How To Break In A New Barrel..........

[Fatal_Bert]

@greg vess what is your process?

 

[alleycat]

will4me gave me some great guidance on breaking in my new Criterion garand barrel. Shoots incredibly consistant and easy to clean now

 

[Bear44]

I have found that a carefully done break in can make all the difference in the world. Most high end after market barrels have already been hand lapped, so it may not be necessary. On everything else, this is how I do it.

1) Clean the hell out of it first.
I use an aerosol bore cleaner and spray it from breach towards muzzle while holding the rifle muzzle down until it is running out the end. Then I run a brush through it ten time. 1 rep is down and back. When pulling it back through from the muzzle, make contact with the crown gently so as not to damage it. Then spray the barrel again with the bore cleaner until it is running freely out the muzzle.

2) Run a patch from breach to muzzle and remove the patch once it is outside the muzzle. Do not pull it back through. It's best to use a good quality jag when doing this. I run three or four patches.

3) Fire one round.

4) Repeat steps 1 through 3 until you have fired 5 rounds.

5) Repeat steps 1 and 2 then fire 3 rounds.

6) Repeat step 5 until you have fired 15 rounds.

You will have fired a total of 20 rounds. This is a PITA to do and totally worth it. The idea is to smooth out imperfections while removing the debris from the bore that those first shots create. The last thing you want is to re-embed them.

 

[cmshoot]

I have found that a carefully done break in can make all the difference in the world. Most high end after market barrels have already been hand lapped, so it may not be necessary. On everything else, this is how I do it.

1) Clean the hell out of it first.
I use an aerosol bore cleaner and spray it from breach towards muzzle while holding the rifle muzzle down until it is running out the end. Then I run a brush through it ten time. 1 rep is down and back. When pulling it back through from the muzzle, make contact with the crown gently so as not to damage it. Then spray the barrel again with the bore cleaner until it is running freely out the muzzle.

2) Run a patch from breach to muzzle and remove the patch once it is outside the muzzle. Do not pull it back through. It's best to use a good quality jag when doing this. I run three or four patches.

3) Fire one round.

4) Repeat steps 1 through 3 until you have fired 5 rounds.

5) Repeat steps 1 and 2 then fire 3 rounds.

6) Repeat step 5 until you have fired 15 rounds.

You will have fired a total of 20 rounds. This is a PITA to do and totally worth it. The idea is to smooth out imperfections while removing the debris from the bore that those first shots create. The last thing you want is to re-embed them.

This is pretty much what I do with a hand-lapped, match-grade barrel.

With a brand new factory barrel, I lap them by hand.

 

[Bear44]

This is pretty much what I do with a hand-lapped, match-grade barrel.

With a brand new factory barrel, I lap them by hand.

I used to hand lap all of them, but I got lazy. LOL!

I think hand lapping my old Bushmaster is why it's so accurate. It took over four hours to smooth that barrel out, but it really worked.

 

[slick]

 

[Twitch2120]

Shoot it and clean when accuracy falls off.

 

[Tazz]

2 boxes of Wolf steel case ammo and 5 minutes and I'm done. Shoot it like you stole it...oh wait that bikes.

My favorite!

I can die in peace now. My last unanswered question has finally been addressed properly!

 

[poopdaddy]

just shoot it,break in is a myth..

 

[Bear44]

just shoot it,break in is a myth..

Everyone has an opinion, just like they have an... well, you get the idea. LOL!