Breaking in a new rifle.....

[GhostRider32]

I've read a few times here about this and can someone explain this to me, what it takes how many rounds and why. Thx.

[churchillburke]

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175961&highlight=break+in

[churchillburke]

http://www.aboutguns.net/mcmillan.html

[Art Eatman]

If you do a search for Gale McMillan + breakin, you'll find other than Conventional Wisdom. :)

I never heard of breaking in a barrel before coming to The Firing Line in 1998 or so. I started shooting centerfire in 1950. It had never been mentioned in The American Rifleman since at least 1940 through the 1960s and back then such a thing would have stuck in my mind. My "studious years on rifles". :) I've read them all since the 1960s and don't recall anything on it.

Gale's point was that other than normal cleaning, the break-in process merely adds wear. He admitted that it might be helpful on mass-production barrels, but not on his. Considering that his world record for benchrest still holds, deceased though he is, I hate to argue with a guy like that.

Lemme say this about that: I don't think a little extra cleaning during the first box or two of sight-in and "making acquaintance" will hurt anything.

Art

[tINY]

The bedding will tend to settle a bit on a new rifle too.

Just don't worry about group size until you put 100 pills or so down range.



-tINY

[Fremmer]

I broke-in my new Remington rifle this summer by shooting a round, cleaning, shooting another round, cleaning, etc. The only reason I did it was because Remington recommended it on their website. Interestingly, this recommendation is conspicuously absent from the owner's manual that came with the rifle.

My next new rifle will not be 'broken-in' in this manner. Instead, I'll buy two (or three or four) boxes of ammo, shoot them, go home, and clean the heck out of the bore. Repeat this process 3 or 4 times; it may (or may not) do something to the bore, but at least I'll do the most effective and practical thing you can do to become an accurate shot with a new rifle: practice shooting it!

Allow me to echo Mr. McMillan: could someone please explain specifically how cleaning in-between shots physically alters a bore to make it shoot more accurately? Seems to me that the smoothing of the bore is going to happen by shooting rounds, not by cleaning in-between shots.

Save yourself a lot of time, money, and aggravation. Just shoot the darn thing!

[MrGee]

i guess back in the 40's 50's an 60's they didn't tell that smoking was bad for you either. i don't suspect that Gale mentioned [ i never read on him ] anything about having taper lapping or diamond lapping done to the barrel .... could be why he wasn't in favor of break-ins... but who really knows, i guess its what works for you.... i don't see anything wrong with a like cleaning now an then either,,,,,,,

[DimitriS]

I'll just post some Mcmillan qoutes about this so people dont need to look for them :).

Posted: 01-25-2000 05:19
I just read the Feb edition of rifleman. No wonder it has shrunk to a few pages when they print such garbage as the barrel break in. It's lucky it doesn't have much following now. As a life member and a barrel maker of long standing be assured I will call them on this BS!!! I can say that there are enough barrels ruined by ignorance without encouraging the masses to commit mechanical suicide with such BS.
Posted: 01-27-2000 08:57
I will make one last post on this subject and appeal to logic on this subject I think it is the height of arrogance to believe a novice can improve a barrel using a cleaning rod more than that a barrel maker can do with 30 years of experience and a * million dollars in equipment . The barrel is a relatively precise bit of machining and to imagine that it can be improved on with a bit of abrasive smeared on a patch or embedded in a bullet. The surface finish of a barrel is a delicate thing with more of them being ruined with a cleaning rod in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to use one. I would never in a million years buy a used rifle now because you well may buy one that has been improved. First give a little thought to what you think you are accomplishing with any of the break in methods. Do you really believe that if what you are doing would help a barrel that the barrel maker wouldn't have already done it. The best marketing advantage he can have is for his barrels to out perform his competitors! Of coarse he is happy to see you poking things in your barrel . Its only going to improve his sales. Get real!!!! I am not saying the following to brag because the record speak for it' self McMillan barrels won the gold at 4 straight Olympics. Won the Leach Cup eight years running. Had more barrels in the Wimbledon shoot off every year for 4 straight yearsthan any other make. Set the national 1000 yard record 17 times in one year. Held 7 world records at the same time in the NBRSA . Won the national silhouette matches 5 straight times and set 3 world records while doing that . Shot the only two 6400 scores in the history of small bore and holds a 100 yard world record that will stand for ever at .009 of one inch. All with barrels the shooter didn't have to improve on by breaking them in.
Posted: 09-25-1999 10:10
The break in fad was started by a fellow I helped get started in the barrel business . He started putting a set of break in instructions in ever barrel he shipped. One came into the shop to be installed and I read it and the next time I saw him I asked him What was with this break in crap?. His answer was Mac, My share of the market is about 700 barrels a year. I cater to the target crowd and they shoot a barrel about 3000 rounds before they change it. If each one uses up 100 rounds of each barrel breaking it in you can figure out how many more barrels I will get to make each year. If you will stop and think that the barrel doesn't know whether you are cleaning it every shot or every 5 shots and if you are removing all foreign material that has been deposited in it since the last time you cleaned it what more can you do? When I ship a barrel I send a recommendation with it that you clean it ever chance you get with a brass brush pushed through it at least 12 times with a good solvent and followed by two and only 2 soft patches. This means if you are a bench rest shooter you clean ever 7 or 8 rounds . If you are a high power shooter you clean it when you come off the line after 20 rounds. If you follow the fad of cleaning every shot for X amount and every 2 shots for X amount and so on the only thing you are accomplishing is shortening the life of the barrel by the amount of rounds you shot during this process. I always say Monkey see Monkey do, now I will wait on the flames but before you write them, Please include what you think is happening inside your barrel during break in that is worth the expense and time you are spending during break in

Hope this helps :) First time I came onto this form I was reading a copy of "The Wisdom of Gale Mcmillan" And since that day by looking around without being a member and being a member I found out alot of stuff people have told me are "good for the barrel" arnt :). TFL is great :D

Dimitri

[MrGee]

boy thats pretty hard evidence... McMillan barrels won so many awards did you read all that.. Wow.... but i have to wonder what he does inside his barrels that Winchester Savage an Remington is not doing .. no awards for them...! Hmmm maybe some kind of lapping i'm thinking...? well i guess you can't argue with a winner... but then if you think way back when hot roders did improve alot things for the modern day production cars ... i wonder if a novice barrel cleaner could or did the same for barrel makers....
.
**actually its what happened inside my barrel Before i shot ... not after !

[BusGunner007]

DIRTY GUNS are HAPPY GUNS...:p
Don't clean 'em too much...:D

I like what Mr. McMillan said.

[GhostRider32]

Thx guys. :)

[joshua]

I often wondered about those expensive match grade barrels needing breaking in so they say. The objective is to get a smooth barrel, but since match grade barrels are smooth already what's the deal. I did shoot my factory Win 70 HBV without the breaking in hoopla and the first time I read of the break in process I thought my rifle was ruined :eek: . My rifle shot very decent groups .5 on several accounts and will stay under MOA as long as I clean it after about 20 rounds. So I cleaned the bore until there is no more green/blue stuff on the patch using a copper solvent and Rem Clean oil. So I scrubbed and polished with a bit of abrasive stuff from the chamber to the muzzle. The I proceeded with the break in process with a rifle that's been shot at least 100 times maybe even more. After the break in process I noticed my accuracy got better and I can shoot more than 20 before the accuracy starts going sour. The rifle is easier to clean and I only clean with patches soaked in Hoppe's 9 first then the copper solvent and scrubbing action w/ a patch only then 3 dry patches. I did the same with a Rem PSS and it is shooting pretty good - .75 moa so far with one hand loads tested, very promising though. I'm with the breaking in a factory rifle. josh

[Fremmer]

I did shoot my factory Win 70 HBV without the breaking in hoopla and the first time I read of the break in process I thought my rifle was ruined. My rifle shot very decent groups .5 on several accounts and will stay under MOA as long as I clean it after about 20 rounds.

.5 inch groups from a non-broken in factory bore can't be possible! It was not broken-in! :D I suspect that handloading, and your ability to shoot, might have something to do with those great groups.

How much did accuracy improve after breaking-in the bore? Did the groups shrink to .25 inches? It sounds like that gun is a keeper!

I'm not agreeing with Mr. McMillan on the issue of break-in simply because I consider his opinions to be unchallengable gospel. For example, he was not real keen on the use of a rod guide for cleaning; nevertheless, I use one for cleaning my bore. I'm just trying to understand how the application of cleaning fluid in-between shots during the break-in process physically alters the bore to make it shoot more accurately.

[Tim R]

Back in 1990, I was at Perry shooting for the Navy Team. I was able to check a M-86 off the van which was at that time the Navy's sniper rifle. It fired 300 Win Mag. The thing had a McMillon barrel and the guys on the van kept their eyes on us when cleaning the M-86. I was told the rifle's barrel was only good for 1500 rounds. If I did my part, the dot in the scope would dance around the X ring at a 1000 and when the shot was fired, it was an X. I believe breaking in one of the McMillon barrels was a waste of good barrel time. However, A Remmington is no McMillon.

I broke in a LTR using the shoot 1 clean, shoot 2 clean, shoot 3 clean and shoot 5 clean for about 65 rounds. The rifle didn't start shooting until about round 364 and today it will hold 1/2 moa for about everyone, a little better for me if I'm having a good day.

My WOP upper AR has more than 1500 rounds through it on it's first season. I did a very short break in like about 5 rounds and took it to a match. The rifle shoots is all I can say.

I believe the more important thing is cleaning the copper out, not just running a brush and Hoppes down the bore. I believe a good bore cleaner that eats copper is imortant and also using JB's Bore paste is not a mistake, but I don't use a lot maybe one or two patches depending. My barrels shine will blind most people when they are clean.

The idea of break in is to smooth and shine the bore for easy cleaning and less copper build up. A copper free barrel should shoot longer before dropping off.

My $.02 peso's.