Can someone give me a link or tell me what procedure to follow to do a proper break in on my new rifle? And what cleaning rod is best, nylon coated steel, carbon fibre, graphite, brass, or aluminum. Not new to rifles, just want to do it the best way for accuracy. Thanks.
Barrel break in
- Thread starter stovepipe699
- Start date
- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
What cal? also the dewey is good stuff, don't use brass, get the best brushes avail
At the range, shoot and clean, the patch till 5 shots (every shot) Then the brush , as many passes as req'd to get a nice shiny look in the bore, a noticeable smoother/ less effort to run it thru..Repeat this process till your done for the day (a light pass with hoppes before heading home will soften things up for when you get home)
A good hoppes 9 is hard to beat, and the copper solvent , when you notiice some build up in the barrel.
At the range, shoot and clean, the patch till 5 shots (every shot) Then the brush , as many passes as req'd to get a nice shiny look in the bore, a noticeable smoother/ less effort to run it thru..Repeat this process till your done for the day (a light pass with hoppes before heading home will soften things up for when you get home)
A good hoppes 9 is hard to beat, and the copper solvent , when you notiice some build up in the barrel.
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- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
If its a lapped bore, you would not even have to worry about break in, nothing sticks to those gems
The factory barrel can be a bit hard to deal with, good eyes, and a steady hand (not to beat the crap out of the crown and throat
heavyBullet
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Just off the island of MTL
I have done the break in procedure on some rifles, and not on others, and to be honest I really do not think there is a difference in my opinion.
Personally, now when I purchase a new rifle, I clean it at home before going to the range to get out any crap residue that may be in it from the factory, then go and shoot it and enjoy it.
Personally, now when I purchase a new rifle, I clean it at home before going to the range to get out any crap residue that may be in it from the factory, then go and shoot it and enjoy it.
worth a read...YMMV: I personally don't know the answer.
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn.asp
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn.asp
This is just a stock 700 Rem SS, not anything special. I heard somewhere that I should clean with copper solvent, alternating between patches and the bronze brush between each shot for 20 shots. I understood the purpose was to get rid of burrs & rough spots on the rifling. I've done this for 5 rounds, maybe I shouldn't continue if it's just wearing the rifling. Thanks.
BC Guy said----I'm a firm believer that barrel break-in is a myth.
In my opinion you sure got that right! I figure the gun writers had written and rewritten, every possible subject they could imagine. Then someone came up with the idea of barrel break in. "Perfect," said the other writers, because no one can prove we are wrong!
In my opinion you sure got that right! I figure the gun writers had written and rewritten, every possible subject they could imagine. Then someone came up with the idea of barrel break in. "Perfect," said the other writers, because no one can prove we are wrong!
True, but breaking in will not hurt it. For example, I'm braking in all my rifles (not the 22's), including my Blaser Tactical. You'll say-waste of time. May be, and I'm being a chicken sh.. not trying otherwise. Also, you need the same rifle to try both ways (if you can) to prove this theory right or wrong. Theoretically-it makes sense to brake it in, but theory and practice are different things.
Anyway, that's how I'm doing it:
10-15 shots cleaning every shot, than 5x3 shot sessions and than 3x5. I'm using nylon brushes only and never ever draw the rod back through the muzzle. It is time consuming process. (My Sako took me about 12 hours). As a solvent I use KG12.
Anyway, that's how I'm doing it:
10-15 shots cleaning every shot, than 5x3 shot sessions and than 3x5. I'm using nylon brushes only and never ever draw the rod back through the muzzle. It is time consuming process. (My Sako took me about 12 hours). As a solvent I use KG12.
No one has pointed out that "cleaning'' means all the copper is removed before shooting again and that a quality rod and a good bore guide is required or you may be damaging the bore because of your cleaning method.
Several barrel makers post a ''break in'' procedure on their website.
With quality hand lapped barrels there is very little to break in... only the throat area that was freshly cut with the reamer.
Whether breaking a barrel in or not has any benefit or not has not been proven or dis proven. If proper procedures are followed it will not harm anything. At worst you are out some time and a few bullets..
It is a never ending controversy with strong opinions.
Following is a procedure I compiled from various sources. It seems as good as any...
Breaking In A Barrel - Read fully before starting the procedure
When cleaning, always use a good bore guide and a good rod.
Start with a clean, lightly lubed barrel, fire one shot, then run a loose patch through with Sweets 7.62 or any other solvent that will “eat” jacket fouling. Saturate the bore and let it sit a few minutes. Sweets indicate jacket fouling with a blue colour.
Run patches through to dry the bore and then wet patch it again and saturate the bore. After a few minutes dry patch it again. Repeat until the jacket fouling is removed (no blue patches). That means the barrel is clean.
After cleaning with Sweets, brush with Hoppes #9 and dry patch the bore and then leave it slightly lubed with a wet patch of Hoppes #9 before firing.
Then fire one more shot, and repeat the above procedure. Do this for a total of 10 shots, and then proceed to fire 2 shots and then clean as above, for 10 more shots. (For a total of 20.) The barrel is now broken in. It should be cleaned after every 20 or 30 shots there after if possible, or less often if fouling is not a problem.
You will find when the bore is broken in properly; the cleaning procedure is very quick, because there is very little jacket fouling in the bore.
I prefer Sweets 7.62, because it shows “blue” if there is any jacket fouling. I never use a copper or bronze brush with Sweets, because it will eat them, and give a false blue indication of fouling. I never let any other chemicals mix with Sweets. That is why there is a lot of dry patching and swabbing with rubbing alcohol and dry patching between switching chemicals.
For storage after cleaning with Sweets, dry patch and then swab the bore with several patches using rubbing alcohol; this will dissolve any remaining ammonia. Then lightly oil the bore.
Several barrel makers post a ''break in'' procedure on their website.
With quality hand lapped barrels there is very little to break in... only the throat area that was freshly cut with the reamer.
Whether breaking a barrel in or not has any benefit or not has not been proven or dis proven. If proper procedures are followed it will not harm anything. At worst you are out some time and a few bullets..
It is a never ending controversy with strong opinions.
Following is a procedure I compiled from various sources. It seems as good as any...
Breaking In A Barrel - Read fully before starting the procedure
When cleaning, always use a good bore guide and a good rod.
Start with a clean, lightly lubed barrel, fire one shot, then run a loose patch through with Sweets 7.62 or any other solvent that will “eat” jacket fouling. Saturate the bore and let it sit a few minutes. Sweets indicate jacket fouling with a blue colour.
Run patches through to dry the bore and then wet patch it again and saturate the bore. After a few minutes dry patch it again. Repeat until the jacket fouling is removed (no blue patches). That means the barrel is clean.
After cleaning with Sweets, brush with Hoppes #9 and dry patch the bore and then leave it slightly lubed with a wet patch of Hoppes #9 before firing.
Then fire one more shot, and repeat the above procedure. Do this for a total of 10 shots, and then proceed to fire 2 shots and then clean as above, for 10 more shots. (For a total of 20.) The barrel is now broken in. It should be cleaned after every 20 or 30 shots there after if possible, or less often if fouling is not a problem.
You will find when the bore is broken in properly; the cleaning procedure is very quick, because there is very little jacket fouling in the bore.
I prefer Sweets 7.62, because it shows “blue” if there is any jacket fouling. I never use a copper or bronze brush with Sweets, because it will eat them, and give a false blue indication of fouling. I never let any other chemicals mix with Sweets. That is why there is a lot of dry patching and swabbing with rubbing alcohol and dry patching between switching chemicals.
For storage after cleaning with Sweets, dry patch and then swab the bore with several patches using rubbing alcohol; this will dissolve any remaining ammonia. Then lightly oil the bore.
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Thanks guntech, I understand removing all the copper to be the principle behind the break in. I'm using a dewey rod and a bore guide. I thought it was something everyone into accuracy did, not something controversial. 6 good cleanings on the bbl isn't a biggy, and I'm just going to shoot it now.
Have a look at Border Barrels web site. I was not a big fan of break in until I tried what Geoff suggests. It is a very slow procedure because you must remove ALL the copper after every shot. This is not done with a couple of patches with Hoppes or a quick scrub with a brush. After trying this with a number of different make barrels in different calibers all of them do not copper foul and can go hundreds of rounds with cleaning not needed, in fact I don't know how long they can go yet. My 308 can go at least 300. In fact if you only fire 20 or so and clean you will probably wear it out from cleaning befor eyou shoot it out!
Barrels are for shooting. Minor initial break in should be fine. But that's as far as I'd go. If it wears out, (I certainly hope it's not from cleaning) replace it, and then KEEP shooting it. The more time you're pulling your barrel, the less time you're on your trigger.
I think the only people who need to worry about it, are those who's life depends on a precision shot, or if you make millions of dollars in shooting competitions!
I think the only people who need to worry about it, are those who's life depends on a precision shot, or if you make millions of dollars in shooting competitions!
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I read an article by a famous gun maker who said that barrel break in is not needed. His position was that any decent custom barrel maker would already have lapped out any machine marks that barrel break in is supposed to remove. He thought it was arrogant for the purchaser of a barrel to think that they could improve on the smoothness of a rifle bore. He further contended that if the maker had wanted the barrel smoother, he would have done so and charged you for the work. Besides, break in only uses up precious barrel. If a barrel is only good for 1000 rounds in a hot cartridge, you can use up 50 rounds breaking it in...maybe more. That would be 5% of your barrel's life just to break it in!
So next time, I will just shoot it rather than going through the break in process.
So next time, I will just shoot it rather than going through the break in process.
Mystic Precision
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Summerland, BC
With the quality barrels I use in my competition rigs, barrel break in is the last thing on my mind. Any copper fouling I get is likely from the throat area and subsides through normal shooting.
If I really feel the need to do something, I will polish the throat area with JB bore brite to cut the high spots. This stuff is more abrasive then toothpaste so you can see I am not lapping per se.
My 6.5 barrels have a lifespan of 1500rds. The best accuracy is in the first 500rds. Spending 50 to 100rds cleaning doesn't make sense to me.
Quality barrels, modern bullets and powders foul so little at the worst of times I spend very little time cleaning. Let the target tell you how often and how much to clean. You may find you clean very infrequently and far less then some suggest.
Jerry
If I really feel the need to do something, I will polish the throat area with JB bore brite to cut the high spots. This stuff is more abrasive then toothpaste so you can see I am not lapping per se.
My 6.5 barrels have a lifespan of 1500rds. The best accuracy is in the first 500rds. Spending 50 to 100rds cleaning doesn't make sense to me.
Quality barrels, modern bullets and powders foul so little at the worst of times I spend very little time cleaning. Let the target tell you how often and how much to clean. You may find you clean very infrequently and far less then some suggest.
Jerry
I have used the recommended procedure on the Krieger website for my last 2 barrels. I can say for certain that it has helped with accuracy, but I can say that the broken in barrels clean up in a jiffy compared to my other barrel.
Jerry,
20-30 rounds is all that is needed for a break in, not 50-100. I used 20 on my last one.
Jerry,
20-30 rounds is all that is needed for a break in, not 50-100. I used 20 on my last one.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
There is little benefit from breaking in a factory barrel, but there is a huge benefit to breaking in a high end custom barrel. The part of the barrel you are breaking in is the lead, which the chambering reamer has unavoidably left tiny ridges in. The proof is in the pudding. Custom barrels that are properly broken in foul less than those that are not. The tiny ridges strip off bullet jacket material that is subsequently suspended in the propellant gasses which then is deposited to the walls of the bore. Getting rid of those ridges early on is much easier than after they have been flame hardened by the firing of hundreds of rounds. My Krieger .308 often cleans up with 6-8 patches of Sweets.
