Pglasgow
Guess it all depends on the company... I normally do exactly the same thing but with my recent purchase of an Omega and the cleaning of it to get it ready for shooting, I noticed that the barrel was terribly smooth, it did not seem sharp at all. the cotton ball test down the barrel produced nothing. Like wise the new GM barrel that I recieved two weeks ago was smooth also. In both of these barrels I decided to not do the conical thing. In this case both barrels proved to be great when I shot them.
Other barrels have really seemed to be ruff and the conical treatment was in order. Think Triple Se7en is the person that started me on this technique.
good luck all...