Barrel break in

[jeremyro]

So I have read and seen plenty about barrel break in processes, ie. shoot a shot and clean for the first 10 rounds ect.... I have done this on some of the early guns that I owned and then stopped doing any sort of break in procedure. I just take a new barrel out to range, shoot it, and clean it when I get home.

I have not noticed any difference in barrels that I have done the break in to vs. when I did not. Currently my long range competition gun is a Sako TRG with a Pac-Nor SS barrel that was not broken in at all. This gun is one of the two most accurate I own. The other most accurate is a Steyer SSG04 in .308 that was also not broken in.

What is breaking in supposed to be doing? What are you cleaning out with a brush that is not being blown out by the next round in the chain. Has anyone ever done a A/B with a number of barrels to see if this is a thing? I feel like it is a shooters juju thing, but I am happy to be proven wrong. Comments are appreciated.

[jeremyro]

Oh, and this thread is not worthless without pics. Just to preempt it.

[LynnJr]

99% of the posters here won't notice any difference at all.

[GraveTPO]

The efficacy of barrel break in is a myth. Your experience (and mine) proves it.

[-hanko]

The efficacy of barrel break in is a myth. Your experience (and mine) proves it.

Agreed.

Zero difference between break-in or not. There is NO magic number of bullets that need to go through the barrel for "break-in"...typically, things are as good as you get when your groups get as close as possible once you start shooting a new weapon.

[Calif Hunter]

I have never done any sort of break-in procedure and I have several very accurate rifles. I just make sure not to overheat the barrel. ("Very accurate" is subjective, so I will clarify that almost all of my bolt action rifles are sub-MOA and most will go half an inch or better at 100 yards.)

[jeremyro]

Im glad that this is the consensus. I could not think of a reason it would matter but I wanted to see if people smarter than me knew something I didn't.

I have noticed that new barrels get more accurate after a number of rounds, although the exact number is always up to the gun. My Steyer is the most accurate gun I own, or have ever shot. It shot about 1 MOA until I had shot about 150 rounds and then it turned into a .3-.5 MOA gun. Now it is my "introduce people to long range" gun despite the 308 thing. It is just so accurate that with some windage advice most decent shooters can hit 1k with it.

[Calif Hunter]

The worst rifle I've had as far as needing to be broken in was my Kimber Varmint in .22-250. I must have tried 50 different loads, powders and bullets, shooting perhaps 200 rounds, before the gun suddenly decided to shoot well. Now it shoots a bunch of different combinations extremely well. I mean it went from almost 2 inch groups to half an inch with loads it likes. Some of those are the same loads it wouldn't shoot before. I was about ready to get rid of it at one point.

[LynnJr]

The reason for breaking in a barrel is to get rid of the marks left from chambering.
When a custom barrel is lapped it is lapped lengthwise and when the reamer is run in you get small scratches running 90 degrees.
Unless you are shooting quarter moa or better you won't need to break in your barrel.
The benchrest guys and the better long-range shooters are who tend to break in there barrels.
Factory barrels are junk and don't require anything other than replacement.

[JMP]

99% of the posters here won't notice any difference at all.

Unless you are shooting quarter moa or better you won't need to break in your barrel.

You seem to be contradicting yourself. A lot of folks seem to post that they shoot sub 1/4.

[-hanko]

You seem to be contradicting yourself. A lot of folks seem to post that they shoot sub 1/4.

Which, in itself is amazing as most guns here have only had 200 rounds through them. Check the FS section here for more info.

[thegiff]

"1/4 moa on a good day..." which oddly enough there is never a picture, or if there is a pic then there is a nice fat quarter or dime covering the flyer.

[jeremyro]

Here is my target from my 1k Practice session earlier this year. It is not my best, but is is the one I have on my computer right now. All the stickeys say the distance and shot number.

[LynnJr]

I can't read the stickies but that isn't 1/4 moa.

[killshot44]

There's a weird dichotomy about barrel break-in...

Custom hand-lapped barrels don't need it and factory barrels don't benefit from it.