Barrel break in true or not?

[Lee7588]

Shooting it breaks it in. Doesnt need to be cleaned a bunch to do it

I agree I think the cleaning is something additional that some do

 

[StanleyActual]

So while doing this aren't you also breaking in the barrel. You are putting rounds through the barrel, burnishing the barrel, removing burrs, and most people clean the barrels so to me while doing the things you noted you are breaking in the barrel

Oh, lol. I get you. 100%. I break it in with rounds down the pipe. Not with an excessive amount of bore brushes,
Cleaning solvents and patches.

 

[Lee7588]

Oh, lol. I get you. 100%. I break it in with rounds down the pipe. Not with an excessive amount of bore brushes,
Cleaning solvents and patches.

I know some older fellas that are 22 lr shooters that don't ever clean the barrels and shoot cloverleaf's . I clean my hunting rifles after season, just before season I'll check the gun while putting 20 rds down the pipe. I also know people that cleaning their barrels is their favorite pastime. To each their own, if someone complains about their gun, it's their gun and their routine

 

[StanleyActual]

I know some older fellas that are 22 lr shooters that don't ever clean the barrels and shoot cloverleaf's . I clean my hunting rifles after season, just before season I'll check the gun while putting 20 rds down the pipe. I also know people that cleaning their barrels is their favorite pastime. To each their own, if someone complains about their gun, it's their gun and their routine

Yeah same. Shoot until accuracy deteriorates (counter how many rounds that is) and then clean prior to that. So if accuracy begins to deteriorate at 300rds, set up a cleaning cycle every 250.

That's the basis for my cleaning regime.

 

[Barehandlineman11]

What i do anymore

Yeah same. Shoot until accuracy deteriorates (counter how many rounds that is) and then clean prior to that. So if accuracy begins to deteriorate at 300rds, set up a cleaning cycle every 250.

That's the basis for my cleaning regime.

 

[hesse]

I have 1 that once you hit 15 rounds it needs to be cleaned. The copper layer is thin but the group opens up. Takes only 10 minutes of cleaning to get it back to tight groups

 

[Damage Inc.]

I'd sell a rifle I had to clean every 15 rounds to maintain accuracy. I don't care how good it shot.

 

[dogz]

I'd sell a rifle I had to clean every 15 rounds to maintain accuracy. I don't care how good it shot.

Amen to that! Tomato stake time

 

[Barehandlineman11]

Id try reworking load to barrel with 15+ rounds or Id try fire lapping with tubbs bullets see if you can smooth it out

 

[Pdvdh]

Determining the value of differing barrel breakin procedures is similar to determining the value of taking one-a-day vitamins.
How do you know if it hurt or helped anything?

You can't go back with any barrel and start over with a different breakin process.

You can't go back in your life and add or subtract the one-a-day vitamins.

No way to recreate the exact same barrel, and no way to recreate the exact same body. Everyone's findings and opinions are equivalent guesses, as to the affects their barrel breakin process had on their barrel.

I shoot once, clean, shoot again, until the copper fouling is notably minimized. End of barrel breakin. On to load development and hunting.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I've done it with cheap factory barrels. Never with a custom.

 

[L.Sherm]

IME - button rifled barrels can require more than a cut rifle barrel - even with that said, it is a barrel by barrel decision. Buttoning does cause more stress and usually requires more finish work but the same can be needed if a cut rifle barrel is using a worn cutter or a process that is a bit fast.

Do you know what a follower does on a button barrel?
What is the last step in making a cut rifled barrel?

 

[Barbourcreek]

Agree

IME - stabilization is even a relative term and 200 rounds is extreme. Every barrel is different and barrel contour, material, heat, and other factors have affect on stabilization. I have had barrels shoot at 5 rounds, at 40 rounds, and sometimes up to 80 rounds; and by shoot I mean around 1/4 MOA consistently.

He is getting the absolute best barrel available, hand finished and selected for him by his smith, so he can do this 5 days a week - quality control that is off the charts and somethings "us regular guys" can only hope for something close to when we buy a barrel. If they cut rifle, he can opt not to break in but again, why not if it does 3 jobs at once.

I have spoken directly to multiple master smiths and been present in barrel company manufacturing floors where the bbls are made. Talked directly to the namesake barrel makers over lunch and to a person, they have all said 10-20 rounds of good break in has NO DOWN SIDE, so if it could possibly help, why not.

"He is getting the absolute best barrel available, hand finished and selected for him by his smith, so he can do this 5 days a week - quality control that is off the charts and somethings "us regular guys" can only hope for something close to when we buy a barrel. If they cut rifle, he can opt not to break in but again, why not if it does 3 jobs at once."

$400 Button rifled Benchmark #5 contour barrels, that's all I use on the school guns, triple stress relived and hand polished from the factory, my gunsmith only cuts chipps no polishing so you can buy what I use.

 

[rfd]

Excerpt from "Breaking In a Barrel" by Lee Shaver.

Those who know of Lee recognize the he is without a doubt a master gunsmith, and the following can cross over to all manner of firearms and their projectiles.

Several years ago, I developed a process for breaking-in barrels for lead
bullet use that eliminated the afternoon of shooting and cleaning with
jacketed bullet. It began because I would occasionally have to get bad
leading out of a barrel for a customer, and when you charge what a
gunsmith must charge to stay in business you don't want to spend an
afternoon scrubbing the lead out of a customer's gun. And I'm sure the
customer would rather not pay for said services.

What I learned was that when scrubbing lead out of a barrel, I could run
a tight oily patch through a few times and then take the patch off the
jag. I would then unroll a little 0000 steel wool and cut a piece the size
of the patch. Place that over the patch and then run it all through
together. (The proper fit is when you have to bump the rod a few times
with the palm of your hand to get it started in the bore.) When you
shove that steel wool over a patch through the bore of a badly leaded
barrel, it may sound like paper tearing as the lead is ripped out of the
barrel in a pass or two. I can clean the lead out of the worst barrel in
about ten or fifteen minutes that way, and an average leaded barrel will
be clean in a few strokes.

After using this technique for a while, I began to notice that the rifles
that I was de-leading that way seemed to lead less afterwards, which
got me to thinking. We use fine steel wool on the outside of old guns all
the time to do some cleaning or spot rust removal, and it does not
damage the surface of the steel. It just scrubs it. Which lead me to
consider the fact that we are trying to break in a barrel by smoothing
the surface without cutting, and it seems to me that process would go
much quicker if we used something on the inside of the bore that was
closer to the hardness of the barrel instead of lead or copper. So I
started trying the steel wool and oiled patch technique on new barrels
before shooting them. I use it about as tight as I can get in the bore and
wear out a steel wool pad or two in about 15 minutes, then I go and
shoot the rifle.

How well does it work you might ask? On a few occasions, I have built a
new rifle and taken it to a match without ever having fired the rifle. All
have performed flawlessly in their first match and several times I won
the match or set a record with them. On one occasion, I set a new 300
yard range record with the first 13 shots out of a barrel. This method
has become a service we offer to our customers here in the shop and I
have shared the technique many times with others.