Thread: Breaking in a new barrel

Just give it a decent scrub when ya first get it to clean out any factory debris then shoot to your hearts content.

My last barrel I decided to monitor this with a bore scope.
I cleaned, and took note.
Fired one shot and cleaned, we'll run a wet patch down it. It seemed to have removed burrs and could see it on the patch.
Second shot the same but less metal on the patch.
Third, nothing, no burrs the bore looked smoothed out/ cleaned up.
Start load development, clean when dirty, or rust preventative patch after shooting for the day.

Originally Posted by mikee

have a read of this
How to Break-in a Barrel

Exactly right. It's all about selling more barrels.

And probably ammo or components too.

When sighting in I like to shoot each shot from a cold barrel. So I have around 5 minutes between shots for the first packet while sighting in and generally getting used to it. (Called practise...)

Anyway, seeing as I have 5 minutes between shots to wait for it to cool down I clean it. I dont know if it counts as breaking in, but the rifle certainly is easier to clean afterwards. I have had a few rifles early on that I did not do this too, and I spend a lot more time trying to clean the bore on these than I do the ons where I took my time on a new barrel.

As Gundoc says, it wont extend the life of the barrel, and with a barrel expected to last 6000 rounds of ammo, if you can wear it out, you can bloody well afford to buy a new rifle to replace it.

Frank from Bartlein says
https://bartleinbarrels.com/cleaning...n-guide-lines/

Originally Posted by Mavarick

Frank from Bartlein says
https://bartleinbarrels.com/cleaning...n-guide-lines/

Never did anything to my Bartlien as far as run in is concerned. (Never run in a new barrel as per the craze anyway) Checked for throat burr after it was chambered and that was about it. Has done nearly 500 rounds and seems to have improved accuracy wise slightly and it never gets any noticable coppering.
I wont hesitate to ever to buy a Bartlien if I ever need another barrel. Best finished barrels on the market imo.
Was also taught that it is rarely the barrels bore itself that causes problems. It is almost always the chambering process. Have seen some pretty roughly finished barrels that improved once lapped.

Running in barrels was a fad started by ammo companies to sell more ammo.

Bought a new carbon light 260 in August, had big intentions on running a snake through it between first half dozen shots. Itchy finger it didn't happen. Up around 150 rounds now, shoots real sharp, it could bee getting sharper or more likely I'm getting more confident and relaxed in shooting over a few hundred metres. Either way it works and I'm enjoying it.

I remember walking past an officer in the police force I worked for in the 80's, 'running in' a brand new .308 target rifle. He had a case of ammo and a heap of cases next to him. It would have been a very old rifle by the time he'd finished running it in, I thought.

It’s great to see some links to barrel manufacturers advice.

When you think for a moment you will realise it is impossible for an individual shooter to verify the value of break in protocol by their own experience. Even a manufacturer would find it difficult so we must rely to a large extent on conjecture and theory. Not to say it’s wrong but just impossible to prove beyond dispute.

Iv got pretty pedantic when it comes to cleaning barrels even if I fire 1 shot I clean it when I get home usually takes 6-8 patches to get it pretty clean to my mind I could well be damaging it from cleaning it more especially with no bore guide & the brass thingy always touches the sides on the way out probably the best advice iv had on barrels is to remove the suppressor when i get home.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. The bore is probably the smoother the better, but a few shots, a few cleans, or a few through of autosol is probably not going to fix any burs or machine marks. Lilja states that there is no need indeed serves no purpose to break in, this makes sense because lilja does hand lapping to all their barrels. my view is that all unless you do proper hand lapping, might as well dont do any breaking in. but if you had to spend the money for hand lapping kit, might as well buy a better rifle or at least better barrel in the first place.

Originally Posted by tetawa

Running in barrels was a fad started by ammo companies to sell more ammo.

As the entire basic process uses about a single packet and you just spent how much on a new rifle? And that single packet, most people will use at least half to sight in properly. (One shot at a target and get it close is not sighting in properly. ) If you clean between every shot while the barrel cools you do both tasks at the same time and do not actually buy any more ammo than you would have anyway.

With My new tikka ctr 6.5 creedmore i cleaned the bore straight away before I 1st fired it then after every shot for 4 rounds then I used KG2 bore polish and scrubbed the bore and job done I won't clean until accuracy drops off.

Go and sight it in, give it a clean. Then just shoot it. Its that simple.