I, too, did a lot of reading and I found this link:
http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn_II.aspThe problem, for me, is this:
Regardless of all of the hoopla, I'm old-fashioned, opinionated, and too darned used to what's worked for me to change now.
I've been hunting for 37 years. In that time, I've "broken in" seven different hunting rifles. I did this by cleaning the barrel very well prior to my first trip to the range and, then, putting a box of ammunition through the rifle I'm shooting over a long enough period of time so as not to overheat the barrel. I then took it home, called it good, and proceeded to shoot them like any other rifle I hunt with.
Most of my rifles group handloads under an inch at 100 yards. Two or three group around 3/4" of an inch. The best rifle (shooting-wise) that I own is also the least expensive - a Marlin XL-7 in .270 cal. That one will shoot the whiskers off of the left cheek of a gnat at 100 yards...if I can do my part. My worst shooter groups at around 1.25 - 1.5 inches.
So, as with "which is the best rifle for deer?"; "which is the best round for elk?"; "do I really need a magnum?"...herewith, let the arguments begin.
To buttress my old codger beliefs, though, I've attached an 8-round grouping from the Marlin (with a 9th round "proof shot") to go along with what I've said. The three "flyers" in the 8-round group were caused by the muzzle blast of a ported magnum on the next table.
I truly wish the fleas of a thousand camels would descend upon people like that.
Larry S.
PS...Opinions are like armpits. Everyone has them and some of them truly stink. That includes mine. But it is mine and I'll stick with it. And, to borrow a phrase from Ebeneezer Scrooge, in the matter of barrel break in, I say "Bah! Humbug."