I juststartedshootinganew Bergara barrel for my Encore(7mm-08) and have only shotfour 5shot groups thru it so far. I've cleaned it(bore snake and barnes bore cleaner) between each 5 shot group(along a good scrubbing before 1st shot). The best I've gotten is about a 1.25" group.

How many shots thru a new barrel before I can figure its broke in and can really start messing with my recipe's and bullet seating. I figure the first 25 or so reallyaren't a good measuring stick. To be honest, Im not sure.How many roundsdo you guys usually put thrua barrelbefore reallyworrying about how it'll do?

I did a search on the process of breaking in the barrel but couldnt tell how many shots before it was ready to judge.

Its just depends on your personal preference, some guys work up a load right off the bat, and some wait until they have put 50 or more rounds through the gun. Personally, i don't think it will make too big a difference.

1.25" at 100 yds isn't bad from your Encore. The one I had couldn't do better than 2.5" so I traded it off. It may have been a fluke I don't know but I was not impressed.
I personally clean a new barrel after each shot for the first 10, then after every 3 shots for the next 30. After that, I figure that all the minute burrs from machining are gone and begin load development.

I cannot speak for other people or their methods,only my own.
This is how I break in barrels.
First I handlap a new barrel before firing it. Then,for the first 20-25 rounds fired,I clean in between every shot. After that,for the next 20-25 rounds,I clean after every 3 shots. After that,I consider the barrel "broke in".
I realize many people may think this is "overkill" however this is simply the method of breaking in a barrel I have formulated over 30+ years of experience.

Have any of you tried a load in the first 20 shots or so that didnt shoot good then retry it after 50 shots or so and it shot good?

As long as you maintain the same cleaning routine, you shouldn't have any problems.

In my experience, a gun will show preferences for certain loads early on. Many barrel makers say that their barrels won't shoot to their full potential until they have about 100 rounds through them. Many Shilen barrels I have installed were that way. A load that shot about 1" in rounds 11 through 15 might shoot close to 1/2" at rounds 101 through 105. And a load that shot 3" in the early stages of break in might never shoot better than 2".

Having said that, my Jeff Lawrence 6MM-284 barrel shot the first 5 bullets I put through into 1/4". Didn't improve much after break in.

I agree w/ this.

I have seen barrels that get better with age and shots upwards over 200 shots, and some that shoot like crap out of the box, and stays that way. I good indicator for me is how my velocities look. If I have Std dev. over 100fps, which is not uncommon for a brand new barrel, then its probably not there yet.

Only your gun and time will tell.

I was impressed with the std dev. They all stayed under 40, I had one load with 140grn Nos AB's the was about 8. The groups werent anything to brag about but the Std dev wasnt something I put much though into since they werent grouping real good.
I'm going to return to the drawing board and see what happens.