How to break in a new new .223?

[Wlofton]

I built me a Ar15 and my son built one also. He is a gun crazy guy..

Tonight he was in his room dry firing his his mom ask what he was doing and he said breaking it in.

What is the correct way or your way?

[TXAZ]

Do a detailed examination of everything you put together, ie check headspace if appropriate. Once you've done that:

Find a short range (100 yards). Put a magazine in it, pull the trigger, have fun.
Next magazine, repeat.

[Wlofton]

Sorry I gave bad info. He was not dry firing.

[Mobuck]

ANYTIME you "build", modify, change parts, or do anything to/with an AR, you should go through a "start up" sequence.
Load one round from a mag and fire that round with mag left in place. Bolt should lock open. Repeat 3-5 times.
Load one round and remove mag. Fire the round and check to see if the safety will engage(assuring the hammer will stay cocked during the slamming of the bolt cycling). Repeat 3-5 times.
Load 2 rounds and fire them to ensure proper feeding from the mag. By this stage, you can be adjusting sights/optics between shots.
I seldom fire more than 10 shots before cleaning the bore for the first 40-50 rounds.
As far as dry firing the AR, most say it's OK but I just don't feel that way.

[ed308]

Probably won't hurt the AR to dry fire it. But I wouldn't bother since pulling the trigger is not the parts that need a break in. I would pull the charging handle back and forth 100+ times. That helps the bolt wear in and seat. It will likely save some ammo on the first trip to the range as well.

[Wlofton]

Thanks guys and he was pulling the charging handle.


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[Chainsaw.]

Breaking in any rifle, in my opinion is as follows, shoot one round, run patches till clean till five round, then shoot five rounds and run patches till clean till 50, after that shoot as you please.

[dahermit]

Breaking in any rifle, in my opinion is as follows, shoot one round, run patches till clean till five round, then shoot five rounds and run patches till clean till 50, after that shoot as you please.

You are doing it completely wrong. You should shot two rounds, run patches till clean, shoot six rounds, run patches till clean then shoot 51 rounds, then shoot as you please. Otherwise you will ruin the accuracy potential of the barrel.

[Art Eatman]

I've never done a break-in other than work by the assumption that mating parts "get used to each other" and operate more smoothly than when fresh out of the box.

My Ruger 77 Mark II was half-MOA from the git-go. After a few hundred fairly-slow-fire rounds on two prairie dog hunts and a casual cleaning after each trip, it was still half-MOA.

Same sort of behavior from several other rifles I've used.

[g.willikers]

There's probably as many versions of how to break in a gun as there are shooting enthusiasts.
But it seems that just shooting them should do it, unless there's something wrong with it.
If so, then the process of breaking it in won't actually fix anything.
So, I don't do anything more than shoot them, a lot.
Seems to work with minimum fuss and bother.

[ed308]

Yep... I clean the barrel before the first range trip to make sure there's nothing left from the manufacturing process that could damage the barrel. I may clean it a few more times until I know it's not being fouled by copper. Then I'll usually shoot it until the accuracy drops off then clean it. Cleaning firearms is not something I enjoy.

[Jeff2222]

Clean it. Look in the manual and apply oil where necessary. Shoot it.

If you shoot a few hundred rounds of good ammo through it "break in" and it isn't functioning properly it probably needs warranty or smithing work.

[peggysue]

In the Army I had issued a few new M-16 which would simply shoot. No break in...LOL

[disseminator]

With rifle cleaned and lubed normally:

Insert loaded magazine, point in safe direction, keep pressing trigger until bolt locks back, remove empty magazine and replace with full one, repeat as necessary.

Clean gun when finished at range.

[shootbrownelk]

Take the rifle and a stack of loaded magazines to the range, and shoot the snot out of it. Reload magazines....repeat.

[Bourbon Fan]

I bought my first (and only) Bushmaster carbine back in 1998. I was still in the USMC at the time. It was a Friday, and I had just gotten paid. I took the cash I had been saving and bought the rifle and 250 rounds. I was living in Yuma, AZ so we immediately grabbed our camping gear, a case of beer, all of our guns.....and headed into the desert for the night. I broke in the rifle by shooting a dozen or so empty beer cans to zero the sights.....then pounded 4 tent stakes into the ground with the buttstock.......then early the next morning I bagged a coyote.
The rifle was fully initiated and ready for decades of dependable service.

[stagpanther]

You don't need to do anything at all--as long as you're completely familiar with it's operation and any possible signs of incipient issues and what to do to correct if that happens.

[Kreyzhorse]

Clean it, lube it, shoot it. Repeat as needed.

[iraiam]

I'm not sure if it could be considered a break-in, but I always cycle the action with the charging handle quite a lot, also lock the bolt open on an empty magazine and press the release.

For the trigger, I don't dry fire. Instead I separate the upper. holding the lower with the pistol grip, I cup my left hand over the hammer. and pull the trigger releasing the hammer into my palm, I re-cock, reset the trigger and repeat the cycle for 15-20 minutes.

I then remove the FCG and inspect the engaging surfaces between the hammer, trigger, dis-connector. There will be new marks left on the mating surfaces that will tell you how well they engage together. With quality parts, I find the surfaces usually mate together very well, but I have seen polish marks caused by a tiny high spot on a surface, I can then use a small hone to lightly remove a high spot. Take care not to round any edges or remove any metal.

That's about all I do to a new build, then clean, lube, fire.