Properly Breaking in a New Barrel

NiksaNovovic

NiksaNovovic

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Hello again!

Being new to shooting, I am always in search of knowledge about firearms. I have seen multiple ways and procedures for breaking in new barrels, and I would love to find one for the rimfire firearm, if one is indeed necessary. The one I have seen the most is shoot 1 cartridge and clean afterwards x 5, then shoot groups of 5 and clean after every group x 10. I would assume that all you need to do to a rimfire barrel is to keep shooting to break it in, but I just want to see what the more experienced have to say! Thanks in advance!

Niksa
 
Clean it really well and take it out and shoot it. That's it, you're done. Clean it when your accuracy deteriorates. That may take a thousand or two rounds depending on your rifle.
 
Thanks for all of your input gents! I think I am going to love having my .22 plinker! I will most definitely be taking your advice and cleaning it well first, and then shooting a brick or two of ammo through it!

Niksa
 
Break-in

I just broke in a .22 I got. First groups I tried, I almost cried. Then I shot a couple of hundred rounds of mixed ammo I had, cleaned it well every 50 rounds or so, now I get 3/8" at 50. Still not completely broken in, but well on its way. This is the most extreme case I've seen though. Usually, you won't see a huge difference like that.
 
why the break in procedure of cleaning so frequently after first few round? its like running finer and finer sand paper over the wood until the finish is smooth. if you do have a burr from machining material can build up on that spot causing the bullet shape to alter ever so slightly which will affect its trajectory. If these are tended to by the tedious initial cleaning and shooting process you will in the end get better accuracy out of your rifle, sometimes its marginal, sometimes it may be nil (job well done at the factory) and sometimes it can be significant. In the end the tedious cleaning/shooting process of a break-in will not hurt things, and only stands to help.
 
Soft lead bullets will not wear your rimfire barrel at all. If there is no weardown = there is no breaking-in in a normal sence of the word. One can either lap the barrel to further improve finish, one can shoot specific ammo to induce certain type of fouling, those will probably improve accuracy. But those are not what we would call "breaking-in".
 
Exactly, you don't have the velocity or material hardness in a .22 that you have in centerfire for smooting out anything in the bore. You lack the heat and flame to erode any burrs or tooling marks in the throat area. Unless you're using bullets coated in abrassive (Tubb Final Finish), you're doing nothing to wear down metal in a .22 by firing. If you want to smooth things, polish the bore with JB.

The firing part of breaking in a .22 only serves to fill voids and coat the bore with wax/lubricant if you're using match ammo. Similar idea as moly or hBN in a centerfire.
 
water wears stone, string cuts granite, lead at velocity WILL affect steel in ever so slight of ways, will it remove a microscopic burr? I say yes , those burrs are what can mark the bullet which affects trajectory. Not talking about wearing out the rifling, talking about removing residue from manufacturing and 22 bullets WILL do that.
 
dizzy said:
water wears stone, string cuts granite, lead at velocity WILL affect steel in ever so slight of ways, will it remove a microscopic burr? I say yes , those burrs are what can mark the bullet which affects trajectory. Not talking about wearing out the rifling, talking about removing residue from manufacturing and 22 bullets WILL do that.
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I HIGHLY agree.....
 
Water wears stone over thousands/millions of years and .22 barrels last for over 50k rounds. It takes more than a couple boxes of ammo to cause any meaningful wear on a .22 barrel.
 
komba, when I buy a new vehicle I change the oil as soon as I get home, why? to remove any metal filings left in the engine that could affect the overall wear of the engine. as to water wearing down stone or string cutting granite, this can happen quickly depending on pressures something we have in a firearm. like it or not lead does have an affect on steel especially when you ad heat and pressure. Burrs left over from the manufacturing process are RESIDUE that's been loosened from its main source and lead can have an affect on this as its electronic bond to the main source is completely different than the 'unloosened' steel. So in the end breaking in a 22 barrel CAN have a positive affect, doesn't mean it will, but it CAN and some of us with higher end rifles choose to do it and some don't. Build up of lead on a burr is not an ideal situation so why not go through the steps to eliminate the risk? Just trying to look at this as objectively as possible and comment on what's happening in the barrel.
Have you ever seen a 22 with the rifling near the chamber worn down? if not then you haven't looked at enough barrels yet.
 
Breaking in

I don't know how much wear there is, but when I got my new Norinco EM-332, I cleaned it out very thoroughly. When I tried it at the range, it was dismal (7-8" groups at 50 yds). After about 200 rounds and 3 or 4 more cleanings, it now consistently shoots 1/2" or better. I had never experienced something as severe as this, but I am now a firm believer in breaking in even rimfires.
 
Papaclaude said:
... Still not completely broken in, but well on its way. .....
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How can you determine that it is not completely broken in ? You have no way of determining if the performance has peaked.

You mentioned ,after several hundred rounds and several cleanings , the performance has improved. Have you noticed a difference in performance as the barrel gets dirtier after a cleaning ? One can make a generality from one experience but you may want to get a larger sample or more cases.

Having shot target rifle for many years I have noticed many rifles favour a seasoning period or regimen of several shots after a cleaning before optimum performance is reached. However, a break-in procedure may very well have an effect on performance for firearms that are made to lower production standards where the finishing process is less refined.
 
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