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I know this has probably been brought up before but I have to ask. I recently bought a new Kimber Montana in 300WSM and here is my question. For years I owned many rifles that never had any kind of proper barrel break in done to them and they performed flawlessly for many years with great accuracy, simply because I was unaware that this(barrell break-ins) was done. I have in the last few years done proper barrel break in on a couple guns. I have talked to many gunsmiths about this and what I have been told in whole is that the only reason to do a true 1 shot clean and so on barrell break in is simply to condition the barrell for long term cleaning. That it has nothing to do with accuracy or anything else.Can someone give me some insight and even their opinions on whether this is truly neccessary or just a precarious myth.I have found many articles from McMillan where he absolutely bashes the theory on barrel break in. If you search for articles and threads on this stuff across the internet you get hundreds of different opinions and procedures on this topic. To me after having done a proper break in and not having done proper break ins, my conclusion is that it doesn't make any difference. I always thorougly clean a new gun before going to the range with it and always thoroughly clean the rifle on return from the range but some of my best sub MOA rifles have never seen a break in so it puzzles me on all this. | ||
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I know that Krieger says that with their finished barrels no break in is necessary except for the area of the throat that is cut when chambering. Savage recommends a break in with the shoot one-clean one routine. IMHO on the hand lapped barrels no break in is necessary except for where the reamer makes the throat. The break in there helps smooth out the reamer marks. On factory barrels a break in sure can't hurt. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
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BBL break-in, to me, is truly unproven. There are many makers of custom hand-lapped bbls and half say to break it in, half say its unnecessary. I kinda treat it like religion. I'd rather live my life believing in GOD, and die to find out there isn't, as opposed to living my life like there is NO GOD, and to die and find out there is. I do break in. Shoot and clean each shot for the first 10 shots on a handlapped bbl. That pretty much takes care of it. Factory bbls, shoot/clean each shot for 15-20. Done. It's no big deal, doesn't take TOO much time. It's done in a day, and it certainly won't hurt. Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns | |||
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Just clean it when you get it home to remove the factory protectant and then shoot it and clean it. You learn something new everyday whether you want to or not. | |||
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I can/t say I ever broke a barrel in per say. I shoot them and clean them as needed. I have use bore polish on some ect. I have shot some new barrels a few times then cleaned them I have shot some barrels many a times then clean them. I have not noticed a differants in them. If one wants to "break a barrel" in do it. If one does not want do don't. | |||
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Just treat it as part of your first zeroing or load development session, that way you don't go out of your way and keep it simple. I like to give my rifles a very thourough cleaning before I ever start shooting. Wrapping a little 1000grade (they kind used for polishing furniture) steel wool around a brass brush helps for this, although be careful to use the right stuff and not much of it. | |||
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Break In vs No Break In... Might as well be talkin Ginger vs Mary Ann Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Mike, you're right! In fact, after I read your post, I went to google and typed in Gilligan's Island, then clicked 'images.' Showed a few photos of the two, and BOTH were in bathing suits. I used to always say, Mary Ann! But, you're right. EITHER. Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns | |||
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Allways break a barrel in. Having worn out a fair number of barrels shooting fullbore target and big bore competition I have found a significant improvement in accurate barrel life if the barrel has been properly worn in. In general a barrel that is simply fitted and used is good for 1000-1500 rounds in competition. After that it is still plenty accurate enough for hunting use. If the barrel is run in I get about 2500 rounds out of a barrel. NB- With Chromed bores break in normally takes at least 500 rounds, and the general trend here is to fit such barrels to a club rifles and let the hackers and sundry visitors use it for six months before bothering to fit it to ones own rifle. In my own 7.62 rifle, accuracy improved steradily until I had gone through at least 5000 rounds and has been pretty constant ever since. Sitting on 8000+ now. Will never go back to a plain barrel! | |||
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I've only broken in one rifle and it seemed to work well, better than similar rifles that I hadn't broken in. Use the method in the Shilen Barrel website. | |||
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