Medium/Long Range Rifle Barrel Break In

[TikkaRocky]

I agree, SandBlastedSkin, but that's what the website says. In theory, you shouldn't do much damage, if any at all (cleaning properly). Maybe it has to do with the physics of chemicals used to disolve carbon or copper. What keeps them from dissolving a tiny amout barrel metal? I'm not a barrel expert, nor am I a chemist, but I respect the info on Bartlein's website. They probably state this so people don't get too carried away with cleaning.

[SandBlastedSkin]

Factory barrels are so bad it doesn't matter if you break them in or not they shoot just as poorly either way.
I also wouldn't put much faith in what the gang on Snipers-Hide has to say as most don't know the difference between the muzzle and the breech.

So are you arguing that break in IS necessary for non-factory barrels? If so, please share your technique.

Also, at what point would does a stock barrel not become so "bad"? What is the lowest price rifle that comes straight out of the box with a barrel that you consider worthy enough, or does it not exist? OR am I completely misunderstanding the definition of "factory"?

[LynnJr]

When a reamer is run into the barrel for chambering it has a floating pilot attached to the front which aligns the reamer into the bore and prevents it from wallowing around.
It spins perpendicular to the lapping and after a barrel is chambered you can see the scratches left behind from the pilot.
When you properly break in a rifle you are removing those tiny scratches by fire burnishing them.
On a Benchrest rifle you would fire one shot and clean for the first 10 rounds.
99 and 44/100 of the posters on this website will never shoot or attend a Benchrest Rifle/Match so they will never see any difference at all.
A 10 inch group in Palma gets you a perfect score at 1000 yards and gets you laughed off the range in Benchrest.
Different competitions different requirements.
On factory barrels there is no lapping and they use solid pilot reamers so there is no hope at all.

[patriot_man]

I don't break in.

Only thing I clean out is carbon and lead. Copper only if groups start opening up.

[bsumoba]

99 and 44/100 of the posters on this website will never shoot or attend a Benchrest Rifle/Match so they will never see any difference at all.
A 10 inch group in Palma gets you a perfect score at 1000 yards and gets you laughed off the range in Benchrest.
Different competitions different requirements.
On factory barrels there is no lapping and they use solid pilot reamers so there is no hope at all.

If long range BR guys had to shoot 7-10 seconds between shots, I would take a guess and say that the groups would not be nearly the size they are posting today. The reason they can post those kinds of groups is they shoot 5-10 shots in rapid succession, hopefully shooting in a wind condition that stays the same for all the shots. Shooting a 6 dasher, a cartridge which is incredibly accurate and has near zero recoil (especially with a brake), a shooter can simply load a shoot and can probably get a shot off every couple seconds.

Killshot and I, on a practice day at Sac shot a couple 5 shot groups rapidly with our F-Open guns and guess what the groups were...sub 4-5"

You are right though, different competitions, different requirements.

The tactical guys do not have nearly the same accuracy requirements as competition BR and F-Class. They can get away with not cleaning for long periods of time, they do not often shoot 10+ rounds in rapid succession, trying to put all rounds in a 1/2 minute target out to 1K. I am not saying their guns are bad, but the guns are not set up for that kind of shooting.

I guess where I am getting at is that it is hard to generalize cleaning, accuracy, or reloading techniques because we will all have our biases, so it is important to know where that person is coming from. I will say that what the BR and F-Class guys do from a reloading and rifle prep standpoint will generally help tactical guns shoot better, but techniques often used on tactical guns will not always help BR or F-Class guns, but will help the new shooter getting into precision shooting.

[SandBlastedSkin]

So what exactly is considered a "factory barrel" and at what stage in quality/price do manufacturers go from factory to non-factory? Are non-factory barrels not sold on guns?

[ar15barrels]

So what exactly is considered a "factory barrel" and at what stage in quality/price do manufacturers go from factory to non-factory? Are non-factory barrels not sold on guns?

Factory guns typically have $50 to $100 class barrels.
When you step up to $200+ barrel blanks, you are getting a much better quality barrel.
All mass produced guns come with "factory" quality barrels.
When you get into $1500+ semi-custom assembled production guns, then you start seeing higher quality barrels on them, but price alone is no gaurantee of barrel quality.

[SandBlastedSkin]

I'm assuming this applies to all guns or no?

[AzangBugs]

Sand, look at YouTube, Sniper 101, Part 43. The guy is kind of wordy but he does a good job of 'splaining what the different "break-in" techniques are about. In fact, most of this guy's videos are excellent primers on long range shooting.

[ar15barrels]

I'm assuming this applies to all guns or no?

All MASS PRODUCED guns from companies like the following:

Bravo Company Manufacturing (BCM)
Charles Daly
Colt's Manufacturing
Daniel Defense
Henry Repeating Arms
Howa
Kahr Arms Group
Kel-Tec CNC Industries Inc
Knight's Armament Company (KAC)
Lewis Machine and Tool (LMT)
Marlin
Mossberg
North American Arms
Olympic Arms
Palmetto State Armory (PSA)
Remington
Rock River Arms
Ruger
Savage
Smith & Wesson (S&W)
Springfield Armory
Sturm, Ruger, & Co. (Ruger)
Tikka
Weatherby, Inc.

[killshot44]

Remington
Ruger
Savage

[SandBlastedSkin]

Straight from the Remington support website:

Is there a recommended break in procedure for Remington rifles?

Overview
To properly break in or "season" a rifle barrel we reccomend you use a good quality cleaning rod, a good quality bronze brush and patch tip, flannel patches and quality bore solvent. (we recommend the use of Remington Brite Bore Cleaner & Rem Oil).

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the first 20 shots, you should do the following:

For the first (10) shots:
Run a patch saturated with Rem Oil through the bore after each of the first 10 shots, and follow up with a patch saturated with Remington Brite Bore, and finally a clean patch to remove all residue.

For each of the next 10 shots, run a patch saturated with Rem Oil through the bore after every two shots, and follow up with a patch saturated with Remington Brite Bore, and finally a clean patch to remove all residue. Now follow the cleaning guidelines below:

To ensure the highest possible barrel quality/life, you should repeat this cleaning procedure every 20-25 shots until the barrel has had at least 100 rounds through it. Failure to do so could result in excessive build up of fouling (copper/lead deposits) in the bore causing decreased accuracy and requiring more frequent cleaning between shots.

[Divernhunter]

OK and my info that came with my AR50 stated not even recommended any break-in.. None of the different ways do any good. They stated just shoot the rifle.
McMillan who has a vast amount of knowledge and experience says it is just foolish. He wrote an article telling how it got started by another small barrel maker to cause clients to have to replace their barrels sooner on their high dollar bench rifles.

It does do one thing especially for newbies: It causes them to not over heat the barrels which will damage them. Plus the solvent/oil helps cooling them between shots.
I have factory barrels which will shoot basically into one hole to less than 1" for 3-5 shots which is just fine for a HUNTING rifle with a normal weight/contour hunting barrel. I have hunting rifles with replacement barrels which will do better even with more loads. This is all with HUNTING bullets loaded to max or near max, hunting type scopes and a sandbag up front and the buttstock in my shoulder. Of course this is when I do my part.

I say do the "break in" if it makes you feel better. Use whatever procedure you like. Burn a sprig of sagebrush, recite a special something to bring the accuracy gods on to your side, wear your lucky underwear/t-shirt/pants or charm, sacrifice a chicken to the shooting gods, do they special chant, rub each cartridge on the special cloth before loading, light a candle, hold the rifle vertical and do a dance around it or whatever blows your dress up thinking it will help. It probably will because shooting is much a mental game also and if YOU think it helps then it probably will.

For others just shoot it as long as you can hold onto the barrel. If it is getting too hot to hold then let it cool before shooting again. How many rounds does this take? It all depends on the barrel and the cartridge/load you are shooting. This is a good reason to take several rifles to the range. You can shoot one while the others cool off.

In the end it is your rifle so do what makes you happy......besides a barrel is not that costly to replace once it is shot out ----which for most shooters with never happen.

[TripleThreat]

Here is a link from a living legend and about the only person I'd take advice from regarding sniper rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf6oZzLYaY

Triple

[SandBlastedSkin]

Here is a link from a living legend and about the only person I'd take advice from regarding sniper rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXf6oZzLYaY

Triple

I watched/listened to that earlier, after him talking for 35 minutes about break in procedures, he boiled it down to this - if you don't break in your barrel, it's not that big deal. If you're super anal about this stuff then do it lol

Perfect.