ORIGINAL: Roskoe

I think the key issue here is that a barrel will eventually break in; provided you clean it down to bare metal at the end of each shooting session. What matters on break in is that a bullet passes down a barrel that has no copper deposits in it - so the bullet can burnish the metal of the barrel slightly. If there is any copper fouling, it can't really burnish the metal underneath. I prefer to do a thorough cleaning every shot for the first ten. There are lots of other prescribed methods - but virtually all premium rifle barrel makers recommend some sort of break in.

But if you don't believe in break in, and your average shooting session is 25 rounds, you will have your barrel broken in at the 250 round point provided you cleaned it thoroughly at the end of each 25 rounds session. I just prefer to get it out of the way early in the game .