Reply With QuoteThis will not be cleared up for you. You will receive a lot of info, some for breaking in a barrel and some will say there is no need. At that point you will have to decide which camp you will pitch our tent in. Good luck.
Put a new McGowin on the 223 in bull barrel..
Did the barrel break in thing.One shot,clean
etc,etc...
I have read on here where it did not take many
shots to get broke in...Can someone tell me just
how in hell do you know it's so called broke in..
I aint been able to figue this one out...And then
I read where there is no break in need for a barrel.
If this is the case,then why do the makers say to
break it in,in such and such way? Thanks for clearing
this up for me...John
This will not be cleared up for you. You will receive a lot of info, some for breaking in a barrel and some will say there is no need. At that point you will have to decide which camp you will pitch our tent in. Good luck.
I personally believe that break in works and can usually be achieved around the 50 round mark. I have on more than one occasion loaded up 50 rounds of the same load and watched the groups shrink as I went along. Is it needed? Probly not but it does help when doing serious load development. My. 02
Olddav is correct--lots of opinions, I'm afraid. I have a new Savage 10 FCP that is excellent. I've run a few patches through it and that is it. I just got home from shooting the gun at 300 yards and had 3 sub 3" four round groups out of 4 groups with 3 different brands of ammo. I'm not about to clean anything but the carbon out of it, for now. It shot well from the first round I put down range.
Here is the only suggestion I have--follow the barrel manufacturer's recommendations. If you don't, and the accuracy isn't what you expected, you will have the correct answer for the barrel manufacturer when you first talk to him. My opinion, and that is all it is, is that the smoother the barrel and rifling edges are from the manufacturer, the less critical the break in is, and the less dramatic the changes in accuracy will be when the barrel is cleaned and all the copper removed. A "rough" barrel should hold on to a lot more copper and carbon, for example. Again, only my opinion. I'm pretty green at this myself compared to most anyone else that will respond.
Joe
I also use the "one shot, then clean, five times, then Five shots and clean three times, ten shots slow then clean, and no rapid fire for 50 rounds total preferred by Shilen... and for me, it works great! This method is extremly helpful on sporting type barrels with very narrow profiles that heat up quickly. As for knowing when its broken in, as Im sure is well known, every barrel is its own and the only indicator is shrinking shot groups. definatly not for the impatient, but well worth the effort. If you really want to get crazy, Lyman "Moly Bore Conditioner Cream" may also work. Im not sure of the end result on any rifle, but it sure cant hurt...especially with "barrel burner" cartridges and loads.
On any new button broached barrel I run a jag with 4X steel wool up and down the barrel about 10-12 times. Smoothes out a lot of the problems like sharp edges on rifling and the railroad track like condition of the grooves to lesson copper buildup. Works for me and I have had no problems with the three barrels I did it too. I have always done it to cut rifled muzzlelaoding barrels (dozens) to smooth off the rifleling to keep from cutting patches. Never a problem.
El Lobo
I have tried both ways, mostly because the first Savage I bought new, I bought it before I knew anything about barrel break in procedures. I just took it out and shot it. Ironically it is one the top 3 shooting barrels I have had yet. The first new custom barrel I ever bought I followed the shoot-clean-shoot-clean for 10 rounds and then every other until 20 rounds fired. On shots #21-25 i made a .321" group at 100 yards with just the load I threw together for break in. It has been very accurate since.
I have seen similar results with both methods, so I can't find a definitive answer one way or the other.
204, 22 K-Hornet, 222, 223, 22-250, 22-250AI, 6BR, 243, 243AI, 6-06, 6-WSM, 250-3000AI, 270, 7-08, 7RM, 30BR, 308, 30-06, 375 H&H, 444 Marlin, 450BM, 458WM
for what it;s worth-after 30 rounds I have no no copper at all out of it..I use the break free foam cleaner or wipe out.Got lots of carbon but NO copper..So maybe it is broke in already...Getting too much snow now to go to the range probably until spring...Thanks for your comments anyway..
Am new again to this site. All who provided info are likely long time shooters, so what they say is solid. I would like to offer an addendum for you. Go to GA Precision site and download their 'Break in Procedure'. It is a great format. I used it on a shilin bbl I purchased several years ago from NSS. Not only does the bbl shoot well but it takes about 20 minutes to clean. Too scary! But it's the truth. FWIW, I use Boretechs carbon and copper cleaners only. Afterward, I sometimes run a patch of "lockease" in lieu of oil. It dries and leaves a dry residue.
Doug
Some barrels will foul more than others.
I believe that just maintaining it like it was a used barrel is just fine.
People will tell you that the break-in process is needed for tool marks, etc. But NO ONE ever has that barrel scoped first, to see if it is a real thing, and needs addressed in their barrel.
So remember that line from the Stevie Wonder song? "When you believe in things, that you don't understand, you will suffer... Superstition ain't the way."
Fortunately, it isn't likely to harm anything. Just waste your time, cleaning components.
So as I have long said about "break-ins", Do what lets you sleep at night. What do you care what someone else thinks?
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
Amen to that....Originally Posted by darkker
I clean a new barrel very well before shooting it, fire a couple rounds, clean again, and call it good enough. I have tried the long break in before. You know, fire one round, clean it, fire two rounds, clean it, fire three rounds, ect. I can't see any difference.
Happened to get to the range yesterday, to "break-in" my new 7-08 barrel.
Shot five foulers, then ran a patch of Wipe-Out Accelerator down the bore, and foamed it up.
Let it sit a half hour, patched it out, not a sign of any copper at all (no blue)...
Did my OCW load workup with the Chrony.
Foamed it with Wipe-Out last night while loading a few hundred rounds for me and the boys for today, patched it out before bed.
Headed to the "long range", range today with 75 rounds of my best guess load based on the OCW.
Got her zeroed at 200, then moved out to 565 yards. Wind was a bit challenging, but hey, nothing new there. Still, enuf hits to not regret the four hours of driving... Then, just before the rains came at the end of the day, the wind gods cooperated and I felt confident enough to go the rest of the way down the ditch to 1000 yards. After getting the elevation dope correct, nailed two out of three hits on the gong before it started pouring.
So, one clean after five rounds, final clean after load workup (38 rounds total), then I just shot it... and I can't complain about holes touching at 200 yards :)
I just shot a 4" group at 500 yards and, when done, the rifle had seen 86 rounds since last patches. Total to date through this barrel is 161 rounds. I'll put one more box through it then clean the carbon out. I have run some patches through it once since new, at 75 rounds. It cleaned up very easily the first time.
Joe
awesome man..that is awazing..appreciate the info...
Went back this morning and shot a 3" group at 547 yards. I am in no hurry to clean anything right now.
Joe
Mcgowen used to have their version of a break-in procedure listed on their site, but I just checked and it is no longer there.
Basically(if i remember correctly) it was the shoot1 and clean for 5 rounds, shoot 3 and clean for 15 rounds, and shoot 5 and clean for 30 rounds. That will give you a total of 50 rounds thru the barrel at this point.
That being said, I have owned about 8-9 Mcgowen barrels and have tried different procedures ranging from no break-in to exactly what they suggested, and didnt find any real evidence to prove that one way or the other did or did not make a difference. With every barrel having its own identity(meaning no 2 are exactly alike, even from same manufacturer) theres really no way to know. With my 6br barrel I just started shooting it and cleaned after the first 10 shots, then again after about 25-30 and called it broke in(of course the low.2" groups out of the gate helped some...LOL), and to date it is the most accurate gun I own.
So like mentioned above, do what you think is the best way. Just make sure that when you do clean it that you clean it properly(i.e just using a bore snake aint gonna cut it..LOL).
”I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it.”
~Clint Eastwood
Barrel break-in = total myth and waste of ammunition and cleaning supplies.
Shoot it until the barrel fouls and the groups open up, clean, repeat.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
I doubt it is a myth..I see lots of bench rest shooters clean after a 10 shot relay,so there is something to it weather
you think or not..I was told that I would be lucky to get 1000 rounds thru my 22-250....After talking to some barrel
makers and cleaning it as they suggested...No wire brush,solvent or foam cleaner and patchs.I am now going on
a total of 1475 to date...So there is something to it...
So just because the persnickety benchrest crowd does something automatically means it has meaning and must be beneficial? Oooooooooooook!
Reality Check: The reason benchrest shooters typically clean after every relay is they also usually shoot several sighters in each relay and in most barrels (from my own experience and that of others) the accuracy will typically start to taper off after somewhere between 20 and 30 rounds. For them, the N'th degree of accuracy is the name of the game so if there's a snowballs chance in hell that doing something might help them cut 1/1000th of an inch off their group size they'll do it and swear by it like it's the gospel.
As for whomever informed you that you'd be lucky to get 1,000 rounds from your 22-250 barrel, they obviously didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Even a fast twist 22-250 Ackley Improved barrel will surpass 2,000 rounds with ease. I have close to 1k through mine now and last we bore-scoped it it still wasn't showing the first sign of any real wear in the throat - and that's pushing 80gr Noslers at 3300fps.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Thank you! Have been waiting for a long time for someone that people should listen to say that.Barrel break-in = total myth and waste of ammunition and cleaning supplies.
Great shooting Joe. Keep up the not cleaning so often regimen.
Check out Jerry's cleaning regimen. http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek053.html
Last edited by wbm; 12-30-2012 at 11:19 PM.
I don't know if I'd classify myself as someone to listen to, but that's my opinion and it clearly varies from the typical monkey-see/monkey-do benchrest voodoo. At the end of the day it's your barrel and it all boils down to what you choose to believe and what sets your mind at ease and/or gives you confidence in the barrel's accuracy.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Check out Jerry's cleaning regimen. http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek053.html
Interesting reading.....I like his statement about cleaning primer pockets...I seldom clean mine either,unless real crudy....This will get a lot of guys stired up as in another topic,I had mentioned this and got several negative replies on cleaning the pockets..I may have missed it,but did not see who's barrels he is using..This in my opinion makes a big difference in if you have to clean often or seldom..
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