breaking in 308 barrel
just bought a new remington 798 in 308.what is the proper way to break in the barrel. has anyone tried the tubbs bullets ?
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ddhotbot,
DO NOT use the Tubb system for breaking in a barrel. It will lengthen the throat and potentially shorten your barrel life.
Use the search button in the upper right corner using the term 'barrel break in'. You should get a hundred threads and responses all about the same.
Go to the websites for the various custom barrel makers and they will usually have a section on breaking in barrels.
Best.0 -
Just shoot the farker.
Break-in is horse hockey' pushed upon the gullable by the unscruplous0 -
ddhotbot:
Nononsense's advice is always on target.
Lilja's and Shilen's websites each offer some good recommendations about barrel break-in. There are many others, including Savage, that also offer suggestions about technique.
One of my impressions is this: With the better barrels, break-in may be less critical than with less-finished barrels. A stupid metaphor might be, "if I shower three times before making love, is that better than just twice"? Well, it depends, but I digress.
It is my impression that the better barrels, such as Lilja, Shilen, and a host of others, need relatively little break-in, because they are more finished at the end of the manufacturing process. I am going to show some bias here, but it is my impression that Savage, for one, is perhaps not in this category, but again, I digress.
As a case in point, the last rifle I broke in was a Tikka in .223, and it needed little break-in. It showed almost no coppering or fouling, which indicates to me that these barrels are well finished in the manufacturing process. Savages, on the other hand, tend to need more break-in because Savage is happy for the customer to finish its manufacturing obligations, rather than do it themselves, and they save a few bucks in doing so. But again, I am biased, and I digress.
With regard to the 798, I do not know who makes these barrels. When these were imported by Charles Daly, the mausers had the reputation of being pretty rough when new, and tended to foul quickly, which indicates to me that they were not fully finished in the manufacturing process, and proper break-in was quite important for these. But since the Remington relationship, I do not know if the barrel manufacturer has changed or not. It may even be a Remington made barrel, but again, I do not know. If so, the Remington barrels are now known to be quite good.
In summary, if your barrel needs an arduous and tedious break-in, you are merely doing what the better manufacturers do before they send the barrel out.0 -
I'm not convinced it NEEDS to be done at all. Any benefit gained in doing so should be weighed against barrel life. For a .308, this isn't a real problem as you probably 10,000 rounds before the barrel shows any appreciable wear. With a short magnum, a break in routine will consume a sizable portion of your barrel life. When you might only have 1-3000 rounds before you've substantially lengthened the throat, do you really want to waste 20-100 rounds on break in?
My thought is it gets broken in just shooting it. The main advantage would be it might be easier to clean, but with modern cleaning products any slightly more aggressive copper fouling can be removed without vigorous scrubbing.
Uncle Sam doesn't break in barrels for issue guns and many of them have excellent accuracy. My old 1903 springfield will shoot MOA groups with premium handloads and I'm pretty sure no one 'broke it in.' A fine match .22 pretty much can NOT be broken in in any realistic time frame due to the mild properties of .22 ammo. And so on.
It's your call. Some swear by it, and with proper cleaning procedure it won't really hurt a .308. I'd just take a few shots, see how it shoots, maybe clean it once after that to see what the fouling is like, and decide from there.
FWIW, American rifleman did an article awhile back on this called "forget everything you know about bore cleaning" or something similar. Regarding break in, they found that with a well made barrel on a new gun, it wasn't needed. They put one gun in a lead sled and fired a string without breaking in; they did another identical gun with a break in routine. Result? Neither shot any better or worse.
I wouldn't say it has NO use but please consider... MOST WEAR to a bore is done from plasma cutting from the burning powder. The barrel steel is MUCH MUCH harder than the bullet. For a 'standard' break in period with JUST jacketed bullets, you simply are NOT going to remove any appreciable metal. Now if we're talking a firelap process, that's another matter and I won't go into the merits or lack thereof of that.
To answer your original question... to heck with what everyone 'in the know' advises. IF I wanted to break in a barrel you know what I'd use? Paper patched cast bullets with no lube! The paper aggressively burnishes the bore but isn't as harsh as a firelap agent and cleans up slop pretty quickly. Just ask the folks over at cast boolits about it.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Tailgunner1954
Just shoot the farker.
Break-in is horse hockey' pushed upon the gullable by the unscruplous
Tailgunner1954,
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about...not even a clue!!!!!
ddhotbot,
You clean the barrel from the breech end, using a good solvent like s
Shooters Choice or Barnes CR10. You shot one shot, and clean the barrel, and repeat that 10 times. You then shoot a 3 shot group and clean till you get to a total of 40 shots. You are done. But remember that shooting dirty or hot are a rifle barrel's worst enemy.
Best
EDIT 1
Of course not, no barrel maker in their right mind will say they will not honor a warranty if the barrel is not broken in. However, if done properly, the break in pays dividends in longevity, and ACCURACY. Only the clueless don't understand this. Like who in their right mind will spend $400.00-800.00 for a barrel and worry about spending $30.00-40.00 to break it in? Why don't you ask your questions about break in on a bench rest forum? Or do you make it a point to give out erroneous information?0 -
quote:Originally posted by tsr1965
quote:Originally posted by Tailgunner1954
Just shoot the farker.
Break-in is horse hockey' pushed upon the gullable by the unscruplous
Tailgunner1954,
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about...not even a clue!!!!!
Actually I do have a clue. The only thing your doing by following a breakin process is wasting ammo, cleaning supplies and time.
If a barrel requires "break in", than it's junk out of the box and needs to be replaced (either by the owner or the maker).
Burrs in the throat (left by the chambering reamer) are another matter, but it dosn't take very many shots to burn them completly out.
Sure, the various manfactures offer a process, but only because so many suckers clueless people have asked for one. Call a few up for yourself, and ask if NOT doing a breakin will void their warrenty.
Than ask yourself this, if the "Tubbs system" is so good, than why does the maker of his barrels specify that if you shoot ANY abrasive bullets through one of his barrels that your warrenty will be voided.0 -
I'll go along with tairgunner on this if the rifle in question is a 'deer rifle'. ANY hunting rifle will not know the difference between a 1/4" group or a 1 1/2" group. 0 -
The only thing I have found with Remingtons barrels,after taking a 700 SPS .308 to a gun smith and having the barrel removed was the chamber was out of round and the lands & groves where not even. 0 -
Many would say that breaking in a barrel in an accuracy platform would be strongly advised. I agree. It can make the difference in that last .1" that you are trying to get. If you are shooting for 1/2"-1" groups, breaking in a barrel isn't going to matter much. But it could. So you might waste your time and some patches and solvent (about $1.00 worth) but you may make the difference in a shooter you want to keep and a shooter you don't.
I am assuming the standard for better made barrels is to bore the main diameter, cut the grooves, or button rifle, finish cut (button) then finish lap to final expectations. Which should remove the problems that cause inaccuracies in barrels and warrant a break-in. Not being a barrel maker I could be wrong. But breaking in properly (using proper cleaning techniques) would remove any doubt. Just my take on it.0 -
Guns barrels scopes and sights are all subject to factors affecting performance...
Any competent shooter who does not routinely tune up all of these elemental ares is subject to failures. Practice makes perfect!0
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