@bronko22000 - There’s fallacy in the logic no matter which side you stand upon. How a shooter justifies barrel break in or justifies NOT breaking in can be logically determined valid or invalid, just as quickly and just as equally.

For example - it seems to make sense, “if you’re going to hang onto a rifle for long time, you might as well break it in.” However, it’s a non-sequitur sentiment, because a lifetime big game hunting rifle won’t be fired often, only needs cleaned once per year with only 10-20 shots fired on it that season, and has a relatively loose minimum tolerance for precision. So breaking in a hunting rifle barrel doesn’t really make sense.

Alternatively, a competition rifle has an extremely low minimum precision tolerance, so it might make sense to say a competition barrel really must be broken in. But there’s no real evidence to prove it increases precision, and typically these rifles aren’t cleaned until precision slips, maybe once every 500 rounds, so speed of cleaning isn’t critical - and the hand lapping step done by the manufacturer vs. a rough hammer forged barrel is really what makes custom barrels easy to clean anyway. Those 500 rounds might happen within a couple months, so the barrel is dead within a year anyway. So why break it in?

Ultimately, we all feel better thinking we did something to make our rifles better, or at least did something which gives our barrels the best chance to be their best. But at the end of the day, barrel break In does a lot more between our ears than it does between our lands.

I like to break In when I have time, but more often than not, I don’t have time, and over half of the custom barrels I buy don’t get broken in. And they still shoot as small as I can ever make any rifle shoot - so even though my own experience proves I’m wasting my time, I still waste my time.