Barrel break-in: How To? Should I?

[Major PITA]

I just ordered a Savage Model 10FP-LE2 in .308.

I've heard about doing a barrel break-in.

Is it really worth the time and trouble to do one?

Those of you who have done a barrel break-in on some rifles and not on others, do you REALLY notice a difference in accuracy?

What is the proper technique for a barrel break-in for maximum accuracy?

[4V50 Gary]

Didn't the late great Gale McMillan said to just shoot it? Do a search under his name and one with more knowledge than I'll ever have will provide the answer. Too bad Gale isn't with us today. :(

[orlando5]

Yes the late great Gale McMillan said that barrel break is a very bad idea. It limit the rifle life and that the best shot from a barrel is the first shot. It goes down hill after the first shot.

http://www.yarchive.net/gun/barrel/break_in.html

[Vern Humphrey]

Clean it thoroughly to get all the preservative gunk out of the barrel. Shoot it. Clean it thoroughly before putting it away. Repeat until you're an old man.

[256M-S]

Hard to beat Gale McMillan's advice. It's interesting that this barrel break in technique--or rather techniques since they vary tremendously depending on the creator's affinity for complexity and formulae--has only come about fairly recently with the proliferation of so many new custom barrel makers.

Would only add one thing to the two previous posts: when you clean the weapon well after use, use a bore guide and a good stiff, steel cleaning rod. One-piece at home for most cleaning and a take down rod for travel or the field. Dewey does a good cleaning rod as are my old favorite Belding and Mull's now long gone from the scene.

As a number of savvy folks have pointed out, it's the consistency of a series of one shot groups to point of aim that is most critical for a practical hunting rifle regardless of the quarry.

As a sidenote to the matter of thorough cleaning, I tend NOT to clean the bore during hunting season once it's zero is confirmed.

[Art Eatman]

The rationale for most advocates is that it's applicable to mass-produced barrels which do not have as fine a surface finish as custom barrels. (Or, I guess, as fine a finish as the barrels of "The Good Old Daze".) This is the primary reasoning in an article in the current issue of "The American Hunter".

It seems to me that if you first clean the barrel, and then you mount your scope and go sight in, and then stop and clean your rifle, you're not much off the pace of "break in". It doesn't take a lot of shooting to sight in.

I never heard of "break in" until 1998 or 1999, here at TFL. Nobody mentioned it to me in 1950, when I got my first '06. :) I've owned very few rifles which would not give me one MOA or better; mostly I needed to tweak the forearm, rather than worry with the barrel. Work up a load, and smile at mostly sub-MOA groups...

Art