48thguns, there is not a consensus among custom barrel makers about a break in procedure.Some say to do it, some don't. The late custom barrel maker Gale McMillan thought it was a bunch of nonsense andthe guys at Hart Barrels don't think it's necessary either. I haven't been to Shilen's website in a long time, but I knowthey used to mention on there that they didn't think barrel break-in was a big deal.They said theyincludedbreak-in instructions with their barrels only because that's whatsome customers wanted.

When I get my Sako back with the new Lilja barrel I'll probably grudgingly do whatever Lilja recommends for break-in. But whether I do or not, I absolutely know for a fact it won't impact my deer hunting one iota. In 30+ years of deer hunting with rifles I can tell you that I've never, ever missed one because my barrel wasn't "properly" broken in.

Remember, this site is about hunting. It's not about competitive benchrest shooting orshooting game at 1000+ yards. There are other sitesdedicated to those things.The averagehunter does not need to go through some tedious break-in ritual with his rifleto be successful. I'm sure it won't hurt anything, but it's certainly not absolutely necessary.