Barrel break in?
I keep hearing that you have to break in a gun barrel. What is the break in procedure for a magnum bolt gun.
Darrell
Darrell
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I just purchased a Kimber Longmaster Classic in .308. Can anybody recommend a good break-in procedure? I found a lot of different procedures out there and they're all a little different. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. Greg 0 -
You'll find everything from fire a round, clean, repeat 5 times, fire 5 rounds, clean, repeat, etc. to those who say no special procedure is necessary. Shilen is one of the ones who recommends the intense early cleanings. For what it's worth I think it's more important how you clean it during the long haul; i.e. from the breech end if possible, good rod, bore guide, proper fitting quality brushes, etc.
Depending on who made the barrel you might want to see what they recommend.
Good luck with your .308.
Rob
p.s. Email me if you're interested in the specifics on Shilen's procedure. Should be able to find it easily.
Rob0 -
As Rob said - there's as many opinions on barrel break-in as there are shooters.
The absolute rule no matter which procedure you utilize is to not allow the barrel to become hot during the break-in. If you can comfortably hold you hand in place on the barrel, it is cool enough to shoot. If not, wait until it does cool.
My personal preference on new barrels is to scrub the daylights out of it prior to shooting. Once clean of all the factory fouling and gunk, moderate loads are used. One round is fired, the carbon patched out, then four more doing the same between rounds. Then, 5 rounds fired very slowly, allowing the barrel to remain cool. Carbon and copper wash are scrubbed out, 5 more slow rounds, clean, 5 more, clean - then, no more than 20 slow rounds. A very throurgh cleaning after that.
If the bore still seems rough or takes an inordinate amount of time to clean up properly, it gets fire lapped to a smoothness that eases the cleaning chore and aids in accuracy.
Keep off the Ridgeline0 -
patch through the gun
shoot
repeat 9 times
remove the patch each time at the muzzle end (don't pull it back through)
ditto on going slow to keep the barrel cool - you'll never regret the effort0 -
To the folks that say no break in, just tell them you did not mind 'wasting' that time (you will never get another chance).
I am surprized nobody mentioned it, polishing bore paste.
While I am not a strong supporter of abrasives, they do a good job when NEEDED. A new barrel on a quality modern firearm should not NEED much in the way of breaking in. Just keeping it cool and clean as mentioned above should be enough.
If we do not hang together,
We will most certainly hang separately.0 -
My take on it is that better quality barrels need less of the "break in" the others of lower quality. The better barrels have had more of the all important lapping in the final finish of production. The "break in" is intended to finish surfacing the bore to whatever the potential of the barrel is. I also expect that all barrels are different and will need to be individually judged as to how much and how far to take the proceedure. As stated above; Keep the barrel cool! At some time in the proceedure the barrel will retain less fouling and copper and be easier to clean, this is when I generally stop. When I do this, I will often just take the new rifle along when I'm shooting some of the others in my stable. I will put about 6 shots thru it and put it away. Take it home and scrub it out with JB Cleaner abasive paste, test for copper, oil it and then repeat the next time I go out. It is a good excuse to go. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Kdub
As Rob said - there's as many opinions on barrel break-in as there are shooters.
The absolute rule no matter which procedure you utilize is to not allow the barrel to become hot during the break-in. If you can comfortably hold you hand in place on the barrel, it is cool enough to shoot. If not, wait until it does cool.
My personal preference on new barrels is to scrub the daylights out of it prior to shooting. Once clean of all the factory fouling and gunk, moderate loads are used. One round is fired, the carbon patched out, then four more doing the same between rounds. Then, 5 rounds fired very slowly, allowing the barrel to remain cool. Carbon and copper wash are scrubbed out, 5 more slow rounds, clean, 5 more, clean - then, no more than 20 slow rounds. A very throurgh cleaning after that.
If the bore still seems rough or takes an inordinate amount of time to clean up properly, it gets fire lapped to a smoothness that eases the cleaning chore and aids in accuracy.
Keep off the Ridgeline
Kdub is Iriquois for " wise one who knows of what he speaks".
This is basically the same procedure that I have advocated for 25 years. Goob job!0 -
about a year ago i was reading an article written by McMillan. it was either a take off of a topic on this site or sniper's hide, varmit al's. probably could find it by typing McMillan on Google. the short of the article was that it was a waste of time and products. the use of an abrasive paste was a no no. shoot slow and with a cool barrel and clean after. i recently broke in two new barrels. one i shot 5 and swabbed and repeated this while working up reloads. the other ishot 50 rds. then swabbed and so on. i can't tell the difference. the one i repeatedly cleaned was a 300 wsw and the other a 22-250. just my humble opinion, but the article was very interesting and the man has credentials. Mac. 0 -
custom barrels clean up and break in quickly due to the fact that they have been "lapped" at the factory and are already far smoother than any factory tube. I break my barrels in while working up the load ladder,..so I don't subscribe to the naysayers theory of me wasting barrel life to break it in. I shoot 1 and clean completely with copper solvents, for ~20rnds. Then I shoot 3 and clean for about another 20rnds. Then go to every 10rnds or so. You will see a difference in the amount of copper on the patches as it gets smoother.
A factory barrel can only benefit from a break-in proceedure. These tubes are rougher inside and lack the hand lapping proceedure utilized by the custom makers.
why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?0 -
I just got a new Kimber and it included pretty specific break-in instructions with the operating manual ... Also included good maintenance schedule, esp spring replacements.
Si vis Pacem, Para bellum0 -
c'mon dbrigham, give it up.
What do your new kimber instructions say ?0 -
dbrigham, i'm curious as to what kimber's break in procedure is? please enlighten us so we can compare with other barrel makes. mac. 0
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