Ahh the confusion and multitude of opinions on barrel break in. As you have discovered there is no definitive answer. Everything is just an opnion or personal preferrence.
Myself? Until the 12 F/TR I had never wasted the time, ammo or barrel life by breaking in a barrel.
However, the bore on that one looked like it could benefit from some seasoning. If for no other reason than to cut down on the amount of copper it collects.
American Rifleman had an article a few months back and it still didn't have a definitive answer although it did tend to lean towards it is very hard to quantify any benefit of doing it.
If I wasn't specifically trying to break in a barrel what I normally do is take a new barrel and scrub it to remove oils and machining debris. Take it to the range and shoot it. 50, 100 maybe even 200 rds.
Bring it it home and clean the living snot out of it, removing all copper. From then on it gets cleaned every 2-500 rds whether it needs it or not.
My Service Rifle (AR) only gets a good copper scrubbing once in about the middle of the season. Maybe 1200 rds? About every 300 rounds I'll use a patch and carbon remover but that's it.
The best Copper remover is KG12. It isn't as corrosive as the amonia based solutions but it does need to be wiped out of the action if it gets in there becasue it dries to a yellowish goo and then hard powder. Hoppes or any other normal bore solvent will cut it easily.
In the end use your intuition to decide on your own personal plan.
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