Just received my 10/22 Green Mountain Heavy Taper 17" barrel..

[Slaymoar]

It is definitely a bit heavier than the 18.5 stock barrel. Once installed though it shoulders just like the stock barrel installed and actually feels quite right. Looks great, and I figure that the added front weigth will help to stay relatively more stable for that second shot.

Main PURPOSE is hunting, but main use is practice / target shooting. I'm going to take this to the range for 100 and 200 yard practice this weekend, we'll see what this thing can do. However this thing has quite the break-in instructions!

It goes something like this:
On a clean/dry barrel, shoot 5 shots and clean barrel. Repeat until 30 shots are fired total. Then do the same with 10 shots, until an additional 70 shots are fired (total 100). Repeat with 20-30 shot intervals until another 100 shots are fired (total 200). Like seriously? "Clean barrel" is vague at best... I would like to know what they mean by that. 1 brush two dry swabs?

200 bullet break-in lol! Oh well... Then it tells you to begin trying different ammo to see what the barrel likes. Also there is something like "when testing different ammo, fire at least 10 shots of new ammo for seasoning"..

Anyways, pics coming tonight, range report and target pics saturday evening!

 

[barsik]

seasoning of a rimfire barrel is done to allow the wax type bullet lube to coat the barrel. as far as breaking in a new barrel, you may be better off hand lapping if you have a patient and careful type personality, otherwise you may do damage. putting rounds downrange will also do this, just make sure to be careful when using your cleaning rod on the barrel and be especially careful on the crown and muzzle. the point of the breaking in period is to smooth off any rough edges from the barrel making process, these edges will accumulate lead and other material and will be detrimental for maximum accuracy. and yes,rimfires can be very particular in regard to accuracy, after the barrel is broken in, take the time to test a wide variety of ammo, save some time by testing the wax lube bullets separately from the plated bullets.

 

[Slaymoar]

Yeah I think I'm just going to boresnake it.. no crown damage.

 

[supernova]

A boresnake won't get it very clean.

 

[Slaymoar]

A boresnake won't get it very clean.

5 bullets won't get it very dirty either.. Maybe I'm wrong there

 

[Slaymoar]

Here are some shots, crappy cell camera:

 

[supernova]

It takes 1 to foul the bore, especially a brand new bore. I would use patches and solvent personally. For quick and dirty 10/22 cleaning I lock the action back, place the rifle in a cradle upside down, place a piece of shop towel in the action and clean from the muzzle end with a muzzle guide to protect the crown. Then lift the towel out when done.

5 bullets won't get it very dirty either.. Maybe I'm wrong there

 

[Slaymoar]

Solvent between strings?

 

[Trinimon]

I've never subscribed to the "barrel break-in" thing but that's just me.

 

[Slaymoar]

Took it to the range, and it looks like this barrel shot about .75 inches at 50 yards during the "break-in" period. I didn't really do the instructions, since it was way too much of a PITA to clean that often. So I did dry patches at 10-20-30-40-50 and called it a break-in. When I got home I used a brush and did a better job, 1 wet and 3 dry patches. At this point I call this thing ready for about 2000 rounds (or when POI starts shifting) before I touch the barrel again.

Range pics will be posted when I go back to the range.

 

[Slaymoar]

Range report; on a super clean barrel, took about 50 shots before flyers were relatively gone. Should have used cheaper ammo for that

Anyways, here goes:

Not bad for high velocity stuff.. 50 yard headshots! Also -> Yes it works with stingers... don't know why, but it did.

Here goes the standard velocity, had to adjust the scope quite a bit. Something like 6 clicks left and 8 up:

This one, there is a flyer at the top, but it was because my trigger surprised me and I shot higher. Otherwise it would have been closer to the rest of the group.