barrel break-in

[the hunt guy]

Hey,
I was just wondering, would it be completely pointless to complete a barrel break in after shooting 20 or so rounds through an otherwise brand new rifle?

 

[winmag]

I dont think so. Im sure youd have better success on a new one, but you may as well do it right just incase, it may give you peace of mind if nothing else.
Just keep er' cool, and keep er' clean, and pay attention to your patches so you can see if youve reduced the ammount of fouling or if you have more work to do.

 

[Derek M.]

If I'm understanding the question correctly, 20 rounds have been through the rifle without a break-in process and you are wondering if you should go through the procedure now? Is this correct?

 

[eaglesnester]

Just clean it real good from the breach end after every shooting outing with a good copper cleaner. You are not breaking in the barrel you are burnishing the tool marks just ahead of the chamber. Use Barns CR-10 or WipeOut. Do not use a copper brush when doing this because you will eat up the copper brush and or jag. Use a steel patch holder with a patch. If your rod has brass fittings on it clean the rod immediately. Follow the directions on the can or bottle which ever product you use and you will be good to go. Follow up with JB Bore Paste and JB Bore shine. You may notice that when your rifle is broke in your groups will suddenly and mysteriously tighten up.

Cheers & Tighter groups: Eaglesnester

 

[the hunt guy]

Just clean it real good from the breach end after every shooting outing with a good copper cleaner. You are not breaking in the barrel you are burnishing the tool marks just ahead of the chamber. Use Barns CR-10 or WipeOut. Do not use a copper brush when doing this because you will eat up the copper brush and or jag. Use a steel patch holder with a patch. If your rod has brass fittings on it clean the rod immediately. Follow the directions on the can or bottle which ever product you use and you will be good to go. Follow up with JB Bore Paste and JB Bore shine. You may notice that when your rifle is broke in your groups will suddenly and mysteriously tighten up.

Cheers & Tighter groups: Eaglesnester

thanks EN!

 

[the hunt guy]

If I'm understanding the question correctly, 20 rounds have been through the rifle without a break-in process and you are wondering if you should go through the procedure now? Is this correct?

yep, that is correct

 

[Derek M.]

yep, that is correct

I think that it is pointless after 20 rounds have been through it. The purpose of break-in, if in fact this does indeed do something, must be done properly from the beginning, which is really impossible with factory rifles anyway since they test fire roughly 2-3 rounds before it is boxed.

 

[the hunt guy]

I think that it is pointless after 20 rounds have been through it. The purpose of break-in, if in fact this does indeed do something, must be done properly from the beginning, which is really impossible with factory rifles anyway since they test fire roughly 2-3 rounds before it is boxed.

Cool, now I feel better. I'll still plan on really taking care of my new investment. Any thoughts on Butche's bore shine? A local gunsmith told me it was the way to go.

 

[Derek M.]

Cool, now I feel better. I'll still plan on really taking care of my new investment. Any thoughts on Butche's bore shine? A local gunsmith told me it was the way to go.

BBS was the standard for quite some time on bore cleaning. To be frank, my honest opinion is any reasonable liquid for bore cleaning will do ok, some better than others. What really cleans the bore is a **** good scrubbing with a brush. Without one, I'm not convinced the bore ever gets as clean as it can.

If the rifle you speak of was mine, here's what I'd do: shoot some foam gunslick or wipeout in the bore and place it in a gunholder level with horizontal for 24 hours, push that out the next day, repeat with the gun upside down (scope down) another 24 hours, push it out with another patch.

Then I'd use some KG carbon cleaner and brush the livin crap out of it, like 4 strokes per shot you've got in it. Wet patch all that out with any good "solvent." Then I'd go with good old BBS or BoreTech eliminator, whatever, and put a patch over an older warn down caliber sized bronze brush and scrub it again, and change out patches until they all come out clean.

There is only one way to know if your tube is cleaned and that is a borescope. Anyone disagrees with that is fooling themselves. Just my opinion but I clean to bare metal. That's just the way I roll and it has served me well. I just have a problem with storing a fouled barrel in the safe for months while I'm not using it.