break in of barrel
 

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.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Too late now. I use break in to speed up the time to get to serious load developement.

RE: break in of barrel
 

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.

Mike

RE: break in of barrel
 

Very well said Mike :). I agree 100% Larry

RE: break in of barrel
 

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.

RE: break in of barrel
 

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!

RE: break in of barrel
 

There has to be something to it.

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.

RE: break in of barrel
 

BC, I believe it was you I asked. Roskoe being a gunsmith might have a
different opinion. Just wanted to see what he say's about this mith?

RE: break in of barrel
 

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.

if i do get a new barrel what kind would be best?

RE: break in of barrel
 

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.

http://yarchive.net/gun/barrel/break_in.html

RE: break in of barrel
 

Listen I do it. And will tell ya it only makes a difference to me if it helps fouling. Some guns it doesn't make any difference, some all the difference. You have already shot 60 rounds thru it, so the gun is pretty broken in already. I don't think its going to make a difference now. If the gun doesn't copper foul too bad, don't sweat it.

I think sako and Tikka say there is no reason to break thier's in. But I found out it helps some.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Rebel Hog - I have heard of some similar techniques in the past. I think one of them used GM Top Engine Lubricant. Many years ago, there was a break-in method that basically called for wet patch/dry patch; every shot for 50 rounds, that produced some very good shooting rifles. Be careful shooting a round through a barrel that has oil in it, though. Can really drive pressures up with full throttle loads.

All I know is that these premium rifle barrels are fairly expensive, and I want to do everything I can to make them shoot well. So I follow the manufacturer's recommendations on break-in. And they are suprisingly similar. I don't do the full break-in deal for a customer unless they request it and are willing to pay shop time, but I always put two or three rounds through a gun before delivery and clean between shots.

"Cleaning" usually consists of a wet patch of Shooter's Choice, ten strokes of a brass brush wet in Shooter's Choice (using a bore guide), and then however many wet patches it takes until they come out clean - usually only three or four with a good quality barrel. Finally a dry patch - fire again, repeat as needed . . .

RE: break in of barrel
 

Thanks,Roskoe!

RE: break in of barrel
 

i just got off the phone with a Beretta tech, and he basically said that that is a load of crap, and i quote..."people have written articles about it, and im sure it wouldn't hurt, but they just like to see their name in print. I've never broken in a barrel before"

i feel a lot better about it now that a trained gun tech from one of the most prestigious gun companies in the world says this.

RE: break in of barrel
 

pdoughertyMU,
Not sure I'd feel too good about that answer. Sounds more like CYA than knowledge. A lot a shooters and Gunsmiths that are a lot more knowledgeable than me will tell you differently. Also, with all the experienced guys that shared their opinion with you on here, I think calling it"a load of crap" is really inappropriate.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Yea I think I would tell the gun tech he is full of crap. Instead of advise and calling all over the place find out for yourself. Take your chonograph and measure the spreads and deviations while breaking in. See for yourself the copper fouling. People take advise from the internet way too far.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Bigcountry, when you mentioned that you found it helped some for the Sako and Tikka rifles, did you go thru all that trouble for your Sako to break it in?

RE: break in of barrel
 

Yep. Saw fouling go to almost nothing and this is with 160gr flying over 3100fps. Saw velocity spreads go from 60fps to 20fps. Something is happening.

RE: break in of barrel
 

The reason I’m asking is that I haven’t done anything with my yet and wanted to see if I should bother but you answered my question. Now for the tedious work. Thanks.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Well, in Sakos defense it was the easiest barrel I ever broke in. Could you do the same by shooting 40-60 rounds thru cleaning every 20 rounds? Maybe? I know I didn't hurt anything doing it.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Listen BC, I have used Karo Syrup to season my barrel and
I have the Sweetest shooting barrel in town.:D:D
If these guys want to use spit on thier patches, so be it!

RE: break in of barrel
 

Guys , does it make a difference on what you use to clean the barrel between a s/s barrel compared to a blue barrel. Roskoe mentioned Shooter’s choice. How would that work for the s/s barrel. I guess using a bore guide is also very important !!:eek:

RE: break in of barrel
 

Well, during break in I am basically removing copper. I like sweets. Shooters choice removed it also but not near as aggresive.

RE: break in of barrel
 

he didn't sound like he was rushing or just trying to get the conversation over with. he told me how i am supposed to clean the barrel and when. he just said that a lot of people say a lot of things, and said it couldn't hurt, but he said he has never broken in a barrel, and all of his have shot just as advertised. he sounded very relaxed and not rushed. he actually went on on the subject for quite a while.

personally, he is the most qualified person ive talked to yet. and ive talked to more people outside of this forum about it because ive been so darn worried that i screwed up my gun that i saved up for for so long and have only shot 80 times.

do your manuals tell you to break in your barrels?

RE: break in of barrel
 

I couldn’t find anything to break in the barrel in my manual. I did find something from Savage on this subject. www.savagearms.com/cs_barrel.htm

RE: break in of barrel
 

BC - you shouldn't need anything more agressive than Shooter's Choice during break-in, after firing only one round through a premium barrel. Maybe a rough factory barrel - with a Barnes X bullet.

One nice thing about Shooter's Choice is that you can leave it in the barrel for awhile with no problems. More agressive cleaners like Sweet's (which I use a lot of) and Barnes CR-10 can ruin a barrel if you leave them in there overnight. So my advice is to use the least agressive cleaning solvent that will work - even if it slows down the process a little.

RE: break in of barrel
 

pdougherty i would not worry about it, i highly doubt your gun will be ruined. If it makes you feel any better none of my guns have had any formal break in's and a few of them will shoot an honest 5 shot sub MOA group. What i normally do is put about 3 boxes worth of ammo through a new gun before testing for accuracy. I clean after every 20 shots.

My understanding of the break in process is that you are "smoothing out" any rough edges in the rifling. I think the cleaning is used to prevent copper from building up in any unsmoothed areas of your barrel. It is my belief that guns will not start shooting their best until after some rounds have been put through them to smooth out the rifling in the barrel.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Well, bud, my way has worked for me. And it sounds like your way works for you.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Here is one set of patches from break in on my Sako 75. First one is initial copper from factory, the other ones are other cycles after three shot, cleans.


As you notice from the far ones on the left, there is almost no copper fouling after 20 shots.

RE: break in of barrel
 

So is the sequence of patches, from right to left, what you got after three shots or 20 shots?

RE: break in of barrel
 

From right to left (dirtiest to the cleanest). first patch on the right is brand new. I assume this is thier test shots from factory 5 rounds. Every one after that is 3 shots clean and is the first patch I used with sweets.

It would take alot of patches with shooters choice to clean that out.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Agreed. Probably 20 or more. When I take a clean barrel (during break-in) and fire just one shot through it, though; I can usually go from what your worst patch looks like to a fairly clean patch in just four patches - with Shooter's Choice and after having run ten strokes of a wet brass brush first. This is with a Krieger, Hart, or Lilja barrel - and not too violent of a caliber.

In most of my personal guns I use Sweet's at some point during the cleaning process just to speed things up - usually clean about every 50 rounds (after initial break-in). My .25-06 AI has got to have the CR-10 to get it clean - or it might take a month - and a little JB paste doesn't hurt either. Shoots good, though. On the other hand, I have a rifle with a Krieger barrel and another with a Jeff Lawrence barrel that just don't build much copper. Don't use anything but Shooter's Choice on these two - but only because I don't have to.

Just don't do like a buddy of mine . . . cleaning his pet .300 Win Mag with Sweet's one winter evening . . ex-wife calls. Has to drop everything and go to her house to sort out a four alarm domestic issue. The next evening he remembers the rifle. Too late. Pitted barrel.

RE: break in of barrel
 

i shot 40 through at once and never has it looked like that..that is very dirty..

btw.. isnt there that foaming stuff that dissolves copper like crazy? what is that stuff... would that work then i could just start the process over?

RE: break in of barrel
 

Well pdough, it is a 7mmSTW and it depends on what cleaner you are using. I use an ammonia based cleaner that shows copper up by the blue residue. If you use junk like Hoppes, you won't ever see it. And never get out the copper.

RE: break in of barrel
 

i use the rem oil stuff. is there anything better?

RE: break in of barrel
 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...........barrel break-in is a waste of MY time. That's just based on my own experience doing it to a few rifles.

RE: break in of barrel
 

Yes PD, Hoppe's #9 oil. It's a natural oil.

RE: break in of barrel
 

big country just said hoppes was junk

RE: break in of barrel
 

HE'S TALKING ABOUT A BORE CLEANER, NOT A LUBRICANT!

RE: break in of barrel
 

I guess junk is a strong word. It doesn't remove copper much at all. And in breakin thats what your doing.