New 6.5 Creedmoor range report

I got my new rifle out this weekend and was able to crack off four five shot groups. The first two were around 1.25". The third was about 1" and the fourth around 7/8".
As long as it keeps going down I guess I will be ok.
I am shooting now mainly to break in the barrel and cleaning between each group. I am really satisfied with the operation of the rifle and I hope to bring the pattern in a little even though I am sure a lot of it is me. That trigger really surprises me every time. I will get used to it after a few more rounds down range. I will post a pic as soon as I can get it down less than 3/4". 1.25" groups are not worth taking the time to post!

Personally I would seriously consider not cleaning between groups.

I have heard a lot of different opinions on the subject and I am probably through with the only break in I am going to give it. I am sure it will shoot more accurately than I will ever need. I only plan on shooting out to 500 or so.

Which rifle did you get the 6.5 in?

12 LRP. It's definitely a box stand or bench rifle, but I like it. I only have a Leupold 3-9x40 on it now. Looking to upgrade the optics soon.

Here it is. http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/...psah7vbttw.jpg

Yeah, breaking down the lands to break in the barrel is what almost all people do. I do it. My 6.5-284 has about 850 rounds down the tube and I don't worry about cleaning now for 50 or so. This rifle shoots cold bore 1st round hits in the exact same spot as all the follow up shots. Wonderful for me. For example while up wolf hunting this weekend I ranged a rock with a golf ball sized piece of snow for a cold bore shot at 836 yards. 1 inch high and 1 inch left of dead center. It had been a tennis ball it would have been a dead one. LOL.

My buddies 12LRP in 260 went through a 30 round break in. Once done I handed it back to him and it shoots .3 MOA consistenly. He needs to get a couple hundred rounds through it for it to really start to shine though.

Thanks for the info Brent. Nice name!
That's mine too. If I could shoot that good at 800 I would be tickled. What optics are you using for that?

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Originally Posted by bflee

Thanks for the info Brent. Nice name!
That's mine too. If I could shoot that good at 800 I would be tickled. What optics are you using for that?

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Night Force on the 6.5. Vortex on the 260. Leupold on the 204 w M1 turrets. Just got this scope back from leupold and am testing it out. So far it seems good but I need to test tracking. Most all of my shooting with the 6.5 has been 1000 to 1500 with a few at 1660. The NF is a great scope for that.

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Originally Posted by Brent

Yeah, breaking down the lands to break in the barrel is what almost all people do. I do it. My 6.5-284 has about 850 rounds down the tube and I don't worry about cleaning now for 50 or so. This rifle shoots cold bore 1st round hits in the exact same spot as all the follow up shots. Wonderful for me. For example while up wolf hunting this weekend I ranged a rock with a golf ball sized piece of snow for a cold bore shot at 836 yards. 1 inch high and 1 inch left of dead center. It had been a tennis ball it would have been a dead one. LOL.

My buddies 12LRP in 260 went through a 30 round break in. Once done I handed it back to him and it shoots .3 MOA consistenly. He needs to get a couple hundred rounds through it for it to really start to shine though.

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Pardon my ignorance, but are you recommending cleaning or no cleaning?

No cleaning once you have a good barrel break in done. There are a lot of theories and opinions but most people find a fouled barrel will shoot quite well. Brux, I believe, recommends 200 before you clean. Personally I will clean my 6.5 around 50-100 rounds. I strip it out though, not a little scrub but a full on copper strip with boretech. It takes a couple of evenings to get it done properly. If I was putting a blued barrel to sleep in a safe for a while I would clean it and protect it though. I prefer stainless so I don't have to mess with rust.

I am refering to copper fouling more so than carbon fouling. There is a lot of info about how copper is deposited and tightens up and settles a barrel down. If you want to use a carbon remover and leave the copper that is not a bad thing. I tend to do this on the smaller caliber rifles such as my 204. It likes to be carbon free. The smaller the pill the more picky it seems. I have about 100 rounds through my 204 right now and Sunday I shot a 2" group at 500 yards for 4 shots and my kid shot a 2" 3 shot group at 460.

Also, I like a fouled barrel since I hunt and practice in the mountains. While out hunting at some point I will probably practice a shot or two. I might range a rock at 1300 yards and dial it, send it, and confirm. My cold bore first round has to be dead on. If I need a follow up shot, it needs to hit the exact same place. I am sure you understand this process and thought, I just don't know you do all this on a clean barrel repeatedly. Oh and one time I was struggling with a rifles accuracy. I would shoot, clean, shoot clean, the dang thing would shoot tight groups. I finally got ticked and just started pounding rounds down range and rocks, grasshoppers, whatever. At about 25 rounds the barrel settled in and was shooting .20 MOA groups. I quit cleaning it until I started to lose accuracy again. About 150 rounds later.

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Originally Posted by Brent

No cleaning once you have a good barrel break in done. There are a lot of theories and opinions but most people find a fouled barrel will shoot quite well. Brux, I believe, recommends 200 before you clean. Personally I will clean my 6.5 around 50-100 rounds. I strip it out though, not a little scrub but a full on copper strip with boretech. It takes a couple of evenings to get it done properly. If I was putting a blued barrel to sleep in a safe for a while I would clean it and protect it though. I prefer stainless so I don't have to mess with rust.

I am refering to copper fouling more so than carbon fouling. There is a lot of info about how copper is deposited and tightens up and settles a barrel down. If you want to use a carbon remover and leave the copper that is not a bad thing. I tend to do this on the smaller caliber rifles such as my 204. It likes to be carbon free. The smaller the pill the more picky it seems. I have about 100 rounds through my 204 right now and Sunday I shot a 2" group at 500 yards for 4 shots and my kid shot a 2" 3 shot group at 460.

Also, I like a fouled barrel since I hunt and practice in the mountains. While out hunting at some point I will probably practice a shot or two. I might range a rock at 1300 yards and dial it, send it, and confirm. My cold bore first round has to be dead on. If I need a follow up shot, it needs to hit the exact same place. I am sure you understand this process and thought, I just don't know you do all this on a clean barrel repeatedly. Oh and one time I was struggling with a rifles accuracy. I would shoot, clean, shoot clean, the dang thing would shoot tight groups. I finally got ticked and just started pounding rounds down range and rocks, grasshoppers, whatever. At about 25 rounds the barrel settled in and was shooting .20 MOA groups. I quit cleaning it until I started to lose accuracy again. About 150 rounds later.

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So what would be a good barrel break in method?

Shoot it.
Sorry for the short answer but I need to go and perform a wheel and tire flush on my truck. ;-)

I have an old Savage Revelation 22lr from the early seventies that has never been cleaned that I know of and has shot buckets of bullets into the thousands I am sure. It is still very accurate.
That being said, I wanted to make sure I got the most out of my 6.5 creedmoor 12 LRP. It looks like the consensus is to shoot it. It's only got twenty down the tube now and the last group was about 7/8" at 100. I am sure most of the error is mine because three out of five touch and the other two stretch it out a little. I have to get used to that trigger. It is nice but different than I am used to.

3 touching is about .3 moa. Good start. Get used to the rifle now and have some fun.

Most people do 1 round clean. for 10 rounds. 3 rounds clean for 3 to 5 groups. If the barrel coppers up badly with a single shot then most people will do a few more 3 round sessions.

Those rifles are known to be accurate. Keep shooting and cleaning. After you get about 100-160 rounds down the tube stop cleaning till the groups sour.

Try shooting some longer distances, she might surprise you.

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Originally Posted by Brent

3 touching is about .3 moa. Good start. Get used to the rifle now and have some fun.

Most people do 1 round clean. for 10 rounds. 3 rounds clean for 3 to 5 groups. If the barrel coppers up badly with a single shot then most people will do a few more 3 round sessions.

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Thanks for that. I have a .243, but I assume the break-in is similar. I assume when you say cleaning, we are talking bronze brush and hoppe's 9 ok?

Well, no not really. I don't care if you use a bronze brush or nylon. I like a nylon brush personally as they last a long time and don't break down like bronze. Hoppes is not a product I use at all. I use Boretech Eliminator. I also like Wipe Out and Wipe Accelorator.

Boretech Eliminator and Boretech Carbon remover are wonderful products that work very well and I have switched to those almost exclusively. I bore scope my barrels to check land wear etc. I also look for carbon donuts and copper build up. On stock savage barrels copper builds up due to the micro groves and it takes a bit of work to really clean the barrels well.

Barnes CR 10 is a good product to use to test and see if you have all the copper out. 1 wipe down the barrel and let it sit for a min or two and you will know if you are done or not.

My process for complete copper stripping:
boretech carbon remover- run a 2 saturated patches thru. Sit for a few min. 1 wet patch. nylon brush for about 20 strokes. Repeat until carbon is gone.
boretch eliminator- 2 saturated patches. Sit for 5 min. 1 wet patch patch. Brush for 20 strokes. Repeat, but I let the boretech sit and work on the copper for 15 min to 30 min, for the first few tries and a lot of times I let it sit over night.

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Shoot it.

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Now there's a novel idea.

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Sorry for the short answer but I need to go and perform a wheel and tire flush on my truck. ;-)

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Yeah glad you reminded me to do mine. Once I finish with that, I'm going to check into buying stock in bore cleaning products.

If you two have something to add that is helpful to all it might be nice to hear. Otherwise what is with the sarcastic remarks? Are we just not worthy of your expertise? Or is sarcasm your area of expertise.

All in fun Brent. Sorry you were offended.

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Originally Posted by wbm

All in fun Brent. Sorry you were offended.

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OK, no worries. It is hard to read intent into words and we don't know each other. I see these forums as a place to continue to learn. If there is better way to flush tires then I am all for it. I am also all about understanding the reasoning behind things.

I have a couple of friends who are both gunsmiths. They both approach things a bit differently and both wind up with similar results. Many of the things I bring to the table are from personal experience and from industry experience. I will never claim to be an expert but I might claim to be experienced. Meaning I have made a few mistakes that drove me nuts and I turned to forums and experts for advice. I try and share that here and other places if the opportunity arises. Sometimes my eagerness to help or learn is misguided and I let the little things bug me more than they should. Take care.

Waiting on my 140 amax and reloading dies so I can really check this baby out. I only have IMR4895 powder right now but I am going to get some 4350. I found AA4350 and I guess it will work? I found a few loads for the 4895 I will work with until I get the 4350. I have about 60 120 grain factory loads to shoot still. I noticed that savage says it was made for 140's so I am ready to try them. I just wish I had a scope worthy of this rifle! This Leupold rifleman 3-9x40 just ain't gonna cut it. I want to stretch this rifle out some and I won't be able to do it with this scope.

I apologies, I did not mean to offend anyone,
2 different topics here:
1. barrel needing cleaning - I have been collecting data from my shooting buddies and most of them say that around 800 rounds the accuracy out of their 5.56 barrels drop off and a cleaning is in order
2. barrel break-in - this a myth, just shoot it.

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Originally Posted by Brent

OK, no worries. It is hard to read intent into words and we don't know each other. I see these forums as a place to continue to learn. If there is better way to flush tires then I am all for it. I am also all about understanding the reasoning behind things.

I have a couple of friends who are both gunsmiths. They both approach things a bit differently and both wind up with similar results. Many of the things I bring to the table are from personal experience and from industry experience. I will never claim to be an expert but I might claim to be experienced. Meaning I have made a few mistakes that drove me nuts and I turned to forums and experts for advice. I try and share that here and other places if the opportunity arises. Sometimes my eagerness to help or learn is misguided and I let the little things bug me more than they should. Take care.

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