So instead, now you can wonder if it might have shot better if you hadn't.

Barrel break-in is purely subjective. Impossible to prove or disprove. A person cannot compare the two methods since every barrel is different. Once a method is chosen you cannot back up and try the other. I have rifles broken in by the prescribed method that are great shooters. Is this because of break-in? I can't say because I have other rifles that shoot just as well with no break-in.

I haveperformed the long, arduous process of thoroughly cleaning after every shot enough to decide I have better use of my time at the range. I still clean new rifles every 10-20 rds up to 100.

Whatever makes a person feel better. I feel it is largely a waste of time. But then again, I don't wash my truck near as often as I used to either.

Not at all. Brian pierce did a good article on it in Rifle mag. He carely marked the spots in a barrel where there were slight tooling marks in a barrel or any other rough spots with a bore scope. Then carely documented what happened during each break in cycle. Cleaned them right up. I have found the same. Thats not subjective at all.

I think what he means, BC, and I could be wrong on this, is that since a barrel cannot be subjected to both methods (you either break it in the tedious way or you don't), there's no way of ever knowing how a barrel would have shot had it beensubjected to the alternate method (i.e., the method you didn't try). So, it simply can't be proven one way or another what effectone method has on accuracy versus the other method for any particular rifle.

I don't doubt for a second that tooling marks or other abnormalities within the barrel get ironed out or whatever after bullets are forced over them under extreme pressure and heat. However, my contention is that this happens with a formal break-in or withoutas long as you thoroughly clean the bore back down to bare metal on a regular basis (after every 20 or so shots). In other words, you can accomplish this in one day with the more tedious shoot-one-clean, shoot-one-clean methods, or you can accomplish it over a longer period of time by simply shooting and cleaning your rifle in the normal course of using it. I now choose the latter methodbecause I absolutely hate the former.

Solitary Man: Well spoken on my behalf. That is exactly what I meant.

Solitary Man - I think your logic is absolutely sound here, even though it runs contrary to conventional wisdom. After a couple hundred rounds, you will be at the same place in the process.

Don't get me wrong guys. I don't believe you will ruin a barrel without breakin or breakin does some sort of magic. Just when I get a gun, I like to get right to working up a load for it, and start serious shooting. Not shoot 20 rounds and the guns start changing. I see velocity spreads start really going down after 30 rounds if you are breaking in.