Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: Bob on January 25, 2010, 10:28:21 PM

Title: New rifle break-in
Post by: Bob on January 25, 2010, 10:28:21 PM: How do you break-in a barrel on a new gun ? Does it matter?
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: uplandhunter870 on January 25, 2010, 10:38:59 PM: go to savage's website they have a pretty detailed process of how to break in a new barrel. some guys say it doesnt matter and just go shoot other guys practice proper break in like the pope practices religion.

i had to break in a new barrel recently and did a modified verison of what savage reccomends based on how much ammo i could afford to burn and my time restraints. a buddy of mine bought a new rifle and followed savages process to the T and burned through 2 boxes or more of ammo and spent an entire afternoon doing so.

Steve
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: carpsniperg2 on January 25, 2010, 10:53:13 PM: there was another one like this a bit ago, usally i shoot 3 shot groups cleaning inbetween about 5 or so then i think i am o.k. never had any problems :twocents:
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: addicted on January 26, 2010, 08:34:02 AM: :stirthepot:
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: runamuk on January 26, 2010, 10:21:09 AM: I was told to clean then shoot a 3 shot group then clean...repeat for the first 50 or so shots....lol...not sure it is the right way but I like cleaning so it wasn't any sort of heartache for me to do this....

I have read easily 100 different methods and my one brother in law told me there is no need to clean any gun prior to shooting it and from the shotty I borrowed from him apparently no need to clean after shooting either :rolleyes:

I know its been discussed at length on here because I read a couple threads on it a year ago when I was wondering the same thing ;)
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: Galpster on January 26, 2010, 10:24:33 AM: This will be discussed and argued about forever. The last thread that was up came to a conclusion. Shoot 1 round, clean barrel, repeat for first 20 rounds. That is it.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: C-Money on January 26, 2010, 10:39:28 AM: :yeah: Thats how I do it. I use a bore snake after every round for at least the first 20.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: addicted on January 26, 2010, 12:51:54 PM: theoreticaly a wire brush will become inefficient after so many runs through a bore due to the maliable fibers of the brush bending and no longer applying appropriate pressure to the bore. doesnt this mean that a bore snake is a a waste of money??

i love my bore snakes. quick and easy lol
:stirthepot:
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: Buckmark on January 26, 2010, 01:11:39 PM: First thing i do is take it outside, make sure it is unloaded and pointed is a safe direction.
Then i drop it/knock it over on the rocks so that part is out of the way :chuckle:
If in doubt as the proper way to "season"/break in a barrel contact the gun manufacture/barrel maker.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: high country on January 26, 2010, 10:12:47 PM: all depends on the barrel. a hand lapped makers barrel is pretty much ready to shoot. a rough factory barrel might take a while to smooth up. fire a few and clean it, that will give you an idea as to how much fouling you have going on. if you are pulling a good bit of fouling, clean every few shots.....if not, stretch it out a bit.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: norsepeak on January 26, 2010, 10:18:29 PM: check out riflebarrels.com. Dan Lilja makes some of the best barrels in the world and has the world championships to prove it. I've used his procedure a couple of times and had great luck.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: FALFire on January 27, 2010, 06:22:02 AM: It depends a lot on the quality of the barrel. Most factory barrels are high production and have tons of flaws and loose tolerences, it will likely make little to no difference on the procedure you chosse.

On a custom Hart, Douglas, Lilja, etc it can make a noticable difference. All you are trying to accomplish during barrel break-in is to smooth out the flaws in the barrel. Cleaning vigously, helps to reduce copper fouling. In custom barrels that are hand lapped the barrel will often-times need less of a break-in period. A bore snake is only removing the powder residue and not removing copper. You will need to switch to a brush and copper solvent, I use a variety of things including JB Compound and Montana Extreme copper solvent to scrub my new barrels.

I have heard of very good results using David Tubbs Final Bore Finishing System for fire lapping the bore.

Look here: http://www.davidtubb.com/tcom_images/downloads/break_in_article_new.pdf
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: demontang on January 27, 2010, 07:48:06 AM: Lol the never end story here. Ive done the breakin that olympic arms has up and Ive just shot the gun and cleaned after I was done shooting. both shot sub moa so :dunno:. Now if your shooting a bench rest gun it might make a difference but in a hunting rifle I dont think I would worry that much. :twocents:
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: Mookie on January 27, 2010, 11:49:05 AM: I skip the whole breaking in a barrel by shooting it by spending an hour in front of the TV hand lapping the barrel with JB Bore paste. Does the same thing in far less time and far less cost.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: carpsniperg2 on January 27, 2010, 11:59:44 AM: man miles thanks now i have to go wipe off the tears from watching that video boy that was painfull to watch.
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: Bofire on January 27, 2010, 05:36:25 PM: :)I use modern power, run a rope thru the trigger guard and tie it to your truck, go to work and back. presto!
done.
Carl
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: runamuk on January 27, 2010, 06:28:57 PM: Quote from: Bofire on January 27, 2010, 05:36:25 PM
:)I use modern power, run a rope thru the trigger guard and tie it to your truck, go to work and back. presto!
done.
Carl

that is rifle abuse and I am calling the rifle equivalent of peta :chuckle: :chuckle:

and that video is also rifle abuse
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: byrdman on January 28, 2010, 09:04:59 AM: I don't know how to break in a barrel, but I'm pretty sure the fellow in that video must be from Lewis Co. :chuckle:

Next time I'm down at East County Guns I'll have to ask Andy if he has any "cow barrels".
Title: Re: New rifle break-in
Post by: CastleRocker on January 28, 2010, 10:08:01 PM: I used to use the G. David Tubb method. I figured if anyone had figured out how to break in a barrel it would be him. So I bought two R-15's when they came out and broke one in that way, and then shot the other one at paper before I broke it in. It made a teeny tiny difference was all. The difference in aggregate of five, five shot groups with each rifle was .092". Either rifle will smack a coyote if I do my part. The coyotes don't seem to know the difference either.

Personally, I don't think it's worth the time and effort unless you plan on shooting F-class or some other competition like that where a little tiny difference in your group size will mean a trip to the prize table or not. Doubt that I will do it again, until I build my "dream" rifle.