Thread: Shorter Barrel 223 data

Originally Posted by Tentman

The shorter barrel is brand new, round count is currently 50. The round count on the longer barrel is about 400 (although some of the recorded velocities go back to its "break in" period).

Im thinking of now running a test on the new short barrel to see if the accuracy improves over its break in. I was thinking to load 100 rounds of cheaper components. Shoot a 10 shot group. 10 also of factory as a control. Blast off 20 rounds at gongs/hares etc. Shoot the 10 round tests again. Blast off 20. Test 10. Blast off 20, test 10. This would take the barrel to just over 200 rounds, which is when "the internet" says it should be fully broken in and shooting at its best (for a cheaper factory grade barrel). Thoughts on this guys?

Given that bullet-barrel interactions are only one part of the puzzle of dispersion, and bullet quality is another part - possibly larger - this test may not demonstrate anything as far as "testing if accuracy improves"


To see a difference (improvement) in precision of the order that you might reasonably expect (0 - 10 % change in mean radius?) from barrel "break in changes", you'd likely need massive sample sizes to have confidence in the result even if you used good quality bullets and ammunition. What you might demonstrate is that there is no meaningful difference that can be established, so people shouldn't worry about it