MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
That is an awful lot of shots for a break-in. Also, I dont run dry patches between wet patches. There is no point in that.
I have used a lot of cleaning products including Montana Xtreme 50 BMG and nothing cleans better that Bore Tech Eliminator and Wipeout. Bore Tech is the way to go for break-in because it's faster than Wipeout although more labor intensive. BTE also removes powder and copper.
So the whole point in shoot and clean break-in is to remove all copper between shots. If it takes 5 patches, then that's what it takes. If it takes 30 patches, so be it. No sense patching any more or less than needed to do the job.
I just recently broke-in 3 Broughton barrels. My process was to shoot then start wet patching. The first shot in each of then took 20 patches pushed through, followed by a wet scrubbing with a nylon brush then wait about 20-30 min, then several more wet patches to remove the last of the copper then dry patch with 3-4 patches to ensure ALL cleaning residue was gone. The next few shots took about 10 wet patches followed by scrub and soak and more wet patches. After about 15 cycle of this, I was getting very little copper fouling after a shot and called it good. with Bore Tech you can not use brass/bronse jags and brushes as it will eat them on contact and leave a false copper indication.
With a factory barrel you can expect much more effort to break-in the barrel to the point it stops or almost stops fouling. If your barrel hasn't almost stopped fouling after about 25 shoot and clean cycles, it may never get any better. Been there.
Also makes no sense to shoot 3 or 5 shoots between cleanings during break-in. The idea is to remove all copper between shots so each shot smooths out any roughness in throat and bore. The 2nd and 3rd shots in a 3 shot string accomplish almost nothing except burning powder and wasting bullets and barrel life. Some competition shooters will use strings up to 50 - 100 rounds to burnish and season a barrel but the average hunting rifle will not have any significant benefit from this.
Last, ALWAYS use a good bore guide and be extremely careful not to damage the throat and crown in the process. If you use a jag or brush, make sure it is of equal or smaller diameter than the rod so you don't catch it on the crown when pulling back through.
I have used a lot of cleaning products including Montana Xtreme 50 BMG and nothing cleans better that Bore Tech Eliminator and Wipeout. Bore Tech is the way to go for break-in because it's faster than Wipeout although more labor intensive. BTE also removes powder and copper.
So the whole point in shoot and clean break-in is to remove all copper between shots. If it takes 5 patches, then that's what it takes. If it takes 30 patches, so be it. No sense patching any more or less than needed to do the job.
I just recently broke-in 3 Broughton barrels. My process was to shoot then start wet patching. The first shot in each of then took 20 patches pushed through, followed by a wet scrubbing with a nylon brush then wait about 20-30 min, then several more wet patches to remove the last of the copper then dry patch with 3-4 patches to ensure ALL cleaning residue was gone. The next few shots took about 10 wet patches followed by scrub and soak and more wet patches. After about 15 cycle of this, I was getting very little copper fouling after a shot and called it good. with Bore Tech you can not use brass/bronse jags and brushes as it will eat them on contact and leave a false copper indication.
With a factory barrel you can expect much more effort to break-in the barrel to the point it stops or almost stops fouling. If your barrel hasn't almost stopped fouling after about 25 shoot and clean cycles, it may never get any better. Been there.
Also makes no sense to shoot 3 or 5 shoots between cleanings during break-in. The idea is to remove all copper between shots so each shot smooths out any roughness in throat and bore. The 2nd and 3rd shots in a 3 shot string accomplish almost nothing except burning powder and wasting bullets and barrel life. Some competition shooters will use strings up to 50 - 100 rounds to burnish and season a barrel but the average hunting rifle will not have any significant benefit from this.
Last, ALWAYS use a good bore guide and be extremely careful not to damage the throat and crown in the process. If you use a jag or brush, make sure it is of equal or smaller diameter than the rod so you don't catch it on the crown when pulling back through.
