Sako official barrel break in procedure

[Oldschool280]

So i called sako today and they answered the phone "beretta". Must be a dialect thing. Anywho when asked what was the reccommended procedure for properly breaking in a barrel they said" shoot it till you drop then clean as you would a regular rifle enjoy" there is no break in procedure for a well made rifle" . So whAt say ye?

 

[gohring3006]

You will get different opinions on this, but I will say even premium barrel makers reccomend a break in. Not all but several.
I do it because I noticed when done right, cleaning becomes much easier.

 

[FEENIX]

You will get different opinions on this, but I will say even premium barrel makers recccomend a break in. Not all but several.
I do it because I noticed when done right, cleaning becomes much easier.

Agreed!

 

[Bullet bumper]

A Sako has a hammer forged barrel so generally they are smoother than say a button rifled barrel . So run in less required on average . Keep in mind that Good morning Beretta was a pistol person not Good Morning Sako in Finland kind of person.
So advice will vary . Personally I like to run in where I do that extra cleaning and scrubbing between rounds just to make sure any garbage is taken out before it all gets hammered into the bore surface .
A bit of caution can't hurt . I push not so tight dry patches through a new cleaned barrel and see if any lint gets hung up anywhere inside the bore . I have even used cotton wool to see if any gets hung up . This gives me an idea how smooth it is .
Then I decide how much run in I will do.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Wipe the powder out with a patch the first few shots then shoot it 'till it stops shooting groups or starts fouling badly... I'd be looking at groups by the time your scope is zero'd.
Break in is over-rated.. Anything after the first few shots the rifle is actually in decline; how fast of a decline is greatly dependent on the chambering ... shooting to break in is a waste of resources...

 

[Bullet bumper]

I don't agree that barrel run in is of no use. If you look inside a lot of new barrels you see a few that do benefit from a run in procedure of some kind.
It's a personal choice but on some barrels it can help.

 

[Pdvdh]

There are at least two camps of thought. The Dos and the Don'ts are the most vocal.

I happen to hang with the Dos. I've seen the benefits of barrel breakin on 3 Tikka T3s. I think the barrels are made by Sako?

As far as Official goes, it has to be on Sako letterhead before I consider it Sako Policy.

 

[shortgrass]

The method of rifling (cold hammer forged, cut, or button) has little to do with "smoothness" of the rifled bore. Button rifling would seem to be the most logical method of leaving the rifled bore 'smooth' as it actually swages the grooves into the bore wall, but there are other factors involved. The quality of the tooling employed with any method has a great deal to do with the quality of the rifled bore. Lapping, either by machine of by hand, can make-up for the tooling, but I know of no major manufacturer that laps their barrels, maybe only some of the 'boutique' rifle manufacturers. I'm in the "break-in" camp, even if you bore scope before firing and it 'appears' smooth.

 

[HARPERC]

I probably haven't owned enough new barrels for a meaningful opinion, but I've had 2 barrels in 40 years (before break in got popular) that I think may have benefitted from a break in. A Krieger and a Shilen, both seemed to take longer to settle down than the others I've owned. The 6mm I was getting a bit nervous with, but between 150-200 rounds it started to hum. The .338 took 75-100, but has been good since.

I clean them before the my first range trip, and see what happens with the first 3-5 rounds.

Here's where I sort out the does, and don't's. If it meets my expectations I don't worry about it much. If it comes up short, then I look a little closer.

I'm not a bench rest shooter, and don't have the same needs. My varmint rifles I ask more than I do from a big game rifle.

 

[MudRunner2005]

So i called sako today and they answered the phone "beretta". Must be a dialect thing. Anywho when asked what was the reccommended procedure for properly breaking in a barrel they said" shoot it till you drop then clean as you would a regular rifle enjoy" there is no break in procedure for a well made rifle" . So whAt say ye?

That's how I break all mine in. I scrub it out to the white (when it's brand new), then coat the bore with Kroil or RemOil and let it dry, then run one last RemOil patch down it before I hit the range (don't patch it dry). And then get to work shooting 5 shot groups (non-magnum) or 3-shot groups (magnums), and let it cool completely in-between groups. Then once they start to settle around 30-50 rounds in, I consider it broken-in. Then I take it home and scrub it down to the white again. Then get to load development, and I only clean it when accuracy falls off, and the groups start opening up. Over-cleaning a rifle can also cause premature bore, throat, and rifling wear.

Wipe the powder out with a patch the first few shots then shoot it 'till it stops shooting groups or starts fouling badly... I'd be looking at groups by the time your scope is zero'd.
Break in is over-rated.. Anything after the first few shots the rifle is actually in decline; how fast of a decline is greatly dependent on the chambering ... shooting to break in is a waste of resources...

Yup... Same here. Most of the time, what I consider my "break-in" process is simply 50 rounds of brass that have been prepped with very mild loads for fire-forming cases, shot in 5-shot strings, then let it cool.