Breaking in a barrel

Muleyhunter05

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So I just bought a Remington Sendero 300 RUM and want everyones opinion on breaking in a barrel. I know some people swear by breaking in the barrel. Other people say no need to break them in just go shoot them. Lets hear what everyone thinks. Also if you think they need to be broke in whats your process in doing so?
 
Always use a bore guide. I use Butch's Bore Shine to clean before shooting the first round, then an oil patch and finally a dry patch. Fire one round, run a patch with BBS then 10 strokes with a brass brush, a dry patch, an oil patch and a dry patch. This process will burnish your bore. Repeat for 5 rounds. Then fire 5 rounds and burnish, then repeat 5 rounds and burnish. I then clean the bore with Wipe Out, a dry patch, an oil patch and a dry patch.

"You can fly a helicopter to the top of Everest and say you've been there. The problem with that is you were an a$$hole when you started and you're still an a$$hole when you get back.
Its the climb that makes you a different person". - Yvon Chouinard
 
I just go shoot groups. then I clean the barrel.

If the groups are good I try some other loads , if the groups are bad someone else is going to own a rifle.

It works for me.











Stay thirsty my friends
 
I'll clean out the factory grease and then start shooting. I think a big factor is to take it easy on the new barrel - don't fire huge strings of shots that will get your barrel super hot. I've never taken the time to "break in" a barrel, but will most likely try it out with a new Bartlien barrel I have on my current build.
 
MuleyHunter, the factory barrels they are making today are on average far better then what was made 30 years ago. As a result there is less tool marks in the barrel and less requirement to break in the barrel. Any more I clean it and inspect the muzzle crown and bore for defects. If I do not see any, I go shoot it with several different loads trying to find what it likes.
When I get back home I will clean it and use a copper cleaner last to see if I ended up getting excessive copper fouling.
There is a lot of factory barrels out there that will surprise the heck out of you on the small groups they will shoot first time out with the gun. Then of course there is the proverbial lemon you may get that requires more work to get it tuned in.

RELH
 
I do the "shoot 1 round, then clean" method for the first 5 rounds. This allows a chance to inspect how much copper fouling is happening in the bore.
Repeat the process if you have too much copper to make cleaning relatively easy.
FYI: way more damage is done to the throat and crown by rough cleaning than by actual shooting. You'll ruin a bore long before you'll ever shoot it out.
Zeke
 
Chamber cartridge, squeeze trigger, repeat as necessary until urge to shoot subsides, clean barrel when I get home or maybe not. Never had an issue. Copper bullets I usually have more intent to clean but typically the same follow through. Never had an issue. In all seriousness I keep the barrels generally clean after any shooting but the whole break in thing seems more obsessive compulsive than necessary to me.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/4abc76ff29b26fc1.jpg
 
I use the bullet break in method, I shoot one .... and then I shoot another... and then I shoot another... and then I shoot some more and when I get home I clean it. Seems to work for me.
 
You'll ruin a
>bore long before you'll ever
>shoot it out.
>Zeke


Yep. and more chambers/leads are ruined by cleaning rods, than anything else.

I've got rifles with 500+ rounds out of them, that havent seen a rod.I used to be a clean freak, but anymore unless i'm worried about corrosion, or plan on the gun sitting idle for a long time I only clean when the gun tells me it needs it..surprisingly its far less frequent than popular opinion tells us it should be.
 
I once had a gunsmith tell me the barrel on my Savage 30-06 is good for around 3000 rounds before it is shot out. Well it passed the 3000 round mark 5 years ago and It's still as accurate as the day it was new. Has always been very accurate for an off the shelf rifle.
 
A differing opinion.

I used to clean, then shoot until accuracy diminished.

My wife's gun didn't get shot much BUT I cleaned it whenever I cleaned the rest of the guns. And her's shot better than any of our other guns. I use a lot of Barnes bullets so it may be copper fouling.

So last year I bought a new gun and I did the; shoot one round, clean the gun method for the first 10 rounds. Then 2 rounds and clean for the next 10. I love the results.

Small sample size but if I bought a new gun tomorrow, I would shot, clean, repeat.

Bringing a vise and cleaning materials to the range might seem like a headache but the barrel cools and the bore is clean.

I do shoot a "fouling shot" before shooting for groups when working up reloads.

Just my opinion.
 
I forgot to mention I'm a big bore-guide fan.

Vise, bore-guide and a quality, one piece rod accompany me to the range.

I could be wrong but I believe cleaning the bore hot gets it cleaner.

I'll set up as many targets as i have guns, shoot one gun, move to the next. Once I've fired fired a 3 or 5 round groups at every target, I get the vise out and clean each gun. One fouling shot through each and do it again.
 

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