Barrel break in on a factory rifle?

migrant hunter

migrant hunter

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I have a brand new Savage 111 .300 WM that I'm just starting to handload for. Is there any advantage to the "shoot one, clean the barrel, shoot one, clean the barrel" school of thought?
I was told by a barrel maker a long time ago that it made a difference, but that was on a lapped barrel.
What think ye? I plan to fireform some brass and start zeroing over the holidays, should I clean between each shot for the first (insert number) of shots?
 
I never do a barrel break in as such but I do clean after each range use....don't think it would hurt to do it though.
 
migrant hunter said:
I have a brand new Savage 111 .300 WM that I'm just starting to handload for. Is there any advantage to the "shoot one, clean the barrel, shoot one, clean the barrel" school of thought?
I was told by a barrel maker a long time ago that it made a difference, but that was on a lapped barrel.
What think ye? I plan to fireform some brass and start zeroing over the holidays, should I clean between each shot for the first (insert number) of shots?
Click to expand...

It is even more important on a factory barrel that a custom hand lapped barrel. Just use the Savage recommended procedure. But, play it by what you see. If your patches are coming out without any blue, you can move on to the next step, without burning up more barrel life. The basic idea of a barrel break in is to get the copper out of the low spots, so the high spots can be worn down to make the barrel smooth. Use a good copper solvent like Barnes CR-10 or Sweets 7.62. They both have ammonia which allows you to see if you have copper (turn the patch blue) and if you are making progress. Use a nylon brush with a patch around it so you don't get false positives from a bronze brush.

On the other hand, more of an argument can be made for NOT breaking in a high end hand lapped custom barrel.
 
The smith that told me about it said the same thing about not letting the copper fill the low spots while the barrel gets run in. I've heard others say that it does'nt work. I'm not eating up barrel life if I do it as I go with getting the scope on paper and fireforming my first 50 pcs of brass.
I use Butch's bore shine or straight ammonia. How long does it take for a solvent to loosen the copper? I like to put a wet patch through and leave it til next day before patching with a dry patch. Obviously that's not going to be practical for break in. If I just put a wet patch through, and wipe it out with a dry one will that have time to work? Or am I good if I still have blue on the patches?
I have left some of my millsurps full of ammonia overnight with a wooden plug in the bore. The gunk that comes out is shocking, but they have a bore like a gopher hole.
EDIT. OK, read the Savage procedure.
 
Butch's Bore Shine does not effectively remove copper. Household ammonia is too weak to be effective. When you break in a barrel, it will take forever if you have to let the barrel soak overnight after every shot.

You are NOT good when you still have blue on the patches. Basically you clean until the patches come out with no blue.

Here is a article on Cleaning Solvent test results, if you want another alternative to the two solvents I suggested.
 
Sorry, I meant if there's blue on the patches it must be working. I usually keep using wet patches to dissolve the copper before patching out with dry patches, then repeat the wet patches until the dry patches start coming out clean. I do understand that the Butch's might not be dissolving the copper fully. I'll see if I can find a better solvent before I start.
 
It's always a good practice to use a break-in procedure when a new barrel is being shot. There are ample sources as to how this is done. I find that cleaning the bore through the first box of ammo is critical to establishing a good bore over the long haul. But as migrant hunter stated that his practice includes up to around 50 rounds through the pipe. And that is a safe number to consider... One may even want to keep an eye on the barrel for 100 rounds. It just settles everything down and one has to be comfortable with whatever break-in procedure is adopted. When one uses a break in procedure there ought to be some form of verification that helps with establishing a "peace-of-mind" where one knows that the barrel has settled - and the owner is satisfied with his/practice.

On another related note - buying a used gun needs some attention to the bore as one does not know how much it was used. I start with a good cleaning and shot it after I am satisfied that I am starting with a clean barrel.
 
All I use in my rifles is butchs bore shine and maybe a kroil patch here and there I do not have copper fouling problems. I do shoot and clean often on a new barrel but let the patchs tell you I do not like the idea of scrubbing the barrel more than needed.
 
Cummins said:
All I use in my rifles is butchs bore shine and maybe a kroil patch here and there I do not have copper fouling problems.
Click to expand...

Neither of those two solvents are effective in removing copper. You may want to try a Barnes CR-10, Sweets 7.62, or one of the other proven copper solvents, just to see if the patch turns blue or not. Then you will know if you have copper or not.
 
I was on the fence on breaking in a new gun , I bought a new rifle a friend suggested I break it in . so I thought I would . off I went and broke it in , one shot and clean for 10 shots , then 3 and clean for another 12 shots . it was pain and I thought half way through mabe I was wasting my time , However I was rewarded with a rifle that shoots better than one would of thought with groups less than 1'' with 5 shots ,, with loads I worked up .. the gun is a rem 783 223 rem very pleased with a 400 buck gun that shoots that well and cleans very easy ,, try breaking in one yourself one never knows what the end result will be unless you try
 
Shoot the gun 100-150 rounds, while getting used to the rifle without getting the barrel hot. Run hoppe#9 thru from bolt end to muzzle to wet the bore. Scrub back and forth 8-10 times with soft brush and then patch until you get almost white patches, just slight grey color, and then go zero.

Shoot until group opens, (150-500 rounds) then clean exactly as you did above. Check cold bore zero, it should be right back were it was.
 
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