New here, Barrel Break-in Questions?

[windwalker1]

Howdy,I'm new to the place, and have some questions about the proper break-in procedures of a new barrel, proper cleaning techniques and the tools needed to accomplish it.

I have shot some, but not anywhere near the stuff discussed on this site. It seems the more I read, the less I knew. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

 

[James Jones]

it realy depends of what barrel your breaking in and who you talk to about the correct method.

I use the shoot one shot clean the barrel for 20 rounds then go to shoot 5 shots clean the barrel for 20 rounds and thats it.
I use JB bore past to do this cleaning followed by several patches of kroil to get all the JB out then a couple dry patches.
if its a factory tube then you may need to shoot a little more than a custom one and I rarely clean one of my top end barrels with the JB after the break in.

if you have an excessivly rough barrel you can try the Tubbs final finsh kit they work great for smothing things out. Roy in Idaho just posted a thread about his results with the kit.

 

[windwalker1]

O.K., The barrel is a 24" Shilen, in 30 cal. I read several of the different posts on the tubbs final finish. That only needs to be done to barrels with rough areas, correct? Also with the JB, will it be obvious when there is no fouling left? I have used some other solvent type cleaners and scrubbed until I thought it was good, and then run a different brand [type?] down the tube only to show possibly more fouling? Course this was in factory barrels and possibly they were/are rough? Thanks for your suggestion/regimen. It's really appreciated.
Mark

 

[demarpaint]

I had good luck cleaning the barrel before the first shot. Then patch it with Kroil let it sit for a while to soak into the metal. Patch it out with 2 dry patches, then soak a patch with Lock Ease Graphite. Follow it with one dry patch and shoot the rifle. No cleaning between shots.

A buddy of mine tried it and was amazed how little copper fouling he had, almost none after a 30 round shooting outting with a new Remington 700.

I have done this with a M700 5R Milspec, and a .308 Win in a Savage rifle, and had no problems with copper fouling at all.

I heard this from Varmint hunters and some BR guys I know and it worked for me.


If you do a search you will find several threads covering this topic and many different opinions.

HTH
Frank D

 

[lerch]

With a custom bbl that has been hand lapped at the factory I dont know that I would use any abrasives on it like the tubbs or JB bore paste.

The method I have used is to clean the bbl as soon as you get it. After cleaning take a patch with some kind of gun oil on it and run it through the bore. After this shoot 2 shots down the bore and clean it out completely. run a oily patch again and fire 2 more shots, clean, oily patch, 2 more shots. I do this for 10rnds and then go in groups of 3 shots. Take the gun out and shoot at something fun as well, milk jugs, some kinda varmint, whatever to make the break in process as fun as possible because i hate it. Once i get to 20-30 rnds all of the custom guns i have been around are pretty well done.

that is just what works for me

take it easy
steve

 

[windwalker1]

Hey, thankyou to all for taking the time to provide your insights, and opinions. I have done a couple searches and yep, there are many different ideas on the process. I just recently became interested in this Long Range Shootin thing, and now, figuring out that I really might not know S*** about how to go about it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I can say that it is great to be able to come to this sight and read what others are doin. This breakin is for a Christensen Arms 300 WSM, and is for straight-up mountain huntin. I work with a fella that is doin the 1000k shootin, and as soon as I can, I will have a truly long range thumper built by one of the craftsmen on this sight. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Not sure it's gonna be quite up to "Black Sunshine", but it will be sumthin that will get er done. Here in Northern California I do have access to some pretty good long shots without travlin too far. Again thanks for all of your ideas
Mark

 

[lerch]

Just keep lookin around here and you will find more info than you can ever imagine. If you do decide to go the custom route give on of the smiths on here a shout, they know what they are doing.

the best advice I can give you about getting into this long range game is to keep your mind open to new ideas and be prepared to learn as you go. It will be a fun journey and the pay off's in the end are more than you can ever hope for.

take it easy
steve