Well I am the fortunate new owner of a Tikka t3 varmint heavy barrel in a 260 Rem. As this is my first new rifle I just thought I'd inquire if there is a proper method to break in the barrel. I will be shooting Federal factory 140 grain gamekings.
Thanks Greg

Greg might I suggest your going to the Lilga, Pac-Nor, Hart etc web sites and read the recommended break in procedure they advise. I'm strongly for it. Even though it's a pain in the butt especially factory barrels are smoothed out a lot in the process and clean and shoot better for the rest of their lives, well worth the effort to me. I use a modified Lilga recommended method.
This is also a topic that starts many wars and vastly varied opinions so hence my advise to see what the top barrel makers think. If it's a benefit to hand-lapped barrels it's that much more so on the factory barrels that aren't near as smooth (your Tikka will probably be smoother than most by virtue of who made it however).
Congrats!

Go ahead and break in the barrel on with one formula or another but don't be too concerned about it. Make sure that you have a high quality cleaning rod and cleaning rod guide. Be certain to give yourself enough time to let the barrel cool down between groups of three or so shots. Overheating a barrel is never good for accuracy.

Certainly I would use the ten to twenty five rounds of the procedure to get the scope on on paper and sighted in. You can make adjustments and check the groupings while you are letting the barrel cool.

I have two Tikkas and they are the best shooting rifles that I have ever owned, period!

First where did you get a Tikka Varmint in 260 ?? You must not be in the States...I'm waiting on a T3 Swede in SS/syn...anyhow good advise..use a one pc carbon fiber rod...a good bore guide..don't overheat....I shoot 1-3 rds then clean...shoot 4-5 then clean...then 6-8...and so on...after 50 rds then I switch to moly bullets...I use custom Pac Nors..thats how I do it..I have two 260s..one being and AI...on Savage s/shot actions...but I also have two 595 Tikkas....here's my 7-08

Just fire 1 shot and clean right out completely. do that for about 10 shots then clean it every 5 or so shots after that till its cleaned right out. as everyone else said use a good one peice cleaning rod and a bore-guide (they keep solvents out of your action, bedding and trigger) use a quality bore solvent and using brushes will spead up clean a lot. 10-20 passes will normally suffice. despite what people think, it doesnt damage the bore - have had this confirmed with the aid of a bore-scope.


I believe that breaking in the barrel is only to smooth the barrel out and make it easier to clean. I dont think it increases accuracy.
If it were my rifle id probably do 50+ passes with some jb bore paste (maybe autosol) or something simlilar at the beggining to 'hand-lap'

take it home clean the bbl, go out and shoot it. i have never done the aforementioned cleaning and firing routine on a new rifle, waaste of time and ammo. i buy my rifles to hunt with not punch paper. i haven't noted that my rifles are inaccurate because i didn't do the so called break in thingo. up to yourself really

Arm in Utah Edmonton Alberta is not in the United States, that is correct.

Fellas thanks for all the advice. I did read the procedure that Dan Lilja suggests with his barrels and I believe I will use this method even though my new rifle doesn't have a hand lapped barrel. Like someone said whats to lose?
thanks Greg

Follow MontDoug's advice . Lilja makes IMO a premium product , they also have YEARS of experience in PROPER CARE of said product .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Don't claim to have the experience of the lilja or pac-nor folks, but the break-in proceedure I use after fifteen years of reloading approx 37 chamberings in 50 or so rifles is 300 strokes (give or take) through the barrel with a bronze bore brush of appropriate caliber. This is dipped in a jb bore paste/kroil mixture. Thats it. The following pix are of two rifles chambered in 260 rem. One is a sako 75 varmint stainless laminate which would be similar to your Tikka, and a kimber montana.
GWB





PS. In case you pick up on it, there is no h-4320. I load Hogdon powder much more than IMR and mistakenly labeled the powder as such.

congrats on the new 260.
buy a bore -guide and a good coated 1 piece cleaning rod.5or 6 270 brass brushs tighter fit.you pick top line brass -powder bore cleaner. as stated above clean your new rifle factory shoots e'm but doesn''t clean e'm.push one dry patch thru your barrel, then change jag and put on brass bore brush wet brush good in solvent and make your 1st pass thru your barrel when you come bac thats 1 round. do 10 rounds if bore brush gets dry wet it again and make 10 rounds total, next dry patch your barrel with no less than 5or 6 patchs.shoot rifle one time and clean it the same as start. do this for your 1 box of 20 shells.next 20 clean after every 3 rd shot.now your at 40 total.the next 20 clean every 5th shot.then your at 60 total.next 20 clean every 10 shots.you could hassen this project by useing JB-bore cleaner,its made out of plant matter but even they JB say use it ever 100 rounds or so. most important is DON'T EVER HEAT YOUR BARREL UP HOT WHEN IT'S NEW. by cleaning it this way and other ways your burnishing your barrels lands and grooves and at the same time getting rid of powder resadue.i broke in one new rem 700 varmit barrel but i cleaned it after every round for the 1st 40 rds.it never copper or powder fouled ever and it was a tac-driven fool. your choice your money.post us some groups when she''s broke in,and welcome to our forum
regards jjmp

Well I've got my Tipton rod, bore guide, Butch's Bore Shine, Butch's new patches, 40 rounds of Federal 120 gr B tips, and I'm off to the range tomorrow. FS

Fastel,
by "federal B tips" I take it you are using cartridges loaded with 120 grain nosler ballistic tips. I have had excellent accuracy results with ballistic tips in all the rifles and calibers I have loaded. Good luck and good shooting. Let us know how your range session went.
GWB

FS,
excellent,please report back!
regards

Well I fired off my 40 rounds of factory Fed. 120 gr balistic tips and I cleaned after every 6th shot with Butch's bore shine, lots of black stuff, hardly any blue stuff. I was having trouble getting used to the Leupold scope on 20 power, so I backed it off to 14x. I had one series that had 2 in one hole, but no clover leafs. kept it at 2 inches high at 100 meters.The rest of the groups weren't that special. The trigger is nice and crisp and I may lighten the thing a little more as my other HB rifles are very lightly triggered. The rifle is comfortable to shoot off the bench and I think my next box of factory ammo will be 140 gr.
Hopefully my Forster die set from Sinclairs will be here soon.
Had some nice groups from my ruger 204 with Win 748 powder with both the 32 and 40 gr. Vmax bullets, 29 gr in the 32, and 28 gr in the 40.
The rifle that shot the best today was my new Browning 52 Repro, a ragged one hole group with power points and a nice group with Moderators, and a beautiful gun to look at as well as shoot.
Guess thats about all for now guys.
Cheers Greg

I've tried it both ways and couldn't see a difference. A barrel can't count. Just avoid heat. Be sure and get a good one piece cleaning rod and a good bore guide to use and, of course, clean it only from the chamber end.
If you really want to do your barrel some good, give it about 500 --yup 500-- strokes with a JB saturated patch wrapped around a bronze bore brush.

i never seen a tikka or a steyr that needed a break in.
i have seen that over time and rounds fired they increase in accuracy.

quote:

i have seen that over time and rounds fired they increase in accuracy.

Isn't that a form of break in?

Yes it is but at least you're not eroding your throat for no reason whilst you do that shoot one, clean one bullshit. 'Course you could say the same thing about the JB paste but you can do that at night at the kitchen table or while watching TV.

Well just for the heck of it I gave the 500 stroke treatment and I'm going to get some more factory ammo and give her another whirl on sunday, and then we'll see how it performs.
Hope you fellows all have a nice Christmas
Regards Greg

Geedubya Just razz'n ya a bit here cause that is a fine shooting rifle but if groups make our point for our particular method how bout these with my .20 Dasher moving a .20 cal 40 Grain V-Max at a titch over 4,200FPS using a Pac-Nor barrel? These were taken at the tail end of break in. (by the way I usually do a couple hundred strokes like you mentioned before I start break in but I use a tight patch and Shooters Choice/Kroil and JB's)
3 shot group.


The first 5 shot group with it's working load and that same 40V-Max

Pulled one a bit left .

I think a good barrel will shoot well anyway and I agree break in won't make a barrel a lot more accurate but it sure makes em boo-coo easier to clean and saves big "time" in the long run! Like the man said, "What's to loose" except a few hours shooing? We're only talking ten to twenty or so rounds here depending on how rough the bore.

armed-in-utah,
Did you do that paint job on your T3? If so nice work!
Don

Well the 2nd range outing with my new rifle, proved highly successful in one respect and not so much in another. After I shot some OK groups I had one of my friends shoot my rifle, wow this fellow can shoot, put the first 2 in one hole and pulled the third 1/4 of an inch left. So we've figured out that the rifle is great just my shooting needs improvement, FS