Checking the barrel

T

tbough

Member
Rating - 100%
23   0   0
Location
Saskatchewan
I'm feeling the need for a new rifle, probably a Savage 12BVSS in 223. Anyway I've been doing some research on breaking in the barrel and there's lots of information out there but what I'm not sure about is what I should be looking for when I look down the barrel. Will I see a copper build up if its there? or carbon.
I've been peering down the barrels on my hunting rifles with one of those little right angled attachments for a small flashlight and not seeing anything obvious. Am I missing something or do I need more elaborate equipment?
 
Yes, after you clean it if you look at the muzzle from an angle you might be able to see buildup, I broke the barrel in on my savage and the copper foulling was horrible. Just get a good copper solvent, I recomend Accubore, and use it every 3rds for 50 shots then try every 10 shots and see how that works, when I first started the barrel would foul like you wouldn't belive after 10 rds but now I can shot 30-40, clean it out and hardly any copper fouling at all.
 
There is at least one more post not too far down in this section that covers thoughts on barrel break in and fouling.

In general, the trend is moving away from the shoot and clean break in. It really doesn't do much except waste ammo and shorten barrel life. The goal is to wear down any surface rough spots. There are much easier and quicker ways to do that.

I own several Savage/Stevens and shoot two factory barrels. Both shoot very well and foul very little. Clean only when accuracy degrades. Don't clean simply for cleaning. My 270 has digested over 150rds and does show a bit of copper streaking. Still shoots 3/8" groups for 4rds. Why bother cleaning that?

Anyways, if copper fouling does bother you, then you can always hand polish with JB bore bright and reg JB. posts for that are also somewhere further along.

good luck with that rifle. Get it properly bedded which will do more to improve your accuracy then just about anything else.

Jerry
 
BBL break-in

Nobby Uno(the gunsmith) tells me to shoot 1 and clean for the first 10 shots. (this is on a brand new custom bbl) Then shoot 2 and clean for 10 shots, then shoot 3 and clean for 15 shots and then shoot 5 and clean for 25 shots. Then go ahead and shoot like normal. Even out gopher shooting he only goes about 40 rounds or so before cleaning.

Now I think he might know what he's talking about, having that he's built and shot precision rifles for the last 40 some years, but I read an article in a shooting mag some years ago about a guy who took 2 factory Savage varmint rifles in 22-250 and fired a 1000 round group out of each, in a 100 yd test tunnel with a rifle vise.

He used exactly the same components in the reloading for each gun except one gun got moly bullets and the other got plain bullets. He was testing to see what happened with fouling with moly vs plain copper jacketed bullets.

He shot strings of 10-15 and would let the bbl cool. He left the guns in the vises and just kept it up until a 1000 shots from each. He never cleaned the guns once, or "broke them in properly" At the end of the test he borescoped the guns and found that the fouling on both guns was very similar, except the one that shot the moly bullets had a bunch of moly fouling along with the copper, not just copper. Both throats were cooked some as well.

Now the real kicker is that the group size only opened up from about .5" to about 1.00".

Are we just fooling ourselves about cleaning and bbl break-in? Maybe true benchrest shooters need to in order to get .1's consistently, but does the average shooter? Something to think about.

It doesn't seem right to me not to clean but hey, who knows. I'll try and find that old article and post it on CGN.

Good shooting
shoot44
 
You wear out the barrel faster, and then have to buy a new one from your 'smith, see how that works? lol, well, having said that, I was taught, shoot one and clean for 10 rounds, shoot two and clean for 20 rounds. Shoot five and clean for 30 rounds. Shoot 10 and clean for 40 rounds. Total 100 rounds, barrel broken in and smoothed out. FWIW - dan
 
shoot44 said:
Now the real kicker is that the group size only opened up from about .5" to about 1.00".

Are we just fooling ourselves about cleaning and bbl break-in? Maybe true benchrest shooters need to in order to get .1's consistently, but does the average shooter? Something to think about.
Click to expand...

For the amount of money I spent on my Rem 700P TWS the difference between .5 and 1 is huge.

To each his own.

D_
 
If I have a barrel that will not shoot in the high 1's or low 2's within the first 50 rounds it goes up north for muzzle brakes. That is using standard PPC loads in a standard setting. In other words 27.7grs H32298 or, if you are lucky enough to have H32291, 68gr "match" bullet, Lapua brass, F205M primers, with the ogive just kissing the lands in a standard stainless match barrel. I know that this does not apply to factory barrels as they could be a little rough. The first thing I do to a barrel is JB the snot out of it, clean then shoot it. I have tried barrel break in most of the procedures outlined by gunsmiths, ect. Clyde Hart told me 30 years ago barrel break was crap and I have had other barrel makers, (just about all of them) tell me the same thing. It will not make the barrel last any longer. If you were allowed to do 1 thing to a factory barrel to make it shoot better, "RECROWN IT" I have heard that the bullets will smooth out the barrel. Would someone explain to me how solt copper will smooth out steel. Just my two cents worth.
Bill

PS This is what happens on a bored Saturday night with Me and my buddy JD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom