Barrel break in

[Mram10us]

JE,
First, thanks for taking the time to explain
1. Do you shoot a target and use a chrono during break in?
2. Cleaning to bare metal is the most consistent? What about follow up shots, if needed? I posed this question to benchrest.com a while back and the majority thought a fouled barrel was the way to go.
3. What do you consider a rifle that shoots in the zeros? Aka, 3 shots, 5shots, every group, half your groups? I'm trying to get a baseline.
4. Can you point me to a link with your cleaning regime so you don't have to type it out for probably the 100th time?

 

[sturner]

So JE I got this 28 Nosler it has 30 rounds fired is it too late to use your break in process or how should I proceed from here I'm up to trying something new
Thanks

 

[Mram10us]

So JE I got this 28 Nosler it has 30 rounds fired is it too late to use your break in process or how should I proceed from here I'm up to trying something new
Thanks

I would love to see your results.

 

[J E Custom]

So JE I got this 28 Nosler it has 30 rounds fired is it too late to use your break in process or how should I proceed from here I'm up to trying something new
Thanks

If you want to do a break in all you have to do is clean until there is no copper fouling left in the bore and then start the shoot and clean procedure. I recommend that you do the procedure using a chronograph so you can see any change/improvement in the velocity. The only other way you can recognize any improvement is with the clean up after each shot and the feel of the patch in the bore (When it really feels smooth)

Don't know how many shots it will take but it should be 7 to 10 shots.

J E CUSTOM

 

[sturner]

If you want to do a break in all you have to do is clean until there is no copper fouling left in the bore and then start the shoot and clean procedure. I recommend that you do the procedure using a chronograph so you can see any change/improvement in the velocity. The only other way you can recognize any improvement is with the clean up after each shot and the feel of the patch in the bore (When it really feels smooth)

Don't know how many shots it will take but it should be 7 to 10 shots.

J E CUSTOM

Yes sir I will do that as soon as my brake comes in
Thanks

 

[Toolhand]

I have seen knowledgable people on both sides. I definitely don't think breaking in a barrel is A bad thing. I personally let the rifle tell me. If it shoots well after initial oiling then I go with it and continue to shoot. If it doesn't then I will go through a break in process. Guess only excuse for not breaking in every time is laziness on my part.

 

[wbm]

What kind of test could you conduct to determine if "breaking in" a barrel resulted in greater accuracy? Think about it.

 

[J E Custom]

JE,
First, thanks for taking the time to explain
1. Do you shoot a target and use a chrono during break in?
2. Cleaning to bare metal is the most consistent? What about follow up shots, if needed? I posed this question to benchrest.com a while back and the majority thought a fouled barrel was the way to go.
3. What do you consider a rifle that shoots in the zeros? Aka, 3 shots, 5shots, every group, half your groups? I'm trying to get a baseline.
4. Can you point me to a link with your cleaning regime so you don't have to type it out for probably the 100th time?

1 = Yes I use a target and a chronograph unless it is a site less rifle (No scope or sites And just performing a break in before the scope is mounted) then i use the chronograph
to monitor the progress.

2 = My mentor was a bench rest shooter and a master gunsmith and he believed that the most accurate barrel was a clean barrel and cleaned after each shot in matches.
I find that if I start with a clean barrel I will get between 4 and 7 accurate follow up shots for hunting. the only way to find this out is to start with a clean barrel and shoot until the group degrades.

3 = Any rifle that will consistently shoot in the zeros is better than me and will out shoot me most of the time. Some rifle barrels will shoot 3 shot groups well others will shoot 5 shoots and some will even shoot 10 shots well. There are those barrels that need a fouling shot after a thorough cleaning and then stick 5 in a 1/4 MOA group with out cleaning. This is the place that you must know when the fouling starts to effect accuracy, so to get the cleaning regiment down, you must find out when you need to clean.

4 = The cleaning procedure is not mine but the standard shoot and clean until fouling is almost non existent one. The only reason I use the chronograph is because it is unbiased and is measuring barrel performance with the load testing with. The ideal load for accuracy may be something totally different and much more accurate than the break in loads. but as velocity increases with the same load, barrel condition is improving.

The other thing about what someone tells there competition. If you were in some kind of competition And found something that gave you an edge to win most of the time, Would you tell your fellow competitors ? Most wouldn't.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Mram10us]

What kind of test could you conduct to determine if "breaking in" a barrel resulted in greater accuracy? Think about it.

How do you test between doing a break in from start to finish and never doing one? You can't determine what could have been since you can't do both.

 

[Mram10us]

1 = Yes I use a target and a chronograph unless it is a site less rifle (No scope or sites And just performing a break in before the scope is mounted) then i use the chronograph
to monitor the progress.

2 = My mentor was a bench rest shooter and a master gunsmith and he believed that the most accurate barrel was a clean barrel and cleaned after each shot in matches.
I find that if I start with a clean barrel I will get between 4 and 7 accurate follow up shots for hunting. the only way to find this out is to start with a clean barrel and shoot until the group degrades.

3 = Any rifle that will consistently shoot in the zeros is better than me and will out shoot me most of the time. Some rifle barrels will shoot 3 shot groups well others will shoot 5 shoots and some will even shoot 10 shots well. There are those barrels that need a fouling shot after a thorough cleaning and then stick 5 in a 1/4 MOA group with out cleaning. This is the place that you must know when the fouling starts to effect accuracy, so to get the cleaning regiment down, you must find out when you need to clean.

4 = The cleaning procedure is not mine but the standard shoot and clean until fouling is almost non existent one. The only reason I use the chronograph is because it is unbiased and is measuring barrel performance with the load testing with. The ideal load for accuracy may be something totally different and much more accurate than the break in loads. but as velocity increases with the same load, barrel condition is improving.

The other thing about what someone tells there competition. If you were in some kind of competition And found something that gave you an edge to win most of the time, Would you tell your fellow competitors ? Most wouldn't.

J E CUSTOM

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
1- it would be great if you posted a target with all shots from a break in session . It would give us a baseline to compare our groups too during the same
2- I've done that and find that the first shot at 500yds is a flyer compared to the others. I'll take a pic next time
3- I'm curious what you consider a rifle that shoots in the zeros. You have 5 now, so does that mean consistently 3 shots at 100?
4- I understand the shot and clean. I'm wondering what you use. Patches for carbon then copper removal? Focus on just copper removal? What do you finish the cleaning with? Brake cleaner, oil, etc?
Thanks again. I'm sure everyone is learning from this

 

[sturner]

Since I'm not a big barrel cleaner I need to know what to use I got Butch's and hoppes no 9 and JB bore bright so what do I need and what do I not use
And I do have a bore guides and Dewey one piece rods

 

[J E Custom]

Since I'm not a big barrel cleaner I need to know what to use I got Butch's and hoppes no 9 and JB bore bright so what do I need and what do I not use
And I do have a bore guides and Dewey one piece rods

I prefer Butches for break in because it is fairly fast but not to aggressive (You don't need a aggressive solvent because you are cleaning between every shot). If a rifle has a very bad fouling condition I use Sweets 7-62 but I don,t leave it in the barrel more than 30 Minutes. If for some reason I have to leave the barrel in solvent over night I like the Boretech eliminator and for long term storage I use Hoppes #9. That sounds like a lot of different solvents, but each one has it's place and use so these are the main ones I like to use

J E CUSTOM

 

[sturner]

Thanks JE

 

[5.56×250]

Another vote for break in with very careful cleaning technique . My go to method is shoot clean, shoot clean for however many shots it takes to get minimal to no bluing on my patches. Once I've reached the point of nearly no copper for a single shot fired , I go to 3 shot groups till I have little to no copper between 3 shot groups. Finally i shoot a 5 shot group to check for copper fouling. If i get copper after 5 shots, i will shoot 5 again till copper is not transfering to my barrel anymore.
It sounds like a lot of shooting, but I've found that quality barrels only require 20-25 shots total to get to very little to no copper transfer . While I'm breaking in, i am also rough zeroing and checking action screws , scope mounts, and tracking. So I'm not just wasting barrel metal for break in.
Before i started using this technique, i would sight the rifle in and start group tuning. Depending on the barrels state when I'd start shooting , i would have to fight the copper fouling for a long time on a single cleaning session and would seldom get the barrel back to my idea of clean. I dont use aggesive cleaning techniques anymore since I began barrel break in . Before , I would use barrel pastes to polish the copper out because butches bore shine wasn't aggressive enough to get the barrel decoppered.
The slow process of shoot 1/clean keeps the copper from taking over the bore before I can get the throat deburred.
All that being said, I dont know conclusively that this way of doing it makes for a more accurate barrel. I do know it allows me to easily have a clean, deburred tube that makes me feel like I'm taking care of my expensive equipment.
That's just my thing and I dont give a fart in the wind on how anyone else handles their rifle cleanliness .
Oh, and Merry Christmas to all. That's my way of saying that too. Same windy fart technique on that one