Barrel break in true or not?

[Lee7588]

My Christiansen Arms 300WM PRC came with a barrel warranty and mandatory break-in, per their procedure.

Did you get a 300 wm or 300 prc or both

 

[Taylorbok]

I don't bother with traditional break in cleaning every round or what ever. I let the ammo do it.
If I have load data for the cartridge I'll pick a safe load and do a 30 round seating depth test. Then I run a couple patches. Load up the rest of my brass and shoot them all to fire form and get velocity to settle in. Then I can go back and do a full load dev.

 

[Damage Inc.]

So… if you don't "break a barrel in"…. can you make the barrel worse?

 

[mightyman]

There is always an exception to every rule, shooting one gun/barrel 200-300 times and no cleaning is awesome and it shoots 1/2 groups. The reality is there does not seem to be any agreement either way.

So if taking a couple hours to shoot and clean, shoot and clean, makes you feel better, and it does not hurt the gun or barrel, then do it. I personally have done the break-in on all my rifles, and they shoot awesome and 1/2 or better. SO i am hooked on the process.

 

[Damage Inc.]

All your rifles shoot 1/2" or better?

 

[azsugarbear]

Before getting into long range shooting, I watched a lot of the Sniper 101 series by TiborasaurusRex on youtube. The guy knows his stuff and the science/physics behind a lot of what he recommends. He is not the only source I used for my start into the long range game, but I have found merit in his videos. I recommend the series highly.

Here is what I have found with my own rifle barrels (which include Lilja, Krieger, Brux, Benchmark, Rock Creek, Proof Research, and PVA). With new barrels, they tend to foul heavily with the first few rounds. I don't care if you clean after one or ten shots - the patches are black and take several wash/rinse/repeat cycles before the patches come out clean. After the first 20 to 50 rounds, the barrel doesn't foul nearly as much and clean up is much easier. That alone tells me that something is happening to the bore and with the barrel break in process. Whether you call it break in or settling in - it is the same thing.

Aside from barrel break in, there is also the phenomenon of barrel stability as it pertains to velocity. You will see this happen when you shoot multiple rounds of the same load over a chrony from a freshly cleaned barrel. Velocity will rise with each additional bullet that goes down a freshly-cleaned barrel until it hits a 'plateau'. With some of my barrels, it happens within 5-10 rounds. With other barrels, it takes closer to 20 rounds before velocity stabilizes. After my velocity flattens out or stabilizes, I can fire another 150 to 400 rounds through the bore before velocity begins to spike. At that point, I strip all the carbon and copper out and start over again - building up to that velocity plateau.

I will stop short of saying it works this way for everbody, but it has been fairly consistent with the eleven custom barrels I have wrung out.

 

[emp1953]

Factory barrel like remington or savage with chatter marks from one end to the other, maybe, I'd say yes. Aftermarket polished, no.

five years ago, a friend at the range picked up a new Tikka in .270win. It was 3 weeks before he was going on a Western hunt. He threw on a scope he had off another rifle and brought rounds he had loaded up for another rifle in .270win. The rifle grouped just great at 100yds. After settling in on windage and elevation and moving to 300yds he was shooting sub moa. SO 10 shots and he was off to Utah. Got his elk, came back went out for deer season, filled his tag, then for the next 5 years took deer after deer. In total he had maybe 30 rounds through the Tikka. He then had an opportunity to shoot at 800 yds and wanted to give it a go. Over 4 days he shot 5 boxes of handloads and was pleased with the results. When he shot at the range again his 100yd groups opened up from sub moa to 2 inches. I suggested that the barrel had finally "broken in". He worked up a new load and brought the groups back to sub moa and has never had a problem since. Tikka's come out of Sako's factory and the barrels on them are pretty much the same. They make a quality barrel but still need the break in period.

 

[WKWRIGHT]

Do you really need to?
This barrel is a button rifle, Benchmark hand polish from the factory

I have paid lots of attention to this over the last 25-30 rifle barrels I have. I have done various types of break in as recommended by manufacturers like bartlien, Shilen etc. and I have done basically nothing, never seems to make any noticeable difference.

 

[baldhunter]

It's hard to prove either way,but the rifles I have done breaking in will shoot same point of impact from a first shot cold barrel,clean or dirty,so they don't require fouling shots to get it back into the group.There is no way I can prove it because once it's done,it's done,maybe I'm just lucky.Regardless I still hunt with a fouled bore and not a clean barrel,just something I do because I always check before I go hunting anyway.Years ago I had a rifle that would be off as much as 3" the first shot from a clean cold barrel and others that were off 1"-1.5".These rifles usually took about two shots to get them to go back into the group.I thought for a long time it was me because I always cleaned my barrels after shooting them.So for me,if taking the one time break in makes my rifle shoot the first shot clean cold barrel shoot in the group without requiring fouling shots,I'll do it.I cannot prove break in worked,but it makes me feel lucky.

 

[Txcowboy50]

Why not break-in? I bought a Proof carbon fiber barrel and broke the barrel in as instructed by Proof....3 shots clean..3 shots clean...5 shots clean. ( I shot and addition 3 shots and addition 5 shots for good measure). Shots 20, 21 and 22 went through the same hole and will do the same after 200 rounds if I do my part. will continue to break in a new barrel.

 

[Mike Matteson]

It's hard to prove either way,but the rifles I have done breaking in will shoot same point of impact from a first shot cold barrel,clean or dirty,so they don't require fouling shots to get it back into the group.There is no way I can prove it because once it's done,it's done,maybe I'm just lucky.Regardless I still hunt with a fouled bore and not a clean barrel,just something I do because I always check before I go hunting anyway.Years ago I had a rifle that would be off as much as 3" the first shot from a clean cold barrel and others that were off 1"-1.5".These rifles usually took about two shots to get them to go back into the group.I thought for a long time it was me because I always cleaned my barrels after shooting them.So for me,if taking the one time break in makes my rifle shoot the first shot clean cold barrel shoot in the group without requiring fouling shots,I'll do it.I cannot prove break in worked,but it makes me feel lucky.

I will follow the manufacture guide.

 

[Deleted member 8840]

I clean every barrel before I shoot it not for the brake in but just to make sure who ever made the barrel got all the cutting oil and what ever else may be in it. Then by shooting it it warms up the barrel so it may release any other oils. Then shoot enough for the group to settle down. Maybe the manufacturer are asking us to do one more cleaning after shipment. One things for sure you shoot a new dirty barrel several times without cleaning it will be much harder to clean it later. Ya clean it to clean it just like the rest of the rifle. Its a good barrel or it isn't the old saying you get what you pay for is very true with barrels.

 

[Gamesniper19]

"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 u

"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.

I hear you and thanks for sharing...but what i saw on the site was different? Triple stress relieved (website says double stress relieved), hand polished (website says double hand lapped), and finished to ensure no chipps or issues - doesn't say that, is your smith looking at them again cause they know they are going to you and would they do that for everyone else?

Why double hand lapped? Cause button rifling causes enormous stress....and lapping is only as good as the person lapping the barrel, doing it twice could impart issues if the person isnt super careful. And why twice?

My point is, with cut rifling there is significantly less after rifle "finishing" that needs to happen so less chance for another hand, another process, and another set of variable to be put into the barrel. cut rifling is more expensive and slower too, which is why so many have gone to buttons....volume makes money

Lastly - i agree, if you get a barrel that good - you may never have to break it in. Easy peesy, but not all of us are going to run Benchmark and get maybe the "perfect" barrel so if someone wants to run 20 rounds through a rifle and "break it in" and there is no downside in doing it, why not???

 

[Huntz]

A button cuts like any other cutter.

Really?A button does not cut.It displaces metal as it is forced through the barrel. Creates huge amounts of stress. That is why button rifled barrels are stress relieved before and after rifling. They also need to be lapped.Being lapped is the reason they are burr free.