I have a new rifle...
DPMS LR308B

DPMS recomends a barrel-break-in process of cleaning after each round then every twenty for the first 100 rounds. Is it worth doing? or is it bull? I have a hard time believing that it is worth it... convince me one way or the other.

thanks
aaron

If you spend good money on a good barrel, It only helps to break it in. All of the barrel manufacturers reccomend it.

I see it as one of thos things that might be beneficial, but is probably not harmful. I've seen people just firing into the backstop and cleaning. That just seems a waste of ammo and barrel life to me. I use the break-in shots to establish preliminary zero's, get the trigger adjusted, tweak the stock, etc.

Does it help? As with most things of this sort, we don't have the time, money or willpower to run enough tests to tell for sure that accuracy, barrel life and cleaning interval will be affected. Let's see, 20 Hart Barrels, installed, $10k. Four thousand rounds of match-grade ammo for each barrel, $40k. And the list goes on.

Hart claims no break in is required, Shilen says the same thing, but then offers a suggested procedure for those that want to do so. Lilja posts a procedure that could be as short as 5 - 10 shots. It can't hurt, so I do it.

Clean it completly
Shoot one round, look at the muzzle end for copper streaks.
If it shows none, shoot again, repeat until tired or only a little shows
If/when it shows just a littl ecopper, clean completly and reshoot.
If it shows a lot of copper after only 1-2 shots, send the barrel back for replacment, because it's junk.

Break-in is only designed to reduce fouling / ease cleaning, it does absolutly nothing for the accuracy potental of the barrel.

I shot six shots... I had it zeroed at 4 and used two shots to prove it... With a less than one inch group! I will clean it next but there was very little copper if any showing. I liked Tailgunner's advice... I decided not to do the regular break-in. My Dad shoots less than 10 shots a year from his 721 '06 and has done so since it was new and he never has put a cleaning rod down the barrel. I wonder if its broke-in?
Thanks everyone for your advice.
Aaron