New Gun Help

I just got my first long gun. I got my brand new 110 Tactical 308 win. I am very very new to gun ownership. A little background, I was in the Navy for 21 years so I am no stranger to guns, stood many many watches armed and on a few different security teams etc. however I have never owned a gun until a couple of months ago when I got my first AR and 9mil. Anyways I have been reading a ton of opposing ideas when it comes to "breaking in" a new rifle.

I am hoping a few of you might be able to steer me in the right direction. Should I clean my new gun before shooting it for the first time? Is there an actual "breaking in" process? Anything you might pass on to a new gun owner (just to put you at ease, I am very familiar with gun safety etc etc, I am looking more for a maintenance path kind of insight)

Thank you all in advance for any tips, tricks, or suggestions you have to offer.

Welcome aboard.
Yes, you should do a careful and thorough clean and lube of your new rifle. This will help to make sure all transport preservative has been removed and help you to become a bit familiar with the Savage.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Break in is a personal opinion sort of thing. Some people swear by it, some swear at it, some ignore it.

I like a break in. Clean. Shoot one, clean (with copper remover). Shoot another, clean. When blue color is less then shoot 3 or 4 and clean again. Then go to a 10 round series and clean again.

The idea is that the initial bullets will smooth out the barrel faster.

In a typical Savage barrel it might or might not make a difference. Why? The machining marks are deep enough that you won't smooth it out. Both of my Savage barrels (without a break in) took over 200rnds to 'settle', going from 2" groups to much less than 1". Would breaking in a barrel help that? I believe so.

OTOH, my Shilen barrel took 4 rounds to break in. It is a hand lapped barrel and only needed the chambering reamer marks removed. It shot less than 1/2" after the break in.

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Quite honestly, it’s superstition. I don’t mean that in a bad way mind you. Just, there is no empirical evidence on this; only anecdotal. And with my knowledge of metallurgy & alloys behavior, I am positive that no “system” of shoot once, clean, shoot once clean, shoot five times clean X 2, etc., etc.. or any other recipe passed down from father to child, or “Because that’s what my ‘Smiff told me to do!”, is going to magically make my barrel shoot better. Now, I said it’s not a bad thing, because all those things can be very much a part of the hobby for many people. And I AM a firm believer in placebos. My accident & subsequent nerve pain has taught me so much of how intricately the human brain works. Just hii I a absolutely amazing God created us. So, if some break in procedure floats your boat, and serves only as placebo, then it could be beneficial for that person.

As for me, my break in consists of going shooting, come hone and clean. Go shooting again, cone home & clean. I do not clean at the range, in between shots. And I follow no set guideline.

Yep, opinions vary :)

FWIW, there were a couple of folks who scoped their barrels before and after and could see the results.

For most shooters it just isn't needed.

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I tend to agree with Dave. Other than cleaning the barrel before shooting it, I haven't seen any difference in performance that I can attribute to a break-in procedure, and as many of you know, I am anal about measuring everything.

I have quite a few rifles that I bought new.
My first few new rifles I was religious about cleaning before shooting and performing a break-in procedure.

My last several new rifles, I cleaned before shooting and didn't do any break-in procedure - I just shot them.
The last few actually have performed better than the early ones that I "broke-in".
Admittingly, that is probably the result of already having a lot more trigger time with prior rifles before I bought the last few, or subsequent improvements in manufacturing tolerances at Savage.

All of them now have had thousands of rounds down their barrels and only my first new rifle has had the barrel replaced because of wear - over 6,500 rounds.

However, I have found that, for me, a new rifle will take getting used to before I can shoot it really accurately, whether I break-in the barrel or not.
The initial 100-200 round period with Savage barrels, that charlie b references in post #3, could be a combination of wearing-in the barrel and getting comfortable with the rifle's feel.
I doubt that anyone could determine what causes the initial improvement without shooting from a fixture, but I do believe that it takes some rounds to get into the groove with a new rifle, so I tend to think it is probably a bit of both.
For me, it also may be the result of finding what powder and bullet combinations that the barrel really likes to shoot.

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I was in the Navy for 21 years

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Thank you for being there for us all sailor!

I clean the rifle and then lube the bolt and put a small amount of grease on the locking lugs- and make sure I get the chamber itself clean of oil and cutting residue.

Barrels will break in/wear in/season or whatever else you want to call it- as you shoot them. Most premium barrels are hand lapped and I do not do any break-in other than shooting. On factory barrels or cheaper aftermarket barrels there can be some pretty drastic chatter and machining marks. If those defects collect copper then I clean them simply because the built up copper will protect those spots and prevent the bullets from smoothing them out (and most likely cause accuracy problems).

I've never had a barrel that shot poorly at first suddenly start shooting great once it "broke in".

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Originally Posted by Dave Hoback

Quite honestly, it’s superstition. I don’t mean that in a bad way mind you. Just, there is no empirical evidence on this; only anecdotal. And with my knowledge of metallurgy & alloys behavior, I am positive that no “system” of shoot once, clean, shoot once clean, shoot five times clean X 2, etc., etc.. or any other recipe passed down from father to child, or “Because that’s what my ‘Smiff told me to do!”, is going to magically make my barrel shoot better. Now, I said it’s not a bad thing, because all those things can be very much a part of the hobby for many people. And I AM a firm believer in placebos. My accident & subsequent nerve pain has taught me so much of how intricately the human brain works. Just hii I a absolutely amazing God created us. So, if some break in procedure floats your boat, and serves only as placebo, then it could be beneficial for that person.

As for me, my break in consists of going shooting, come hone and clean. Go shooting again, cone home & clean. I do not clean at the range, in between shots. And I follow no set guideline.

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FWIW, I did exactly the same thing Dave does when my 110 in .223 was brand new. I don`t think I went through 50 rounds before it was shooting sub-MOA groups with loads that it likes. ​You`ll probably soon discover that your gun will have loads it prefers as well.

Always clean a new gun not matter what it is. As far as breaking in the barrel. For a factory barrel I wouldn't think it's a bad idea since they are not usually the best machined. But my custom bolt guns I clean them. Then shoot a few shots and clean them again then go to my usual cleaning after every range trip. U just have to try stuff and see what works the best for u.

wbm Thank you for your support.

Thank all of you for your replies, I do appreciate it.