I got my 22 Shilen match barrel for my 10/22.

Question is, is there a break-in for this type of barrel? At the Shilen site they state that break-in for their match barrels is minimal since they are already hand-lapped. Besides, with the low velocities and soft bullets of the .22 LR, would "breaking-in" just be a waste of time and excess running of a cleaning rod up and down an expensive barrel?

I've never heard of breaking in a 22RF barrel, can't see what it would achieve, and yes I would worry about a rod in a RF barrel. I think most are much softer than CF steel.

Most rimfire target shooters I've heard at various forums say you can wear a 22rf barrel faster from too much cleaning than from too much shooting. I'd go with the "minimal" recommendation, and just run a snake (no brush) through it if it gets too dirty. With my 10/22, that's about every 1000 rounds with the factory barrel. For more opinions you may want to go to www.rimfirecentral.com/forums They have a lot of good advice there.

All right, thanks. I went to rimfirecentral yesterday and started looking around. Would hate to spend big buxx on a barrel and then goof it up unnecessarily.

On a side note, with rods and barrels: those of you in the military, remember the old range tradition of the safety officer "rodding" your rifle on and off the range? I used to cringe as the yahoo would (by Range Control rules and regulations) ram a steel, jointed rod down yuor rifle's barrel from the muzzle, dragging and kinking against the crown, then slamming the end of it against the M16's open bolt face to make it close. Abuse!! Could never convince them otherwise.

Thankfully, lately, at least where I am stationed in Texas, "rodding" has gone away in our unit, partly due to the increased weapons handling awareness brought on by OEF-OIF training. That and we have been issued the newer package cleaning kits which have the coiled, flexible, coated cleaning rods instead of the old bore bashers.