a mental thing for the shooter. If you feel like you need it to make your gun perform correctly then do it. If you don't think it needs it then don't. The same thing goes for cleaning. If you feel it needs it everytime you shoot then you do that. If you don't want to don't do it. It's up to the shooter as what makes there gun tick. I'd say 80% of shooting is mental anyways so you might as well do what you think is going to make the gun perform at its peak performance.