Breaking in a New Barrel

[Jinx-)]

If it really helps to break-in riffle barrel even if it has some sort of soap in it which is only used to get petroleum residue out of the metal I see no harm at all, as long as you wipe barrel dry after applying it, it gets my barrel squeaky clean, I even had turkey gather on the range while I was running my dry patch through, hey you can get 2 things done, break-in the barrel and get a nice turkey
I did hit the range today, however my cleaning rod jinxed on me, I didn't bring solid one so I had the 3 piece one well it broke in three pieces, the day was ruined I had a flier in every group… I was about to put some of that Windex in the barrel but no rod to do it with

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Well i went to the range and followed the 1 shot then clean then shoot again routine. My cold bore shot was about 4 inches to the right and about 2 inches high from my point of aim. I then slowly fired and the rounds came to a grouping about 1inch or so. I then adjusted and got my scope zeroed at 100 meters. My final group were all touching I didnt measure it though. Went through about 17 rounds total today. So from what i understand, i should get used to trying to call a cold bore shot. Then for my next question, after your cold bore shot how many rounds would it take for your rounds to hit were your zero is? After the first or does it depend on the barrel?

Thanks in advance.
Shayne

Shayne, I think the first question should be... Is your barrel broke-in? Did you make sure you cleaned out ALL the copper after each shot? Did you notice any reduction in copper fouling? One way to check the effectiveness of your cleaning is to bring it home from the range, clean it like you clean at the range, dry patch it out good and then soak it over night with Wipeout. If there is any copper in the bore, the Wipeout will get it out and you will know how effective your cleaning is. If you aren't getting all the copper out, your break-in process will take a loooong time.

Once, your barrel is broke-in, then you can start to test your cold bore and fouling shots and check your groups. And yes, every barrel is different. Some need a fouling shot or two and some don't.

If it really helps to break-in riffle barrel even if it has some sort of soap in it which is only used to get petroleum residue out of the metal I see no harm at all, as long as you wipe barrel dry after applying it, it gets by barrel squeaky clean, I even had turkey gather on the range while I was running my dry patch through, hey you can get 2 things done, break-in the barrel and get a nice turkey

Jinx, using window cleaner probably wont hurt your rifle so long as you get it all out fairly quickly. And maybe the chemicals that are part of the solution will neutralize the water's corrosive/oxidation effects on the bore. I just don't think I'll use it. Reason being, there are better products made specifically for those purposes. You really should look at Gun Juice, because it is designed to do exactly what you're talking about and more.

Microlon Gun Juice

If you want to get your barrel squeaky clean, then give it one or two good soakings of Wipeout. If you have a bad fouler, then it may need more soakings. And.... you can still get two things done, if the opportunity presents itself and it's open season

 

[Jinx-)]

Hoppe's Bench Rest 9 Copper Solvent is not bad at all, never had Wipeout, is it the same thing as Hoppe's? So many products so many choices, I had a guy telling me that J-B is the only way riffles should be clean

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I'm not familiar with Hoppe's 9 BR, but the regular Hoppe's 9 powder solvent has ammonia so I'm guessing the BR does too, and like I said I wont use ammonia anymore. Wipeout is a spray in foam cleaner that has no ammonia. You need to let it soak for a while. Sometimes up to 8 hrs or overnight. I had a very bad fouling Ruger M77 (still have it but dont shoot it) that I cleaned with Wipeout. It took about 7 long soakings before the patch came out clean. But when the patch finally came out clean, that bore was clean down to bright shiney bare metal, corrosion pitting and all. I know this becuase I had it borescoped and the smith said it was clean down to bare metal. He let me take a look at it. So as far as I'm concerned, Wipeout is the ultimate test for a clean barrel. if you think your barrel is clean, give it an overnight soaking with Wipeout, then run a patch through it. If the patch is white then the bore is clean. If not, then your cleaning method isn't as good as you think it is. Always use nickel plated jags so there will be no question of contamination from brass jags. Wipeout takes some time but it is wayyyy easy. Spray it in, let it soak, patch it out with about 2 patches. No scrubbing for hours.

I've heard that JB paste is good but it's abrasive and you need to be careful with it. IMO, Wipeout and Bore Tech Eliminator are superior products.

There are a lot of different opinions, but you will see some trends with certain cleaners. My criteria is... no ammonia and gets the job done. At the range, BTE works very fast and very well. At home, Wipeout is very easy and very effective. It's cleans to bare metal with no scrubbing and that has been proven to me.

Here are some related threads...

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f23/bore-tech-eliminator-17834/

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f23/bore-tech-eliminator-41897/

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/microlon-gun-juice-38420/

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/gun-juice-what-36353/

 

[Jinx-)]

You right about ammonia I read on Thompson's barrels they don't recommend ammoniated solvents, so if doesn't contain ammonia then it must be some sort of alkaline to break down copper? Don't tell me it's acidic… Alkaline solvent also not recommended. I'm puzzled with this manual, maybe they want users to buy their solvents and this is nothing but hype

 

[Ultramag45]

Je Custom...... I have a new rifle on a hart match barrel.... when you are doing the shoot once and clean. are you just using a patch or a brush as well... gun)

 

[Jinx-)]

Don't brush it, just patch then solvent, clean patch, then you need to get rid off petroleum residue before shooting, looks like Windex is not the way to go but I use it , then just rubbing alcohol do get rid of "soap"

 

[Mike6158]

I can finally weigh in on this topic... for what little that's worth.

I have two new rifles. Santa Claus (that would be me) was kind this year. I... I mean Santa... brought me a Remington VTR in .308 and because the stock was horrific (his words not mine... I would have cussed) he also brought a nice HS Precision stock for it. A couple of weeks later he brought a Sendero SF II in 7mm Rem Mag. Remarkably it came with a good stock (HS Precision).

I happily loaded 50 rounds for the VTR and ran off to the range just as soon as I got the scope mounted and bore sighted (The Sendero didn't have eyes until yesterday so it stayed in it's crib). After 40 rounds the rifle had degraded to 3" - 4" groups (group is a term that I am using loosely) at 100 yards. Not exactly what I was hoping for. It would kill a deer but I had 0 confidence in the rifle at that point so it was looking like I was going to leave it home this season. I was cleaning between 5 but no copper remover. Just Shooters Choice and a couple of patches. I was there to shoot not clean

Needless to say when I got home I did a search for barrel break-in and found 5 or 6 disagreement sessions with tons of conflicting advice.

I finally picked the shoot 1 / dry bore snake / copper remove / nylon brush (more controversy) / dry patch until patches are clean / repeat method (on a side note- have barrels become so crappy that they can't take a brush? Jeez man... I brushed the hell out of all of my rifles, with a bronze brush and Hoppes #9 solvent no less, when I was a kid and they all shoot as good as they ever did... which was good enough to kill a deer out to 200 yards. I would gladly do away with the brush step. It's a bunch of extra work... I'm just curious).

I paid for factory ammo (very painful. I may be traumatized for life) and ran 20 rounds through it and my Sendero using the above "break-in" method. I was at the range all day "breaking in two rifles. It was awesome The Sendero settled down by about round 8. The VTR wasn't settled down until the last 6 rounds. It's consistently grouping inside an inch at a 100 yards now and that's with over priced, sloppy ammo. I'm hoping to begin the process of finding it's sweet spot on Friday and bring it in a little and playing on the 200 range. I've got a batch of .010, .050, .090. and .130 off the lands loaded (both calibers). Just for fun I'm going to reload the factory brass that I shot today and take it back too. Friday should be a good day.

So- does the break-in method work? I think that it helps. The rifles cleaned easier as I progressed through the steps. Towards the end I shot 3 rounds and then cleaned. First the dry bore snake and then I ran a wet (Montana Extreme Copper Killer) copper cleaner patch through it. Waited about 5 min. Dry patch. There was no telltale copper residue btw. Brushed with Shooters Choice (probably will stop this just to see if I can do as well with just patches but I find it hard to believe a nylon or even bronze brush would hurt a barrel). Then 3 dry patches. The first one was dirty... the second one was clean. The 3rd one was snow white. Compare that to 6 - 8 patches before I got a clean one and never snow white when I started the "break-in"

Caveat- These were both Remington factory rifles. No tricky stuff. I will follow the barrel / rifle builders recommendation if / when I buy a custom. JMHO