Proper new gun break-in procedure?

Hello All,
I am giving my wife a new Savage Model 12 BTCSS 204 for Christmas this year. I would like to know the best method for breaking in the barrel to ensure that the rifle will last a long time and shoot accurately? We belong to a local club with an outdoor 200 yard range, we have personal keys and can use it every day weather permitting. It is likely we will be there Christmas day trying out the new rifle, and I want to make sure we follow a good procedure for break-in.
Thanks for your advice, Rob

Insert one clean round of ammunition. Fire it. Repeat as necessary.

Let me encourage you to do a search on the subject and you will find there is no consensus. Savage Arms web site has a page with their recommendations.

What olddav said... Im am sure no matter which break in procedure you use your rifle will not be hurt neither will it (fouling aside) shoot better....

Clean the barrel out thoroughly before you shoot the first round, to remove any gunk from the factory. They usually are surprisingly dirty when you get them. After that, do whatever gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It can't be proven either way whether any certain break-in procedure, or lack thereof, will really help (or harm) it.

all of the above, especially barre-nut. Clean it good the first time. I find it takes about 7 shots to adequately "foul" my barrel after a good, hard cleaning. If I just run a boresnake trough it or something, I am good to go after 1-2 shots. I have not seen any advantage, though, to any kind of break-in procedure at the beginning. Keep in mind, also, I usually find it can take 100-200 (usually 200) for my factory barrels to really start shooting their best. Cleaning between every shot doesn't seem to reduce that number and certainly does not speed up the process any. But do what you want, as long as you're having fun with it, I don't think it matters why you are shooting it. (I like to tell my wife the reason I GOTTA go to the range every day this week and shoot a couple hundred rounds through her new barrel is so I can properly break it in for her and it will be ready for her to shoot it the next time we go out.) Hey, it works for me! :)

Appreciate the feedback to my question. I have heard a broad spectrum of answers to this question like you have listed here and wanted to get the goods from the Savage faithful. My boys and wife got new 22's for Christmas last year and we pretty much followed the clean first, fire a bunch of times (approx. 50), then clean again procedure and everything seemed to work out fine. No issues and they are all accurate shooters with about a 1000 each down the pipe now. I wanted to see if anybody had any dire warnings regarding the 204 and its high velocity and it seems there is nothing extensive to worry about. foxx, I like your theory on break-in but I don't think my wife will let me take her toy to the range without her, not a bad thing though!
Thanks again,
Rob

If she is anything like me she would have a fit. I LOVE tinkering with the gun, cleaning it, reseting the entire set up, adding the aftermarket stuff, bore sighting it at home then gone to the range. If someone would do all that for me I would feel robbed!!! lol!!!
Good luck with it!

WELL, you do put your left leg first into your pants every day dont you? And your left sock goes on first?
As for 22 rimfire, you might be surprised to know that serious competetive shooters hardly ever clean their rifles.
If they start dropping a few xs from their prone score they begin to think about cleaning the gun. If it shoots good then stops
try cleaning it. Other wise be happy.

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Originally Posted by yobuck

WELL, you do put your left leg first into your pants every day dont you? And your left sock goes on first?

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Someone please make me a map, Im lost!!! lol!

MAP: If you believe it matters what routine you follow when you put on your pants in the morning, Yobuck might be able to convince you his break-in method is better than the next.

--I think that's what he said, not sure. I also think I sprained my brain trying to figure it out myself.

lol, please dont get an aneurysm.... (see this http://www.cc.com/video-clips/suli6y...-college-horse I provide my own maps) lol!

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Originally Posted by foxx

MAP: If you believe it matters what routine you follow when you put on your pants in the morning, Yobuck might be able to convince you his break-in method is better than the next.

--I think that's what he said, not sure. I also think I sprained my brain trying to figure it out myself.

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I dont do breakins, at my age i cant afford any jail time. Are there any other kind?

1. Read the owner's manual. I don't care how long you have owned guns, or if this is the tenth Model 12 to go in your safe. Read the manual.
2. Clean per instructions in the manual.
3. Load.
4. Shoot.
5. Repeat as needed.

pisgah you make a very good point. This will be the first Model 12 in our possesion and I believe your #1 instruction is a good place to start. It is usually against man's (my) nature to read or ask for directions but my wife has been working on training me for years. We shall read the manual and familiarize ourselves with any particulars for this rifle before it is actually shot and determine an appropriate break-in procedure. Thanks everybody for the knowledable feedback and entertaining input, this is a great forum!

Here's the link from the Savage website. https://savagearms.zendesk.com/entri...in-procedure-/
As for me, I'm a firm believer.

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Originally Posted by big honkin jeep

Here's the link from the Savage website. https://savagearms.zendesk.com/entri...in-procedure-/
As for me, I'm a firm believer.

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I'm sure Savage dose this with each rifle they test! But what do I know? The quicker I can foul it the happier I am.

That link, although from the Savage website, references a procedure originally outlined in Precision Shooting magazine. The barrels that typically are featured on rifles in that publication (Krieger, Bartlein, Lilja etc) are miles ahead of the typical Savage barrel from the start, and as such may respond to a particular "break-in" regimen more noticeably due to their much more refined nature. A typical Savage barrel, after 5000 rounds, will not be as smooth as these barrels are before their first round is fired. So I don't see a whole lot of point in wearing myself out trying to treat them as such. Savages will foul, a lot generally, there's just no getting around it. Usually it actually helps, to a degree. So just shoot it, until accuracy falls off. Jmho

Here is a good read from gale McMillin about barrel break in...some ppl think barrel break in is gospel and has to be done....I have 2 shilen select match barrels one 300wm and one 260 rem...I broke in the 300 by the book and just started shooting groups with the 260...granted two totally different cals but the only difference I notice is that I wasted 50 rounds a bunch of cleaning supplies half a day and 10% of my barrel life.

http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html

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Originally Posted by barrel-nut

That link, although from the Savage website, references a procedure originally outlined in Precision Shooting magazine. The barrels that typically are featured on rifles in that publication (Krieger, Bartlein, Lilja etc) are miles ahead of the typical Savage barrel from the start, and as such may respond to a particular "break-in" regimen more noticeably due to their much more refined nature. A typical Savage barrel, after 5000 rounds, will not be as smooth as these barrels are before their first round is fired. So I don't see a whole lot of point in wearing myself out trying to treat them as such. Savages will foul, a lot generally, there's just no getting around it. Usually it actually helps, to a degree. So just shoot it, until accuracy falls off. Jmho

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Then clean it. Repeat.

Thanks foxx. Forgot that part.

I have done it both ways over the last 40 years of shooting both with factory and custom hand lapped barrels and other than the easy cleaning of the custom from the get go there is no difference in accuracy after 40-60 rounds. the customs show no difference and the factory barrel shoot as accurate as expected for a factory barrel the only thing is the Savage barrels are more accurate than most and that is why out of two overly full safes(wife's words not mine) the only 2 non Savages are my ML and my 1970 Marlin 30/30.

German Salazar has a great article on his approach to breaking in a barrel. Read it to the end.
http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com...-break-in.html

Wow, what a tough read. It put me to sleep. Some pictures for illustration would have helped, I think. 😉