MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
You will find a lot of opinions on barrel break-in. The Lilja article is a good one to read. Let me try to explain what you're accomplishing. Any barrel, when it's bored will get tooling marks in the bore and these marks and irregularities will strip copper from your bullet and cause fouling. Most of the fouling will come from the very first shot, then gradually build from there. Barrel break-in is a process to attempt to smooth out these marks and irregularities to reduce fouling, which leads to easier cleaning, more consistant shooting and longer periods between needed cleanings. It is important to clean after each and every shot because after the first shot, the barrel becomes fouled and follow obn shots accomplish nothing. So my philosophy is to accomplish a one shot and clean break-in until is complete, period. IMO, going to cleaning after each 3 shots is a waste fot two shots. You will know your barrel is broke in when your fouling drops off significantly or completely. After that you're good to go.
Now listen to this very carefully. it is important that you remaove ALL the copper each time you clean during break-in or you are spinning your wheels. This where most guys get it wrong. There are alot of guys who clean their bores and think their bore is clean when they get clean patches and they are very wrong. I have used many different cleaners including Butche's Bore Shine, Montana Xtreme 50 BMG, KG-12, to name a few of the better ones, and all of them left copper in the bore after I got clean patches with them. How do I know? Because I followed up with Bore Tech Eliminator or Wipeout and found a lot more copper. I haven't used Sweets yet, but it is an amonia based cleaner, similar to Butches or Montana Xtreme and I really doubt if it is as strong as Montana Xtreme 50 BMG.
In using BTE, I will soak a patch and push through slowly and ususally the first 2-3 patches will be black then start turning blue. A few more patches will usually be dark blue, then the patches start turning pale blue. At this point you need to scrub your bore a little using a nylon brush and a few drops of BTE and let it sit for about 15-20 min. Your final soaking on your first few shots should probably be close to an hour to make sure all the copper is out. In this way, you'll get a feel for how long you need to saok to get all the copper out. Factory barrels are a lot rougher than custom lapped barrels and require a lot more work. It will be a very slow process to do it right. If you dont do it right, you might as well not do it at all. I have tried most of the best copper removers out there and none compare to BTE. Wipeout and Gunslick foaming cleaner are very effective, but require long soaking of up to 8 hrs and it may take you 3 days or more to clean a barrel until it's broke in. You are looking at 1-3 hours of cleaning between shots to do it right with the best cleaner available. Depending on the bore, it will probably take about 10-20 shots to break it in. Another technique I use that will probably speed the process is to put some Montana Xtreme Copper Cream on a patch after the bore is clean and short stroke it (push the patch back and forth without pushing it all the way out) a few times in the bore. It's a mild abasive that will help in burnishing your bore and should speed the process. It is not a real good copper remover. it will turn your patch black which is porbably a little carbon residue and some steel coming off. You dont want to over polish your bore because that can be bad also.
On how far you should shoot, IMO, you will be the best judge of that based on the capability of Your rifle and you. My rule of thunmb for zero distance is usually 300 yds for bullets with an MV of about 3400 or more and 200 yds for less. At 3300 fps and 300 yds your bullets trajectory will be close to 4" high @ 175 yds and that's a bit much for my liking. With a 200 yd zero your bullet will drop about 5-6" at 300 yds. You could split the difference with a 250 zero. If you decide 300 yds is your max range, 250 yds would be a good zero.
Hope that helps and welcome to LRH.
Good shooting,
Mark
Now listen to this very carefully. it is important that you remaove ALL the copper each time you clean during break-in or you are spinning your wheels. This where most guys get it wrong. There are alot of guys who clean their bores and think their bore is clean when they get clean patches and they are very wrong. I have used many different cleaners including Butche's Bore Shine, Montana Xtreme 50 BMG, KG-12, to name a few of the better ones, and all of them left copper in the bore after I got clean patches with them. How do I know? Because I followed up with Bore Tech Eliminator or Wipeout and found a lot more copper. I haven't used Sweets yet, but it is an amonia based cleaner, similar to Butches or Montana Xtreme and I really doubt if it is as strong as Montana Xtreme 50 BMG.
In using BTE, I will soak a patch and push through slowly and ususally the first 2-3 patches will be black then start turning blue. A few more patches will usually be dark blue, then the patches start turning pale blue. At this point you need to scrub your bore a little using a nylon brush and a few drops of BTE and let it sit for about 15-20 min. Your final soaking on your first few shots should probably be close to an hour to make sure all the copper is out. In this way, you'll get a feel for how long you need to saok to get all the copper out. Factory barrels are a lot rougher than custom lapped barrels and require a lot more work. It will be a very slow process to do it right. If you dont do it right, you might as well not do it at all. I have tried most of the best copper removers out there and none compare to BTE. Wipeout and Gunslick foaming cleaner are very effective, but require long soaking of up to 8 hrs and it may take you 3 days or more to clean a barrel until it's broke in. You are looking at 1-3 hours of cleaning between shots to do it right with the best cleaner available. Depending on the bore, it will probably take about 10-20 shots to break it in. Another technique I use that will probably speed the process is to put some Montana Xtreme Copper Cream on a patch after the bore is clean and short stroke it (push the patch back and forth without pushing it all the way out) a few times in the bore. It's a mild abasive that will help in burnishing your bore and should speed the process. It is not a real good copper remover. it will turn your patch black which is porbably a little carbon residue and some steel coming off. You dont want to over polish your bore because that can be bad also.
On how far you should shoot, IMO, you will be the best judge of that based on the capability of Your rifle and you. My rule of thunmb for zero distance is usually 300 yds for bullets with an MV of about 3400 or more and 200 yds for less. At 3300 fps and 300 yds your bullets trajectory will be close to 4" high @ 175 yds and that's a bit much for my liking. With a 200 yd zero your bullet will drop about 5-6" at 300 yds. You could split the difference with a 250 zero. If you decide 300 yds is your max range, 250 yds would be a good zero.
Hope that helps and welcome to LRH.
Good shooting,
Mark
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Have fun, and getting the kids involved is great. They will remember it for ever. My father taught me to hunt and fish. They are my fondest memories of my father as a kid.
