I have a question about breaking in a new gun. I went to the store the other day and picked up a brand spanking new Savage Law Enforcement 308 26" barrel.
I've gone all over town asking people I know that shoot alot, I've asked about twenty people so far and I got about twenty five differnt ways to break in my new gun.
This gun will be used for mostly hunting, but I do plan to be shooting it all year.

The next question is, should I be getting all the stuff I need to start reloading, or stick to the factory stuff for the first little bit?
I have reloaded for my handguns for years, but this will be the first long gun that I plan on reloading for.

I have found that this site has a wealth of information and I'm looking forward to your responses and opinions.

If it's not to much trouble to ask, I was also wondering what I should get for bullets. I'll be hunting moose, elk, deer, and maybe even a bear or two.
I'm looking for a good solid hitting bullet that has a good reputation for one shot kills. I think that most any bullet will work well for me since I only take head shots, but I still want a good quality bullet.

So far to date I haven't shot at anything over 300yds, but with this gun I think I'll be able to reach out there and harvest game at will.(just in case you missed it I knocked really really hard on my wooden deak as I typed that)

Thank you for your input and opinions in advance, Michael.

P.S. If my groupings aren't too too bad, I might post a picture of my targets.
Thank you in advance, Michael.

Welcome, my friend...and include my name in the "no-break in" column.....Be sure, what ever you decide, to break in or not, to clean it thoughly, BEFORE you shoot that first shot...Get the grease, oil, metal shavings, out of that new rifle...Nothing like getting a new one!!!
My wife doesnt appreciate the difference between a world class firearm, and anougher damn gun...Good luck..sakofan....

Eagle
To break in your rifle there are a million different ways. But you should clean it BEFORE shooting, for sure.

Then you can clean it after every shot for 10-20 shots and then after every 5 until you are up to 30-40....

It can't hurt if you clean it correctly (use a bore-guide) and it might help...or it might not.

Personally, I do the break in thing for 5 or 6 rounds, then every 5 until I get to 20. Then that's it...

If you've already got a press, you might as well buy dies for your rifle and start loading.

FOr bullet selection: The .308 has many bullet selections. I think a 165gr bullet is "the best" weight in a .308 winchester.

Work up a load using an inexpensive bullet like the Hornady Interlock for deer, and a Nosler Partition, X Bullet, TBBC, A-frame or Failsafe load for bigger stuff like elk.

A cool gun won't make you able to reach out to long distances if you don't have the experience or skill.

Head shots at any range further than point-blank are questionable at best. There are very few hunters that have the skill to properly make head shots at any distance.

Aim behind the shoulder, a third of the way up. You'll hit the lungs and make a clean kill, not blow off a jaw or nose.

Gatehouse:

I think it is a must to clean the barrel with gun oil before the very first shot. Is there any value cleaning it with solvent (eg.Hoppes #9) before the first shot for a brand new rifle? Are you assuming someone would test fire a round or two before they ship it?

Danny Boy

Sako's are shot at the factory, until they shoot a certain MOA...I think its good practice to clean w/ a solvent before shooting, for a verity of reasons...sakofan....

Michael, The 165 grain gameking from Sierra works very well and you should be able to shoot rock chucks at 600 yards, But as far as game is concerned 300 yards should be your limit. If something happens when you pull the trigger and you make a bad shot at 300 plus yards you could end up losing a good animal. Be a hunter and get as close as possible, that's where hunting becomes a sport. Good Luck

Clean it well with a good solvent, then make sure the bore is totally free of any kind of grease, oil, or solvent, and is COMPLETELY DRY before firing it. Then fire a five-shot group, to see how accurate it is. Clean it well after each shooting session. Basically, "break-in" is in the category of a kind of voodoo or witchcraft. My Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors used to clean their rifles with urine, to keep the evil spirits from making the balls fly off course... I definitely recommend that you get a GOOD set of dies for this rifle (like the Forster Benchrest type or equivalent) and develop an accuracy load just for that rifle, it sounds like the rifle deserves such an effort....

[ 04-18-2003, 18:01: Message edited by: eldeguello ]

Thanks for all your input. Sorry for not replying sooner, but my foundation is leaking so my computer room is torn apart. I have to borrow my Mum's computer to do anything online.

As for giving new guns a good cleaning before the first shot, I know all about that one.
Years ago a frined of mine went out and got himself a brand new left hand bolt Browning 30-06.
Up to that point he had only owned and fired black powder. But after hunting with my father and I, he decided to enter the modern world and get a centerfire.
Due to the fact that the newest gun that either he or I had shot was between fourty and onehundred and sixty years old, coupled with the fact that we were young and stupid, we raced out to the range once he got back to town.
Loaded it up, and fired one round. Not bring able to move the bolt, we went back to town to a gunsmith that I knew.
After getting a half hour speach about how your not allowed to have a gun with ammo in town, and how stupid we were for not taking to bolt out and unloading it, he decided that he would help us out and clean up after us for our own good.(Isn't it nice when the adults in your life are on your side)
So, after a week or so, I asked my dad to ask his receptionist to ask her husband if the gun was ready to be picked up yet. I was still too scared to face him myself, being all of sixteen and only been shooting for a year, one lecture like that was more than I ever wanted.
After a couple of days my father told me that Ken had the bolt out, and that he was going through the process of trying to pull out the stuck case.
He figured we could go back and get the gun in a week or two.

So, in three weeks, my buddy and I sucked it up, and went back to him to get the gun.

He started out by saying that he didn't think that there was any perminant damage done. Then he told us to allways start with a good cleaning, and to make sure that it is dry, and free of all oil before you should shoot it.
Then he said he was sorry for the tirade he went on.
Handed the gun back to my buddy, and closed the door.

So ended the first chapter on our real life experiance on modern firearms. LOL

I'll take all of your advice into concideration when I finaly get out to the range and break this puppy in.

Thanks again, and if you have any storys of your own, feel free to share them. Michael.

Eagle357

Have you checked this out? Some good info here...

What do you think of head shots now?

I'd really like to stress that head shots are rarely used by hunters, and I hope you understand that now....

You must have posted the same time I did! Whoops!

[ 04-19-2003, 06:06: Message edited by: Gatehouse ]

Head shots might be uncommon by the people on this forum, but not by those where I learned how to hunt.
Well, I learned from the start to use hart/lung shots.
But then I started to hunt with all my friends who are metis for the most part. And all they ever use is head/neck shots.
I've hunted with people who have taken charging black bears with a single shot Cooey 22 short. I've hunted with my best friend who took his first moose with a six hundred yd head shot.
Both of those shots were the exception and not the rule.
The first was an old trapper walking across a beaver damb, when a black bear charged him.
He had nowhere to run, so he pulled his single shot Coeey, pulled a 22 short out of his pocket, and shot the bear in the left eye, and it fell dead about fifteen feet from him.
This bear held the record in Slberta as the largest bear ever shot for seven years running.
When he tells this story in the bar, people allways ask how can you stay so calm to hit such a small target moving so fast?
He allways answers that he learned patiance while deativatimg land mine that he and others were standing on during his two tours in Viet Nam.

As for my best friend, his father told him to take a shot at a moose that was standing broadside to them up a cutline. He was about fourteen or fifteen at the time, so he did.
And like he told me, I was aiming at the heart, but I hit it in the head. And there was no way that he was ever going to tell his father that.(I laught every time I think of that, just the expression on his face when he tells that story)

I never really thought about changing from lung to head shots untill the day that my best friend and I were driving down the road, and we saw a moose about two hundred and seventy five yards away.
We pulled over, and he pulled his 22-250 out.

Being an all knowing great white hunter, I knew full well that there was no way that a 22 cal bullet could ever take a moose.

So I watched him load his gun, walk out into the feild, stand there for a couple of seconds with the moose in his cross hairs, and pop.
I watched that moose's head snap back and forth several times, and then dropped dead.

I've been a head shot hunter ever since.
And strangely enough, I have yet to ever have to tack an animal since. One shot per kill.

I have yet to take a shot more than one hundred yards since changing my point of aim, but I have faith.
I feel the animal is done a better justice as well. I have been forced to track animals even after a good heart and lung shot.
With a head or neck shot it is a kill or no kill shot.

In my experiance, it is best done that way.

Eagle
With all due respect, the "kill or no kill" does not necessarily mean a miss.

It could mean that the bullet has blown off the animals jaw, nose, etc.

That could mean a long, lingerign death by sepsis or starvation for the animal.

In no way do I condemn head shots by those that know how do do it, with an animal dropping every time, but those that know are a precious few.

I should also add that I have made two neck shots at about 200-250 yards on deer. I took these ahots because there were none other available. I would have gladly taken a shoulder shot if available.

Neck shots are a little better, but not much better than head shots.

All I'm saying is be careful, and make sure YOU know what you are doing, not just doing the same thing as somebody you saw...

[ 04-19-2003, 08:42: Message edited by: Gatehouse ]