Breaking in a new rifle barrel. Need to or myth?

[N7XW]

I would never run a bronze brush down any of my rifles. get a nylon and use more solvent.

I was done commenting here but I cant let a guy do that to his new custom barrel

I experimented with cleaning with patches only and was amazed at the crud that came out of my barrels while brushing them after they'd been thoroughly cleaned with only patches.
Don't know if bronze brushes can damage a bore but they sure seem to do a better job of cleaning stubborn carbon fouling.  Anyone inspected a barrel with a bore scope to find bronze brush scratches?

[Badhabit]

I guess I could do the bore lapping myself if I follow this guys directions.

http://bisonarmory.com/content/RifleBoreLapping.pdf

[Magnum_Willys]

Done it.  Made cleaning easier no doubt.  Didnt hurt accuracy may have slightly improved it.

[Bofire]

all you need for bore lapping is some long welding rod, sand paper and a hand drill, just wrap some sand paper on the welding rod, chuck it into your drill,  and run her up and down yer barrel until yer happy.
Carl

[yorketransport]

I like to break in my barrels by firing about 100 rounds through them as fast as I can before even thinking about cleaning it. The theory is that if I get the metal hot enough, the bullets will polish out any imperfections in the now soft, malleable steel.   

I don't have any scientific data to back this up, but I'm pretty sure somebody on Facebook said something like this once.

But you have to use lapping ammo for it to work right 

Not necessarily. Sometimes I like to just take an under sized bullet  (.284 bullets work well in a .308 bore) and roll them in sand after coating the bullet with wax. The trick is to use all natural free trade/wild harvest bee's wax and coat them with sand harvested by Aborigines from the shores of ephemeral lakes in the outback of Western Australia.

You simply coat the bullet until it reaches the desired bore diameter and start shooting. It's the only way I know of to guarantee a rifle capable of shooting "lights out" or being capable for both "driving tacks" and shooting "bug holes".

When I don't have access to free trade/wild harvest wax or Aboriginal harvested sand from the shores of ephemeral lakes in Western Australia, I usually just shoot the rifle and don't worry about breaking in my barrel. I just clean it when it stops shooting well.

[Biggerhammer]

I bet that method adds at least 100 fps to any cartridge and makes is shoot like a laser. 👍

[aaronoto]

This cheap factory barrel didn't care it wasn't broken in!    I've never done a barrel break-in, never had any issues that I suspect was due to not doing a barrel break-in, and don't plan on breaking any barrels in in the future.  Leaves more time for shooting!

[h20hunter]

That's some nice shooting. Thanks for getting us back on topic.

[Biggerhammer]

AA  What rifle?

[aaronoto]

AA  What rifle?

Ruger Precision

[N7XW]

I like to break in my barrels by firing about 100 rounds through them as fast as I can before even thinking about cleaning it. The theory is that if I get the metal hot enough, the bullets will polish out any imperfections in the now soft, malleable steel.   

I don't have any scientific data to back this up, but I'm pretty sure somebody on Facebook said something like this once.

But you have to use lapping ammo for it to work right 

Not necessarily. Sometimes I like to just take an under sized bullet  (.284 bullets work well in a .308 bore) and roll them in sand after coating the bullet with wax. The trick is to use all natural free trade/wild harvest bee's wax and coat them with sand harvested by Aborigines from the shores of ephemeral lakes in the outback of Western Australia.

You simply coat the bullet until it reaches the desired bore diameter and start shooting. It's the only way I know of to guarantee a rifle capable of shooting "lights out" or being capable for both "driving tacks" and shooting "bug holes".

When I don't have access to free trade/wild harvest wax or Aboriginal harvested sand from the shores of ephemeral lakes in Western Australia, I usually just shoot the rifle and don't worry about breaking in my barrel. I just clean it when it stops shooting well.

  love it!

[Magnum_Willys]

After firelapping - factory 338-378 w 300 grainers @ 2850. 
Sometimes crazy stuff just works.
4 shots duplicated with 4 more.

[mountainman]

After firelapping - factory 338-378 w 300 grainers @ 2850. 
Sometimes crazy stuff just works.
4 shots duplicated with 4 more.

That's impressive! My 338-378 improved after firelapping, although not quite to that degree

[Bob33]

I like to break in my barrels by firing about 100 rounds through them as fast as I can before even thinking about cleaning it. The theory is that if I get the metal hot enough, the bullets will polish out any imperfections in the now soft, malleable steel.   

I don't have any scientific data to back this up, but I'm pretty sure somebody on Facebook said something like this once.

But you have to use lapping ammo for it to work right 

Not necessarily. Sometimes I like to just take an under sized bullet  (.284 bullets work well in a .308 bore) and roll them in sand after coating the bullet with wax. The trick is to use all natural free trade/wild harvest bee's wax and coat them with sand harvested by Aborigines from the shores of ephemeral lakes in the outback of Western Australia.

You simply coat the bullet until it reaches the desired bore diameter and start shooting. It's the only way I know of to guarantee a rifle capable of shooting "lights out" or being capable for both "driving tacks" and shooting "bug holes".

When I don't have access to free trade/wild harvest wax or Aboriginal harvested sand from the shores of ephemeral lakes in Western Australia, I usually just shoot the rifle and don't worry about breaking in my barrel. I just clean it when it stops shooting well.

I'm only biting if the bullets are shade grown, free ranging troll line caught.

[wooltie]

I called Benchmark and Lilja to get their opinion on barrel break in.  Both stated that the idea is to get the barrel to shoot without accumulating copper.  So, shoot 1 - clean 1 until no copper is building up (no blue patches), then shoot 3 - clean, verify no copper is showing up (no blue patches).  Supposedly the throat smooths out and magically no copper appears after x rounds, but let the barrel tell you how much shooting is needed.  I did this procedure and the first 5 shots produced heavy, dark blue patches like you see on the interwebs, then the blue died off on the 6th and subsequent shots, but it is still there.

I dunno I've sunk a lot of time and money into this my main rifle, so I just want to do it right even if that means doing something may not be necessary i.e. shoot 1 / clean 1.  Break in may not be necessary, but if done properly, I don't see how it could make the gun perform less?

The bronze brush is interesting.  Not using one makes sense if the solvents with do the work.  I've used Butch's and Eliminator.  I'll try just eliminator.  It's funny -- Benchmark advocates for Eliminator because Butch's is like harmful or something, while Lilja says to use Butch's and a bronze brush.  I guess to each their own.

Thanks Magnum for the tip on heat tubing the brass end of the guide rod.