The wisdom of Gale McMillan

[Unlicensed Dremel]

Glad you stickied; thanks.

[ireload2]

It may disappoint you to know that McMillan did not know everything.
He made really fine barrels. I doubt that he has as much experience with crappy factory barrels as some of us. I know for a fact that some rougher barrels do benefit from some break in shooting. If you only shoot the finest custom barrels you will probably not have that experience either. But try 50 or 60 factory barreled rifles and see what happens from round one to about round 200.

Quoting McMillian
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

[Jim Watson]

I have broken in two name brand replacement barrels by the makers' recommendations. While doing the shoot and wipe ritual, I was also chronographing the loads and adjusting the scopes to be ready for match shooting. So those were shots that would have been fired anyhow and "the only thing you are accomplishing is shortening the life of the barrel by the amount of rounds you shot during this process." does not hold water.

[BusGunner007]

Great thread!

[bill460]

Originally Posted by dZ

Do your rifle a favor and clean it well after every group and forget all the break in BS

Agree 100%. Best statement Gale McMillian every made. And none more true. "Barrel break in's" are the biggest bunch of complete B.S. ever bestowed on the modern shooter.

[Don Fischer]

WOW! That was great. I agree with most of it, especially breaking in a rifle. My understanding years ago about barrels and stress relieving was that all barrels today are stress relieved. I had one in 1967 that wasn't and it widened the group with every shot! I hate that up pressure on the forend and always remove it I don't go through many rifle's so maybe that's why it works for me. I tried breaking in one barrel and to this day don't really know why. It was my 6.5x06 with a Shilen match grade barrel! That's the only one I every did that with and never tried it again. Something that got my attention was his reference to nylon brush's. Turned a rifle over to cast bullet's and was advised to get every speck of fouling out. Used Sweet's on it and just couldn't get a clean patch to quit coming out blue! Finely dawned on me that what I was seeing was the reaction of the cleaner on the brass brush! Switched to nylon and it went away right now. Sound's like I'd really be better off with copper brush's though.

So I'm thinking this all came out of one book? What's the name of it and where might I find it? This was really super. One thing I will say about worn out barrels is that worn out to a competitive shooter is much different than to a hunter, maybe even a gopher shooter. While a quarter inch group won't win many match's if any, it's sure kill a lot of gopher's. My 30-06 barrel is trash. Got if from a dear friend when he died. A gift to himself getting out of the Army in 1944. He shot a lot of corrosive primers in it and it's full of pit's. But even though, it still keeps group's at 1 1/4" and sometimes better, fine for a hunting rifle. Please just don't ask to look down my barrel, it's a night mare!

Have to add about fiberglass, plastic stocks. I hate them. I suspect they are more stable than wood but I think a wood stock properly sealed will not give a swelling problem. And I have pretty much never saw one I couldn't improve on with a good bedding job. The problem I have with those plastic stocks is they are so damn ugly! I hate being seen with one. I think the best idea for stock may well be a wood laminate stock but I find them less that attractive also. But I did see a walnut on walnut one years ago that I liked. Down side is weight! Friend had one in a Rem 660 and that was a heavy rifle.