How to properly break in barrel of new rifle?

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RustyRipper

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Hi all, I just bought myself a shiny new Tikka T3 in 300WSM and was about to take er out to the range and fire off some rounds when someone told me I should make sure to thoroughly clean out the bore after each shot until Ive had a couple dozen rounds through the pipe. So that made me think twice as Id never heard that before, I suppose all my rifles have either been passed down to me or else I bought used so this is my first brand newie other than a shotgun. So my question is, how thoroughly should I clean the barrel between shots? and to what extent? I'd appreciate any advice, thanks
RR
 
Depending on the quality/life of the tooling used with some companies, there is the chance of having slight burrs in the lands and grooves of the rifling which will strip copper from the bullet quite quickly until the imperfections are worn down. It's a good idea to use a bore solvent containing a copper remover when breaking in your barrel, running a patch after the first 1 or 2, then subsequent 1 or 2 shots. Generally a box of ammunition is thought to be enough. Try not to let the barrel get too warm either.
 
Yep, opinions and methods vary but I'd clean (copper) between each of the first 5 rounds then after every 2 rds for the next 10 and again after the 20th round is fired. There goes your 1st box of ammo. Don't fire more frequently than 1 rd per minute. Your Tikka will have a hammer forged barrel so lengthy break in ceremonies shouldn't be required but try to get ALL the copper out when you clean and don't let the barrel get hot.

More importantly, get yourself a bore guide (Lucas) and clean CAREFULLY using proper gear and procedures.
 
You will find much debate on this subject. Lots of people say it's just a waste of time and wears the barrel, others swear by it. With a chrome lined barrel it's much less necessary, but steel is usually more recommended. As was already said above, a bore guide is a must for proper cleaning. Break in is a pain but I don't think it will hurt if you are willing to put the time in.
Here is a link to Krieger's website about barrel break in (yes the famous Krieger barrel makers).
http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/Break_In__Cleaning-c1246-wp2558.htm
 
I wouldn't bother to break in an off the shelf rifle, but I do break in my expensive custom barrels. If you are going to go through the process anyway you might as well burnish the barrel with Gun Juice or Kroil at the same time. This is done by pushing a wet patch with either product through the barrel after each cleaning. My break in procedure is to clean after each shot for 5 rounds, clean after each 3 shot group for 5 groups, and clean after each 5 shot group for 5 groups. By this time the bore should be considered broken in, but this goes beyond even what Krieger recommends.
 
By being more pedantic (field stripping and cleaning) than not with my first new pistol, I discovered that a roll pin within the recoil assembly, in my new firearm, was backing out. This would, without a doubt, have caused damage within a couple of hundred rounds if not discovered early.

YES, I know there's a big difference between a pistol and a bolt gun :D.

Nonetheless, I continue to think there's merit in frequently inspecting a firearm while its new, even if you don't believe the barrel requires it, and cleaning is as good a reason to do this as any.

Some break in ceremonies involve hundreds of rounds (Remington). Others recommend the "just shoot it" method. If devoting a box of ammo and some patches to the first range trip of an expensive firearm's life is a mistake, I'm not convinced. You're allowing your barrel to cool anyway right ;)? If not, then there's probably no reason to clean,,,ever :D.

There's always the argument that improper cleaning harms a firearm, the point being ???
 
I can't remember where I read this, but I thought that some manufacturers pre fire their rifles to make sure they meet their standard of accuracy. Is that just a marketing pitch or do they actually do this? I can't find anything about this on the Tikka website but I'm curious about that. However I think regardless of that I will take the precautions mentioned here when first shooting, thanks for the advice guys. Cheers
 
I've always shot three rounds, then cleaned for the first twenty rounds or so with a new rifle, always allowing the barrel to cool between shots. I had a SS Pac-Nor tube installed on one of my rifles last year so I just followed their break in recommendations for that one.
 
phinton81 said:
Here we go again, break in is a myth. Shoot the gun and clean the barrel when it is fouled with copper and residue. Cheers,

Patrick
Click to expand...

:agree:

Also there are a lot of very accurate hunting rifles out there that are built on old milsup actions that never went through the break in rituals that gun mags, firearm, and ammo companies are advising.
 
barrel breakin

HKMark23 said:
Yep, opinions and methods vary but I'd clean (copper) between each of the first 5 rounds then after every 2 rds for the next 10 and again after the 20th round is fired. There goes your 1st box of ammo. Don't fire more frequently than 1 rd per minute. Your Tikka will have a hammer forged barrel so lengthy break in ceremonies shouldn't be required but try to get ALL the copper out when you clean and don't let the barrel get hot.

More importantly, get yourself a bore guide (Lucas) and clean CAREFULLY using proper gear and procedures.
Click to expand...


This is the same method I use for the last 15 years to break my barrels in and it works. When done properly, copper fowling is very minimal and easy to clean. The first 5 to 10 single shots are most important as the hot gases actually season the inside surface of the barrel like tempering. The first 5 to 10 single shots must travel through a clean barrel every shot or it will not work.
 
Here we go again........Barrel break in is a complete myth. Save your barrel life and ammunition for something more useful.

Just shoot it.
 
Show me one controlled study that quantifies not only the results, but the methodology of barrel break-in.

the barrel Barrel break-in theory is the circumcision controversy of shooting. Strong opinions and not one shred of evidence it accomplishes a single thing.
 
While I'm not a "believer" in break in periods. I can say that my .270 XCR shot pretty bad at first. Ok for hunting, but not accurate. After shooting it with 130, 140 and 150 grains, I found it only like 130s. The rest were all over the map. Probably a total of 200 rounds at this point. I was disapointed in it. I only ever cleaned the gun after a day's shooting.

Then I went shooting in the winter one day where the gun got really cold. I don't know if this had anything to do with it. It shot better and better. Now it shoots everything well. better than ever in fact. It's not picky about ammo any more and I can get groups of 3 in 1 inch @100 yards without any trouble with factory ammo if I do my part. It is like a new gun since that one day of shooting in the cold. I only shot maybe another 20 rounds from 2 boxes of 150 silvertips and 130 of Winchester's plastic pointy tips. (Ballistic silvertip?)

I'm not sure if the cold fixed it, or if i just happened to break through whatever burrs or whatever was causing it to shoot off. The gun is now a super keeper!
 
I bought a savage and here is what is what they recommend in terms of break in. I followed this on my .22 but not on my .308. Personally I would just take it out and shoot a few groups and clean it anytime the people at the range are taking a while to put up their target etc.

Q. What is the barrel break-in procedure?

A. Although there may be different schools of thought on barrel break-in, this is what Precision Shooting Magazine recommends:

STEP 1 (repeated 10 times)

* Fire one round
* Push wet patches soaked with a powder solvent through the bore
* Push a brush through the bore (5 times in each direction)
* Push dry patches through the bore (2 times)
* Push wet patches soaked with a copper solvent through the bore
* Push a brush through the bore (5 times in each direction)
* Push dry patches through the bore (2 times)
* Push a patch with 2 drops of oil through the bore

STEP 2 (repeated 5 times)

* Fire a 3 shot group
* Repeat the cleaning procedure from STEP 1 after each group

STEP 3 (repeat 5 times)

* Fire a 5 shot group
* Repeat the cleaning procedure from STEP 1

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. It is also advisable to use a powder solvent and copper solvent from the same manufacturer to be sure they are chemically compatible.
 
Not only is barrel break in a myth, it is a modern myth! Only in recent years did some writer, with nothing else to write about, think of it. And masses of sheep out there fell for it!!!
 
I always break-in my new barrels, I'm a little OCD when it comes to stuff like that......

I have an experiance simular to drvage...... I bought a spanking new 17HMR (my first new gun EVER..... lots of 2nd hand guns but never NIB) It took me 500 rnds to get that thing shooting right, I was told that if I had "broke in the barrel" it would have been under 50rnds to break it in. I have followed that advice ever since with all my new guns (even my new to me guns) and I have never experianced long break in periods ever again.......

my $.02
 
Obtunded said:
Show me one controlled study that quantifies not only the results, but the methodology of barrel break-in.

the barrel Barrel break-in theory is the circumcision controversy of shooting. Strong opinions and not one shred of evidence it accomplishes a single thing.
Click to expand...

Obtunded, just out of curiosity, do you treat your barrels with Microlon? If so, the barrel must be cleaned between shots so that you are treating the barrel steel and not the fouling. Those who promote Gun Juice as a good thing have inadvertently broken in their barrels when applying it.

If I built a real fire breather that would loose it's edge within 1000 rounds I would be hesitant to loose any barrel life by following a break in procedure, but with the life I expect to see from my .308 even an excessive 45 round break in amounts to less than .1% of the barrel life. I think I can afford that.
 
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