Properly Breaking in a New Barrel

[MapleSugar]

Forget the break-in.

For any barrel, new or old, I just clean it really well with a one piece rod and patches soaked with a 50/50 mix of Hoppes #9 and Kroil. I use a nylon brush carefully for stubborn crap and run liberally soaked patches of Corrosion X or Break-Free down the dry bore afterwards. Before I go shooting again, I run dry patches down the bore to remove all the oil. That is it.

When I get home from the range, I repeat the process again.

After shooting corrosive ammo, I would give a quick clean at the range with Hoppes #9 and a more thorough clean at home, repeated the next day.

EDIT: I also use Sweets if there is copper fouling, but I do not let it sit in the barrel for too long.

The barrel break-in procedure is apparently just a myth according to the Late Gale McMillan; he also voided the warranty on his barrels if anyone ran JB Bore Paste (or any abrasive paste) down them.

The break in fad was started by a fellow I helped get started in the barrel business . He started putting a set of break in instructions in ever barrel he shipped. One came into the shop to be installed and I read it and the next time I saw him I asked him What was with this break in crap?. His answer was Mac, My share of the market is about 700 barrels a year. I cater to the target crowd and they shoot a barrel about 3000 rounds before they change it. If each one uses up 100 rounds of each barrel breaking it in you can figure out how many more barrels I will get to make each year. If you will stop and think that the barrel doesn't know whether you are cleaning it every shot or every 5 shots and if you are removing all foreign material that has been deposited in it since the last time you cleaned it what more can you do? When I ship a barrel I send a recommendation with it that you clean it ever chance you get with a brass brush pushed through it at least 12 times with a good solvent and followed by two and only 2 soft patches. This means if you are a bench rest shooter you clean ever 7 or 8 rounds . If you are a high power shooter you clean it when you come off the line after 20 rounds. If you follow the fad of cleaning every shot for X amount and every 2 shots for X amount and so on the only thing you are accomplishing is shortening the life of the barrel by the amount of rounds you shot during this process. I always say Monkey see Monkey do, now I will wait on the flames but before you write them, Please include what you think is happening inside your barrel during break in that is worth the expense and time you are spending during break in Gale McMillan

I answered this and lost it on transfer so will shorten this one and try to get my point across in fewer words. When some one uses JB on one of my rifles I void the warrantee! For two reasons. ! it dimensionally alters the barrel dimensions and not evenly and the second reason is the barrel maker laps the barrel with a grit of lapping compound that is most effective in preventing metal fouling. Then a customer polishes that finish away with JB. I wouldn't be as apposed to it if it were applied on a lead lap and very sparingly. It is very obvious when you look at a barrel with a bore scopes all the sharp edges are worn off the rifling. if it has JB used on it on a regular basis. As you know ,it is an abrasive of about 1000 grit. As for using it on factory barrels I will say that while it is difficult to hurt a production barrel but the thing that hurts a match barrel will do the same to a factory barrel Gale McMillan

Look at it this way, A barrel starts out with nice sharp areas of the corners of the rifling . Along the way you build a big fire in it a few thousand times and it burns the corners off. Now take a barrel that to break in you put an abrasive on a patch and run it in and out. The result is that you take the corners off the rifling so that all that fire which would have started with sharp rifling is now starting with rifling that is thousands of rounds old. Which means that a lot of the life is gone. A lap always cuts more on each end where the compound reverses direction as it starts back through the barrel which means that it is enlarging the bore at each ends of the barrel. And last picture a patch riding along the barrel with abrasive on it. It is removing material at a given rate. It comes to a place where there is copper fouling and it rides over it cutting the same amount that it was cutting before it came to the copper. You continue until all the fouling is gone and what have you done? You have put the came contour in the barrel steel that was in it when it was metal fouled. It would not be as bad if it were used on a lead lap but I ask why would you want to abuse the barrel when you can accomplish the same thing without the bad side effects. There is Sweats, Otters foul out (Sweets, Outers Foul Out) or just a good daily cleaning with a good bore cleaner till the fouling is gone. To top this off I will relate a true happening. I built a bench rest rifle for a customer and as usual I fired 5 groups of 5 shots and calculated the aggregate. It was good enough to see that the rifle was capable of winning the Nationals so I shipped it. I got a call from the new owner saying how happy he was with it the way it shot. About 4 weeks later the rifle showed up with a note saying it wouldn't shoot. Sure enough when I tested it it was shooting groups three times the size if the ones I had shot before I shipped it. When I bore scoped it the barrel looked like a mirror and the rifling wasn't square it was half round. From that time on I put a flyer in each gun saying if any abrasive was use in it voided the Warrantee. Now I am not trying to stop you from doing what you want but just inform you what is happening when you use JB. Brass brushes are softer than barrel steel and does no harm. S/S brushes are harder than barrel steel is definetly a no no. Nylon may surprise you to know is very abrasive If you doubt this look at the carbide eye on yout fishing rod where nylon line has worn groves into it. Gale McMillan

Source: http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn.asp

 

[NiksaNovovic]

Thanks for all of your replies gents! The only reason I was asking about this, is that during my PAL course, the instructors showed a video about properly breaking in a barrel. Although the video dealt with a larger calibre barrel, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here, with the sheer amount of experience of all of you out there. So, when I do get my first rifle, I will clean it thoroughly, and then just take it out to the range and put a brick of ammo through it. I will then examine the bore to see if it needs cleaning, and if it does, I will, if not I will just clean the action and leave well enough alone.

MapleSugar: Thank you for the very informative link. I read through the whole exchange and got a lot out of it. I wasn't planning on using an abrasive paste to clean with, as I was able to pick up some Gunzilla for a great deal at the Calgary gun show a few weeks back, and I have heard great things about it. I can't wait to see how well it cleans.

Regarding cleaning rods, does anybody have any recommendations? I am thinking of picking up a bore snake as a friend of mine has several and he is very happy with them. Any further opinions on the whole bore snake vs. rod cleaning? I have asked about this before and have gotten mixed reviews, and I doubt that I will be able to get one straight answer here, but more opinions never hurt anything!

Niksa

 

[MapleSugar]

Hi Niksa,

You should clean and oil your bore after every shooting session. .22LR's are some of the most neglected firearms by people who figure they never need to clean them.

I recently bought a 36" Bore Tech .20 caliber rod, as my CZ 452's seem to have tighter bores than most other .22LR's I've ever owned. They will ship directly to you from the States if you are interested.

I use a Possum Hollow bore guide for my CZ's to avoid scraping the extractor or side of the bore with the cleaning rod.

I've also rigged up a homemade patch worm by tying a knot in a 4 foot length of 50lb test fishing line. I just poke a small hole in a patch and run it down to the knot. It is a nice way to clean your bore without risking damage to your; chamber, throat, or rifling by improper use of a rod. It is going to be the new way I clean my Ruger 10/22 as I don't like cleaning from the muzzle end.

The main thing to remember is it is better to go slowly and carefully. You don't need to be too aggressive as you should really just be letting the chemicals do the work.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

 

[MapleSugar]

Here is a picture of my homemade patch worm if you are interested.

I also added a 3/4" long piece of 3mm hollow plastic at the knot end to give a bit more bite to the patch. It is just the right width for a .22LR bore.

It is a nice way to safely run a patch down your bore with worrying about scraping something and potentially causing damage.

It does require an appropriate sized patch though as it is very easy to get one stuck inside the bore if it is too big.

It can be difficult to pull too large a patch through, if it will go at all.