How do u guys feel about running a brush with micro. lapping compound down the barrel and really polish the rifeling instead of shooting the new rifel so much.I have done this with a new rifel and went from 1.25 in. to about .80 what about it and what do ya'll do to break in a new rifel??

I`m not a fan of lapping, I would prefere to break in a new bore by shooting. The problem with lapping is it not only polishes the lands and groves a bit but also rounds the edges of the rifleing. Done wrong it can acually produce a rougher bore then you had at the start.
The abrasives do their work removeing metal. I`d prefere to wear out my barrel with use rather than by running a rod through it.
JMO..............

I love the lapping method, it simulates shooting, and polishes the throat before the rough cuts from the reamer shave the bullets while shooting and cleaning. Go to Kriegers website, the most respected barrel maker right now and see thier opinion, it agrees with yours. Tim

Take a look at the Krieger barrel web-site and see what they say about what you are really doing when "breaking-in" a barrel.

What you are really doing is breaking-in the throat which seems to be the real cause of most copper in your barrel.

vines,

www.kriegerbarrels.com

"Go to Kriegers website, the most respected barrel maker right now and see thier opinion, it agrees with yours. Tim


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tim,give me the whole website name."

"vines,

www.kriegerbarrels.com"

You asked for it, and you got it. What more do you want????

I'm with Ol'Joe.

Go to www.shilen.com and then go to their Q and A section and see what they say about barrel break in and how to do it.

Didn't I read the other day where some barrel maker or smith said to correctly lap a barrel, it has to be done before the rifle is chambered, cut to length and crowned? I wasn't paying too much attention but it seems he said there is no way that you won't create a "funnel" effect at each end of the barrel and that, of course, is removed when you cut to length and chamber. I honestly don't know as I am a "shoot 'em smooth" guy myself.

That makes perfect sense. I do believe barrel brake in can help, but I think it should be to clean with a non-harmful oil-based strong ammonia solution like montana x-treme every shot for the first 20 shots and then every 5 shots after that for 50. Use the strong oil-based ammonia solution to limit scrubbing while not harming the barrel material and removing all copper. Barrel break in can be VERY critical in the off the shelf rifles. Some of those bores look terrible new, and a thorough breakin can only help there, but I don't like the idea of using anything abrassive due to what you said.

I don't use any kind of special barrel break-in routine. I just clean my new rifle before I first shoot it and then I thoroughly clean it after every 20-25 rounds. For the average big game hunting rifle I don't see the point. It's been 27 years since I've missed a deer I shot at (my fault, not the rifle's), so what could I possibly gain from breaking in a barrel with the shoot-one-clean (or lapping or whatever) method. I wasted my time with this on 3 or 4 rifles before Gale McMillan talked me out of it. I'm glad he did.

But the bottom line is that it's your rifle. You should enjoy it like you want to.

This is one of those VooDoo subjects...there are so many theories and myths out there..I read the Krieger barrel site, and I love their bearrels but the vaporized copper theory is just that...I'd think with today's bore scopes a person could do a controlled study to put this subject to rest, but I haven't seen it yet.

I'm suspicious of all the hooey around barrel break in, especially for average shooters with average guns. In fact, my most accurate rifle (a Cooper VE21 in 223 that shoots honest 1/4 inch five shot groups at 100 yds with varmint load methods/compononents-40 gr Nosler BT's and no neck turning) had NO barrel break in.

I find the whole process to be eye crossingly dull (just like Slick Willie's book, "My Lies")and have stopped doing it until I see some data.

Roger

I always polish the bore of a new gun with flitz before I take it out for the first time. I dont follow a strict break in procedure. I do take extra time to clean it well after the first few trips to the range though.