Barrel break-in

[mchef]

I have a new 116 FLHSS in .270. I am new to firearms so please excuse my ignorance.

I have read and found a wide range of opinions about how to break in a barrel. Some say just shoot, others say do multiple one shot and clean cycles. Some have you shooting upwards of 50 - 100 rounds, others about 20. Some have commented that it's a ploy to sell more barrels. I have read the FAQ on the savage site about barrel break-in, and the wording is very particular. It does not say Savage Arms recommends a specific break-in, but just quotes the procedure from the magazine. Regarding that, the last step states, "They recommend the use of a patch with 2 drops of oil after the cleaning so that you are not shooting with a dry bore." Many other procedures I've read say to make sure the bore is dry and not oiled. Can anyone offer any definitive info on this topic?

Also, regarding cleaning, I have read a lot about the proper way to clean a rifle and one thing I have found is much talk about keeping chemicals, solvents, oil, etc out of the action. I have not found anything on how to actually clean the action, nor what to do if you accidentally get any of these chemicals into the action.

[Wes_VB]

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.

[scaxeman]

mchef,

How much you need to clean your barrel is wildly dependent on the caliber. .308's are extremely robust and need much less cleaning than say a 6.5-284. You will probably find that a .270 will fall somewhere in between these extremes. For the .308 I shoot, I will run between 250 and 300 rounds through it before I clean it. I will never clean it in the middle of a multi-day match, it takes too long to "refoul" back to it's previous level of accuracy. The 6.5-284's on the other hand are packing a LOT of powder behind a relatively small diameter bullet. They will need to be cleaned religiously every 50 rounds or so to remove the carbon from the breech end of the barrel. Generally, when your accuracy starts to fall below what you are used to is a good time to clean, or if you are putting a rifle up for the year (as with a hunting rifle).

In my Savage F-T/R rifle in .308, I do not bother with a break-in. If anything, I might clean it at 40-50 rounds instead of 250, but nothing special. Other calibers may like a gentler treatment, but I don't put much stock in the "shoot one round and clean, for the first 40 rounds" manner of break-in.

As regards shooting with a dry bore, when I clean, generally one of the last things I'll do is run a patch of Hoppe's #9 (a kerosene based solvent) through the bore, especially if I have been using something like "Patch-Out", or some other "sticky" cleaner. After the patch of Hoppe's, I'll run dry patches up the bore until they come out "dry" (3-4). I feel that there is enough residual petroleum based solvent remaining to keep the bore in good shape without leaving a sticky oil film that will attract dust or other yuck. The other advantage is that you don't have to re-patch the bore before you shoot it, it is ready to go. Again, this is applicable for rifles that I shoot fairly frequently. If I was putting one in the safe for long term storage (1+ years), I'd probably run a patch of CLP or similar down the bore, then run 1 or 2 dry (looser fitting) patches through to remove the excess. One note: if you are using a bore guide as you clean (and you should!), the last step should be to CAREFULLY run a dry patch through the bore without the guide. This will clean up the inevitable drops of solvent that leaked into the chamber past the bore guide (and prevent your first couple of rounds fired from coming out of the rifle "wet"). A "lubed" chamber is never a good idea, anything (water, oil, cleaner, whatever) will prevent the case from gripping the chamber walls as it fires, allowing the case to hit the bolt face with full force, possibly popping primers if your load is hot enough.

Keeping solvents and other nasties out of your action is pretty important. If you don't have a bore-guide... get one ASAP. If you think you've got something down in the action (especially if you have a glass bedded action), go ahead and pull the action out of the stock and clean it. I wouldn't get too rambunctious about it, probably hit the moving bits with carb-cleaner spray fairly thoroughly. If it's a bedded action, wipe the bedding areas with a clean cloth, I would not spray carb cleaner on glass bedding. Once the action is cleaned to your satisfaction, lube up the moving bits and pieces, but DON"T OVERDO IT! I use the spray cans of CLP to oil things as required. For a freshly cleaned action, I don't spray, I simply touch the end of the little spray tube (without a huge drop on the end) and sufficient oil will "wick" into the moving/bearing pins and pivots. For the parts of the bolt that see more pressure (cocking pin, etc.), they'll get a more thorough lube. In my opinion, less is more. See the above caution about attracting dust and yuck.

Hope this helps,

Darrell

[borg]

If I were you, I'd just follow what you read on the website of the company that sold you your gun rather than listen to the flood of opinions these threads generate. It's not like you are going to wish later that you hadn't. And the way to keep that crap out of your action is with a bore guide.