For those of y'all who break in new rifles, do y'all use the ammo you are going to hunt/compete with to break in the barrel? Or does it matter to y'all? Also, what is your method? I've always cleaned the rifle bore before shooting, shoot first round, then clean after every shot for the first five shots. Then after every 3 shot group for the first 40ish (39 to be exact when shooting factory ammo!) Just curious how others do it. Take care.

Clean a new barrel with solvent and dry patches until clean.

Use the ammo, or on hand loads use the same powder and bullets it will run on. 10 to 20 rounds it is fouled in.

Clean it again when it starts shooting poorly. For some barrels that is 50 rounds, for others it is 500 rounds.

Barrel "break-in" is nonsense. Clean it, foul it, run it.

^^^^^^^^^^Exactly what he said about barrel break in. If it was chambered by a good gunsmith there shouldn't be any tooling marks in the chamber/throat. If its a factory chambered rifle you'll have some rough edges from tooling, how many shots will it take to polish the tooling I have no idea it depends on the severity of the edges left from tooling or a chitty chambering job.

This is where I'm at these days as well. Oh, thirty years ago I was an absolute advocate of breaking in new barrels...no longer.

Mark

Thanks fellas. Purchased a new X-Bolt Hells Canyon Speed in 300 WM and wondered what people were doing these days.

I may be old school, but I remain convinced that any factory barrel that has been properly broke in will be far less likely to produce clean bore flyers.

Dirty barrels are also less likely to produce flyers up to a given level of powder residue when just about every shot becomes a flyer. So the question really becomes do you prefer to carry around a rifle with a clean or dirty barrel?

Kinda agree with Dan. Its up to the owner to decide

Some people use ammo breaking in barrels others doing ridiculous "ladder" tests.

again, i state, until you can do a ladder test in a machine rest, they are 99.9% useless. the .009% is for velocities.

even the greatest benchrest shooters on this forum "shank" one every now and then,

HUMAN FACTOR rules.

to each his own

the Browning? i would clean after every shot while sighting in, call it good.

once zeroed, 3 shot groups , most important with the big .300 is let the barrel cool completely between groups. heat and erosion are your enemies with your boomer.

the good news is you can go buy a .22 or .223 to shoot while the .300 cools

Benchrest shooters and most PRS guys free-recoil their rifles. They wouldn't get any useable data from a machine rest.

Good shooters know when they've "shanked" one as soon as they pull the trigger and they'll discount that round from their group.

You already drunk? Because pretty much this whole post is you not understanding what you are talking about, mixed in with pure

This is always an interesting subject because everyone has a different opinion with no real way to say...yep, this is the right way. I tend to lean on the manufacturers here. An example, Bartlein: http://bartleinbarrels.com/cleaning-and-breaking-in-guide-lines/ Krieger: https://kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin Brux: no published data and Rock Creek: no published data

Most agree that you are actually breaking in where the cut chamber and rifling meet. I tend to be in the Bartlein camp...

Now, Buzz is drinking early or severely miss informed as to what a ladder does and is used for. There isn't a person in the world that uses a ladder to break in a gun. Ignore his ignorant comments as it pertains to a ladder, he didn't know what he's talking about. Also, everyone knows he doesn't tune his rifles...he shoots published or pet loads until he finds something he likes.

To the best of my knowledge there has been no concrete evidence or study to show the benefits of break in. And as such it is up to the person to decide.

If said rifle doesn't shoot said published pet load, the rifle gets sold, and he's surfing the internet for another rifle. And it will get shot only on the ten bluebird weather days per year Texas affords.

Frank of Sniper's Hide bought two identical. 308's. One went through the "break-in" procedure, the other was cleaned, fouled, and ran. 1000, 2000, 5000 rounds later, both shot the same.

That 308 test is interesting. But...just two rifles don’t prove much. Yes, it indicates, but a bigger sample would be necessary to get closer to proof, though I do believe the conclusion.

For the record, I no longer go through a barrel break-in. I do still wonder if I should. I can’t help it.

I’ve heard it said you can take two of the very same production models and find that one shoots much better than the other straight out of the box. Back in the day when manufacturers took more time to test the accuracy of their rifles, these guns were given the title “One of a thousand” or something similar. Or maybe I’ve just watched the movie “Winchester 73” too many times.

All humor aside, I have no doubts believing that production rifles can and do vary in performance. Otherwise, spending money on custom rifles and barrels would be a total waste of money.

Chronological order, to date:

.308 button rifled
.22-250 button rifled
.260 Rem cut rifled
6.5 Creedmoor cut rifled
7 Rem Mag cut rifled
7mm-08 cut rifled
.308 button rifled
6.5 Creedmoor cut rifled
.300 Win Mag (friend's button rifled)
7mm-08 A.I. (friend's cut rifled)
7mm-08 A.I. cut rifled
.308 Win (stepson's button rifled)
.223 A.I. cut rifled

13 barrels, and I may have forgotten some.

None went through a "break-in". All were cleaned, fouled, and a load built for them. They shoot from 1/4 MOA to 1 MOA, all the time. The .260 Rem, and one of the 6.5 Creedmoor barrels went to a shot out barrel at 2500 rounds, and they shot great, until they didn't.

While he does know his stuff... a sample size of one is not sufficient ideally you would have multiple barrels from multiple manufactures in multiple calibers

Ie 20 benchmark in 308, 20 Krieger in 6.5creed, etc

Read above...

All that shows is that your barrels maintained an accuracy level you find acceptable over a period without breaking them in. It does not prove that not breaking it in has NO affect

Small sample size is a bit like 3 shot groups. It indicates, but does not prove.

And, to restate, I don’t worry about barrel break in procedures. I believe the aforementioned Frank, but he didn’t prove his conclusion.

Yeah, sure.

As rare as I shoot a 100 yard group, the .223 A.I. put down 0.063" after cleaning and fouling, on the best load for it.

What is the criteria for claiming that the two rifles are "Identical"?

Were both Barrel Blanks produced back to back by the same craftsman?
Were both Barrels Chambered, Finished, Crowned etc. at the same time?
We can't forget the Receivers, Bolts, Truing & Assembly.
How about the Stocks... Pillar & Bedding...

For the record, I'm not a barrel break in kinda guy either.
.

I must be old fashion also. Fifty years of gunsmithing I almost always fired a barrel in. Better to be safe than sorry. Some manufactures recommend barrel break in. Christensen Arms and Howa are two examples. I try not to get tied up in gunsmithing anymore as I realize I do not have the skills I once had but that said, a friend with a 9000 acre ranch asked me to do something with her new Howa 7mm-08 as it was shooting all over the place. Now Howa recommends firing a rifle in so I asked her if she did. She said no. I went through a firing in procedure and it took almost 50 rounds to get it to group pretty good. I also asked her if she cleaned the barrel before she shot it. Again she said no so I have a good feeling that could also have been a problem. Anyway, to each their own.