In the past, I've never really broken in a barrel. Now that I'm getting ready to own a really good custom rifle, I guess I had better learn how to do it right.

I've seen folks at the range doing everything from cleaning after ever shot for the first 50 shots to cleaning afer every 5 shots for the first 100 shots. The Krieger Barrel Co. web site says there is no set procedure but recommends cleaning after every shot for the first five shots and every three shots for an undetermined amount of time after that.

Anybody here got any suggestions on barrel break-in?

This is borrowed from the Varmits den but it has worked well for me.

PROPER BARREL BREAK-IN FOR THE PRECISION HIGH POWER RIFLE
By Outlaw Hunter

List of cleaning supplies

1> A good one piece cleaning rod suitable for caliber of rifle

2 > Bronze bore brush suitable for caliber of rifle

3 > Cotton flannel cleaning patches

4 > Cleaning jag suitable for caliber of rifle

5 > Bore guide suitable for rifle being cleaned

6 > Cleaning solvent such as Kroil , Hoppe’s No.9 , Break-Free or Shooter’s Choice

7 > Copper solvent such as Sweets 7.62

8 > Non-Embedding bore cleaning compound such as J-B or Remington Bore Cleaner

9 > Cradle or vise for holding rifle

10 > Time

Other supplies needed

1 > Non-Molly Coated Ammo suitable for rifle being Broken-in

2 > Safe place to shoot

3 > Time

Break-in

1 > Make sure rifle is unloaded

2 > Place rifle in cleaning cradle or vise

3 > Using bore guide and rod with bronze brush soaked in cleaning solvent scrub bore of rifle reapplying solvent as needed

4 > Using rod with jag push clean patches through bore till bore is dry

5 > If you are at safe place to shoot fire one round , if not go to safe place and fire one round

6 > Repeat steps 1 through 5 Five times

7 > After the fifth round repeat steps 1 through 4

8 > Then using the Non-Embedding bore cleaning compound and cleaning rod with jag

and bore guide , coat a clean patch with compound and make 10 passes through bore . Then do it again .

9 > Repeat steps 1 through 5 Five times

10 > Repeat steps 7 and 8

11 > Repeat steps 1 through 6 but fire 2 rounds each time

12 > Repeat steps 1 through 4 then 8 and 1 through 4 again

13 > Now repeat step 5 but fire 5 rounds

14 > Repeat step 12

15 > Repeat step 5 but fire 5 rounds

16 > Repeat step 12

17 > Repeat step 5 but fire 10 rounds

18 > Repeat step 12

19 > Using your Copper Solvent , Bore Guide , Cleaning Rod , Jag and Clean Patch , wet one patch and pass through bore .
Wait ONE MINUTE ! Push a clean dry patch through bore . Check patch for green color . If more than just trace of green is
present Repeat steps 13 through 18 . [ If it’s clean or has just a trace of green your done and ready to shoot ! ]

20 > After this using your Copper Solvent , Bore Guide , Cleaning Rod , Jag and Clean Patch , wet one patch and pass
through bore . Wait ONE MINUTE ! Push a clean dry patch through bore . Check patch for green color . If more than just a
trace of green is present Repeat steps 1 through 4 and see your gunsmith about fire lapping .

I recently broke in a barrel really fast and simple using this method:
1 Clean new bore using sweets and JB paste with patches. 50 strokes, clean out JB paste with clean patches soaked with sweets only-push thru only new patch each time until no trace of JB, then dry patch to remove sweets. Clean rod guide and wipe down rod. Push one patch with Butches Gun oil thru followed by one clean dry patch.
2 Shoot one non moly bullet.
3 Repeat #1 and shoot again. Follow this clean-shoot-clean sequence for 5-7 shots.
4 Your barrel is now broken in.
I'm sure others will disagree with this method but it has worked well for me and others. sure-shot

[This message has been edited by sure-shot (edited 12-10-2001).]

Hey steve what is firelapping, and how much does it typically cost?

I believe Krieger recommends cleaing after every one of the first 5 shots, then after 5, then ten. Something like that. But then their bbls. are cut rifled and lapped. But would prbably work for all.

Trophyhunters,

Firelapping involves shooting heavy-for-caliber bullets (long bearing surface) which have been impregnated with different grades/grits of lapping compound. NECO and David Tubb's Final Finish come to mind as two of the more popular kits. I used FF on my military Swede and it does clean up easier now. It's hard to say if accuracy improved that much, but it definitely didn't get worse. My throat was already pretty worn so I didn't think it would do any harm. Cost was approx $30 for the kit which includes enough bullets for a complete first time treatment along with some extras of the finer grits to maintain smoothness (these are intended to be used every 1000 rounds or so after the initial treatment).

The drill is:

• first clean your barrel down to bare metal -- no copper or powder fouling allowed at all when you start
• select a starting to middle load of quick powder for that cartridge
• load 10 rounds with the coarsest coated bullets (when I say coarse, I mean that comparatively. Even the coarse coated bullets are still smooth)
• shoot your 10 rounds
• clean again back to bare metal
• shoot the next ten which are coated with the next finer grade of lapping compound
• clean again
• repeat process until you've finished by shooting 10 with the finest grade
  

I wouldn't recommend, nor do I think their manufacturers would, of firelapping a match grade Krieger, Hart, etc. barrel. These are usually hand lapped by the mfg so firelapping is redundant. Moreover, firelapping will result in eroding the throat slightly, and because of that, some suggest only shooting 3-5 rounds of the coarser grade bullets down your bore instead of 10.

My guess it firelapping is OK for factory barrels which are rough to begin with or milsurps. I will repeat, cleaning has gotten a whole bunch easier.

Hope this helps.

Martindog

[This message has been edited by Martindog (edited 12-10-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Martindog (edited 12-10-2001).]

Firelapping on a factory barrell I would not do it to a custom barrel. I fire lapped a factory winchster barrel it did not help the groups much if at all but the fouling was almost nill and cleaning was a breeze. The barrel was very rough. Now on the other extreme I have a new ruger that has a barrel that is smooth as glass inside and it is a non shooting rifle ( not sure what I am going to do with it yet.. maybe a new barrel and have it AI'd at the same time) Thanks Martin

Go to www.benchrest.com and click on "barrels" and then check out what the various barrel makers suggest and then make your own choice.

With respect to fire-lapping the NECO method WILL move your throat forward and is something I would only consider after all else fails...I had a 350 RemMag (factory) barrel that fouled so badly you could hardly fire a 5-shot group without spending 30 minutes working on copper removal. There is a fairly new process called "David Tubb's FINAL-FINISH" that is much less agressive and won't move the throat (well, just a very little) but it does wonders for both old and new barrels..factory or custom. It comes in 5 grades of grit..per my custom barrel makers suggestion I broke it in using 10 bullets each of the finer three grades...wow!
Smooth and really shoots and can't believe how little copper it sucks off bullets. I believe the web-site is called www.Zedicker.com but you can search the well under "Final Finish" and find it.

GAHunter - As you can see, there are a lot of opinions on barrel break in. Factory barrel manufacturers generally do not take time or the expense to polish machining marks out of their barrels. As a result, most factory barrels look like sandpaper (or worse, a thorn bush) under the microscope. Breaking in a barrel tends to remove the high spots in the barrel and the tags left behind the cutting process.

Custom barrel manufacturers undertake a pretty extensive finishing process to polish the machining marks from their barrels. Some pull a lead slug with a very fine abrasive through the barrel, others use a polishing machine, and there have been several other techniques used. The end result if this process is a very smooth bore.

As DB Bill stated, most of the custom barrel manufacturers recommend some final break in procedure like the one shot and clean method. It is best to follow their directions.

Notes:

1. Barrel break in is not a cure-all for poor accuracy
2. Barrel break in can make cleaning much easier
3. Don�t get creative, just follow the guidelines
4. Improper break in and improper cleaning can do substantially more harm than good. If you do not already have high quality cleaning equipment, go invest a minimum of $100 on the best supplies.
5. Don't even consider fire lapping or any other aggressive approach until you have a minimum of 100 rounds through the barrel. You only get one change to permanently screw up your barrel. Best to consider this a last resort.

[This message has been edited by Zero Drift (edited 12-10-2001).]

There are ton a views on this stuff and I don't think any are right or wrong.

But the basice of most of them are the same.

1. Clean the bbl really good before starting including the use of JB compound.

2. Fire and clean, fire and clean anywhere between 30-50 rounds at a rate of 1-3 rounds between cleaning.

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MED

The sole purpose of a rifle is to please its owner

My recipe for breaking in a factory barrel.

1) Clean the barrel, I mean REALLY clean. Hot (HOT) soapy water, included, and every bore cleaner they have sold, and a few home made ones.......

2) 100 strokes of Flitz or JB's.

3) shoot the crap out of it........

Man, I would go bonkers if I had to sit at the range cleaning a new gun instead of seeing what it'll do...... LOL! Dutch.

Holy Toledo Steve in MI....... are you gainfully unemployed? Who has the time for that voodoo witchcraft? When do you actually fire the rifle for recreation? Or is barrel break-in your recreation?

I've found that that 98% of all barrels shoot just as well, and foul just as much, with a sane break-in of cleaning every shot for 10 shots, and then using JB Bore paste, as have the barrels I broke-in over 4 weeks while facing Mecca.

Those that spend countless hours on this crap and think there is a difference are fooling themselves to justify the time expended. And all that fool time is wasted on a run of the mill factory barrel.

Either a barrel shoots, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, go get another one and save your sanity and time.

I agree that Winchester factory barrels are rough as hell. No amount of break-in has ever helped that. But they still shoot under 1 MOA in a properly bedded rifle.

Who cares about fouling? Put a brush and some wet patches through the barrel and let it soak overnight. Next day it's clean.

The shoot one and clean etc theory of breaking in a barrel is in reality breaking-in the throat of the chamber as everything else in the barrel runs parallel (more or less) except the throat which is cut at 90 degrees...it is this throat area that actually gets "honed".....this is what FinalFinish was designed to do.

KuduKing,

I like your style!

GAHunter,

I went to a Kenny Jarrett seminar on barrel cleaning this year. I liked his cleaning method which was similar to what I had developed by trial and another trial over the years.

Kenny has the best rationale for barrel break-in I have ever encountered. He says what you are doing is blending the chamber leade and barrel transition, which is a zone of very different metal machining. You want to avoid building up alternating layers of powder and bullet fouling in this zone until you break it in by firing 20 rounds.

Kenny says break it in by shooting one round and cleaning for the first 20 shots, with a thorough cleaning after the first 10 rounds. Kenny recommends Shooters Choice and Sweets 7.62 as powder cleaning and metal fouling cleaning, and uses them both in his procedure.

jim

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"if you are to busy to
hunt, you are too busy."

Hey, where were all you guys when Ole' Ray was giving me hail for soaking barrels? Just remember the Alamo next time! sure-shot

GA,

Thanks, let's go pop some caps and few beers afterwards sometime. The other guys will be covered in copper remover.

I have always suspected that these custom barrel makers that recommend elaborate break-in procedures are merely covering their asses if the gun doesn't shoot. No sane individual who works for a living or has a family has time for that silliness. Then they will tell you that you didn't break in the barrel properly.

If I were to have a custom rifle built, I would tell the maker to break-in the barrel and deliver it to me ready to enjoy. What's another $100 on a $$$$ rifle?