so ive already fired 80 bullets through my tikka 7mm, and ive cleaned it after the first 20, the 2nd 20, and then after 40. i just recently was looking around and discovered that people say there is a break in period where you have to clean it after every 5 shots.. have i dont something wrong? and could by barrel be at risk of being hurt or something? or is the every 5 shots at the beginning simply for accuracy reasons at the beginning. since i didnt do this, could my accuracy now be hurt because i didnt? im paranoid... i know.
Does the rifle shoot OK? If so, don't worry about it. Clean it when the accuracy starts to fall off. The subject of barrel break-in is very controversial. Some experts (genuine and self-proclaimed) swear by some type of break-in proceedure, sometimes as extreme as cleaning every shot for the first 20-50 shots! Other experts (both types) say that break-in is a crock and does nothing more than waste ammo, range time, and shorten the service life of the barrel though needless shooting (can't really do effective and meaningful load workups or accuracy testing during the break-in process because of the more frequent than normal cleaning regimen). At one point I believed in the need for break-in, but later found that guns that I broke in carefully shot no better than those that were thoroughly cleaned as needed.
The bottom line is this, do what makes you happy. If you enjoy cleaning more than shooting, and don't mind wasting 5-15% of you barrel life to break-in depending on the cartridge, and it'll make you feel better, go for it. Otherwise, you can learn how and when to clean the bore, and spend your time and ammo doing productive/enjoyable shooting.
Virtually every custom barrel manufacturer recommends some sort of break-in. Most of them specify cleaning every shot for the first ten, then every 5 or so up to about 50. But I have heard of barrels that shot well without a break-in . . . The theory of the break-in is to have each bullet passing down a clean barrel that has no copper filling in the low spots of the new barrel - so that the bullet will have a greater ability to burnish the high spots. This is all on sort of a microscopic level, but its probably no coincidence that all the barrel makers I have ever dealt with want it done.
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Roskoe, I have brought this up before. A gunsmith in Chicago,
told me to mix 50/50 Marvel Oil and Automatic Tranny oil, run
a patch with it and another to wipe it. He said to do this 20 times.
Do it for the first round and there after for the rest of the 19.
He said it would season the barrel. Have you ever heard this?
I have'nt tried it yet!
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I just broke in a gun and shot it, cleaned, shot cleaned, and the fouling got less and less. Accuracy increased and increased. I then shot 3 times cleaned, 3 time cleaned, and again fouling got less and less and accuacy was then sub .75MOA. I did it for 5 rounds and cleaned and wasn't getting much fouling so I pushed it to 10 rounds and cleaned. After the first 50, I don't get much fouling at all.
i looked in the tikka manual back and fourth and it says nothing about breaking in the barrel. so how does a rifle manufacturer expect somone who doesn't know anything about guns to break it in if i wasn't told!!! AHH.. is there anything i could do to make my barrel better, or do i just have to go buy a new one. i emailed beretta asking them, and im oging to call their customer support asking tomarrow. i was shooting and i never noticed anything being wrong with it. and they have fired it at least 5 times at the factory already. so do you think they broke it in? im kinda worried.
check this out, it looks like some barrel makers forum or something, and they discuss this.. they really sound like they know what they are talking about too.
break in of barrel
. I agree 100% Larry
