New rifle break in? True or hype?

[kh971]

I know about breaking in tools, engines and certain other things.....but I pick up my Remington 5r 300 win mag tomorrow and want to do this right. It will be the first stainless barrel I have had.

 

[Broz]

I believe in it completely and have seen the almost instant reduction of fouling as the new barrel breaks in. I do all mine and most barrel manufacturers have a break in proceedure. Wouldn't they know?

Jeff

 

[kh971]

I have not asked, alot of gun stores are operating on second handknowledge. I will call Remington themselvesand ask them. Didnt want to sound like an idiot when i ask them. Thanks for the info.
How do you break in your rifles?

 

[Broz]

. Thanks for the info.
How do you break in your rifles?

With a good quality rod, bore guide and a jag and patches. I use BoreTech Eliminator and clean every shot for 8 shots. Then, every 3 shots for the next 9 shots. Then every 5 shots for the next 15. Buy then you should have seen a drastic reduction of copper fouling during this process. This means the barrel has smoothed and the burrs rolled up by the chamber reamer durring the chambering process have been smoothed as well.

Jeff

 

[ishootkittens]

Dont worry about it.. its a myth.

Id be ****ed if I had a custom rifle...If i spent hundreds of dollars on a custom barrel and they said "Oh.. and you also have to spend more money to break the barrel in"

It may end up fouling less the more you shoot, but I dont think accuracy will increase due to break-in...sorry.. just my opinion.

Give Gale Mcmillan a call... See what he has to say about the subject

 

[kh971]

I would rather take the time and be careful and take care of my equipment. It might not need it but hey whats a couple of extra minutes.

 

[kh971]

I read Gale's advice......How to Break-in a Barrel

 

[ishootkittens]

As gale stated... I have NEVER seen any physical evidence that would make me believe that break-in does anything!!

 

[Broz]

Id be ****ed if I had a custom rifle...If i spent hundreds of dollars on a custom barrel and they said "Oh.. and you also have to spend more money to break the barrel in"

It may end up fouling less the more you shoot, but I dont think accuracy will increase due to break-in...sorry.. just my opinion.

Give Gale Mcmillan a call... See what he has to say about the subject

You are missing the point. The main problem area is where the reamer rolls up a burr and the reamer pilot makes mars in the oposite direction the bullet will travel. This is all done after it leaves the barrel manufacturer. Some cases are worse than others but all have some. I have seen the fouling go away in 6 shots, sometimes durring the 3 shot strings of break in. But what does it hurt? I guess I look at it differently. If I spend all that money on a custom, I want to break it in properly and do all I can to make it as good as it can be.

Thanks but I don't need Gails advice, I have done it both ways with many many rifles in my 30 years of shooting. I feel the rifles I broke in properly shoot better and clean easier.

You have your preference and I have mine. To each his own.

Good shooting to ya.

Jeff

 

[ishootkittens]

I feel the rifles I broke in properly shoot better and clean easier.

Jeff

I think that is what a barrel break in really is. It makes shooters FEEL better about their gun and its potential accuracy. Which is great! I think it has a placebo effect but as you said.. Everyone has their own preferences and I respect yours as well.

Good luck to all of you and most of all be safe.

 

[Broz]

Well one thing we can agree on is , you can't have it both ways. This is why I stated " I feel they shoot better" You can't hardly test the same barrel both ways. The fact is some I didnt break in didn't shoot as well. But who can realy say why? You only get one chance to break them in while they are new.

I did buy a used rifle once that shot pooly. It was a factory barreled rifle. I cleaned the heck out of it and that helped, but not much. So I cleaned it again and run it through a long break in proceedure. It shot pretty good for a factory rifle after that. Maybe this was a fluke?? But this is how we all come to what we believe and not just follow what we read others say. It is a personal choice, but what can it hurt?? I don't buy what Gail said about a 300 wins life is only 1000 rounds. Heck, I have seen 30-378's with more round that that and still shoot good. Maybe if he broke in his rifles he would get more rounds out of them LOL, (that is just a joke)

Take it easy and you be safe too.

Jeff

 

[ishootkittens]

I do agree with you when talking about the .300's barrel life. I believe that if the shooter takes care of his gun and cleans when hes supposed to and keeps the barrel cool.. I think the .300 will get much more life out of it before it "falls off"

 

[justgoto]

I read Gale's advice......How to Break-in a Barrel

Not the conspiracy theory again!

That page states,

Consider this: every round shot in breaking-in a barrel is one round off the life of said rifle barrel.

The premise of the page, is that during the break-in procedure, you can't do anything else. That is wrong.
More proof of my assertion.

Another tidbit to consider--take a 300 Win Mag that has a life expectancy of 1000 rounds. Use 10% of it up with your break-in procedure. For every 10 barrels the barrel-maker makes he has to make one more just to take care of the break-in.

and

It all got started when a barrel maker that I know started putting break-in instructions in the box with each barrel he shipped a few years ago. I asked him how he figured it would help and his reply was if they shoot 100 rounds breaking in this barrel that's total life is 3000 rounds and I make 1000 barrels a year just figure how many more barrels I will get to make. He had a point; it definately will shorten the barrel life.

I had broken-in my barrel as I was zeroing my scope and load developing. After 20 shots I had my scope adjusted and a few potential loads to test, and had a barrel that copper fouled considerably less!
So their premise is absurd in the extreme.
Another case in point.

My 30+ year old Win 94 had gotten a build-up of carbon near the throat. (I also was influenced by conspiracy theories at one time, and was under the false belief that a bronze brush would damage my bore.)
I had discovered the condition when my cleaning patches would keep coming out dirty.
After I cleaned it to my satisfaction, I took a pic of the throat to see how clean it was and found a ring of unworn metal where the carbon ring resided.

The ring isn't what is important, but the roughness of the barrel. That is perfectly clean, and it isn't mirror like whatsoever.
So I thought if I tried a break-in procedure, I might get that ring to dissipate somewhat.
I didn't shoot 100 shots in the air further using-up my barrel life. I instead took shots as I normally would have at targets and distances I usually do. Probably took me months to do, since I take one shot a day with whatever rifle I choose to shoot at that time.

Here is what the barrel looks like now.

So I have a smoother bore without shortening barrel life; (per your link,) "every round shot in breaking-in a barrel is one round off the life of said rifle barrel."

And did I mention it shoots wonderfully?


The conspiracy theory doesn't hold-up to the least bit of scrutiny... and is rather ridiculous.

Links to barrel break-in procedures.

Question #223, What is the recommended procedure for breaking in a new barrel? -- Winchester Repeating Arms
Break-In & Cleaning
Welcome to Shilen Rifles, Inc.

Shilen, Inc. introduced a break-in procedure mostly because customers seemed to think that we should have one. By and large, we don't think breaking-in a new barrel is a big deal. All our stainless steel barrels have been hand lapped as part of their production, as well as any chrome moly barrel we install. Hand lapping a barrel polishes the interior of the barrel and eliminates sharp edges or burrs that could cause jacket deformity. This, in fact, is what you are doing when you break-in a new barrel through firing and cleaning.

I would go by what your specific barrel maker suggests.

I might add...
Barrel break-in is not to make your firearm shoot more accurate, it is to reduce copper fouling. In which, as it copper fouls less, you need not clean it as often to keep accuracy on par.

 

[justgoto]

So I thought if I tried a break-in procedure, I might get that ring to dissipate somewhat.
I didn't shoot 100 shots in the air further using-up my barrel life. I instead took shots as I normally would have at targets and distances I usually do. Probably took me months to do, since I take one shot a day with whatever rifle I choose to shoot at that time.

I did the same with my Eddystone US Model of 1917 also.

Before;

After;

It copper fouls much less than what it looks like it would.
It also shoots wonderfully.