How do I break in a new Mini-14 SS barrel?

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socalbeachbum

socalbeachbum

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I know I've see articles on breaking in a new high grade barrel. I ordered a new stainless Mini-14 and am wondering if I should do a proper break in procedure? I know most would maybe say just load it and shoot it, but I'm wondering if there's a better way?
 
Nothing special needs to be done. I wouldn't get it too heated up. No particular reason for that just wouldn't get it very hot.
 
socalbeachbum said:
I know I've see articles on breaking in a new high grade barrel. I ordered a new stainless Mini-14 and am wondering if I should do a proper break in procedure? I know most would maybe say just load it and shoot it, but I'm wondering if there's a better way?
Click to expand...

You will get a lot of back and forth on this one. Problems with new barrels can be sharp corners, machining marks, and burrs left over from the manufacturing process. These cause copper fouling from shooting your breakin rounds that can be a pain to remove but sending those bullets down the barrel also act to smooth those rough edges and to improve long term accuracy.

My advice is just watch for the copper buildup in the barrel and clean with a good copper remover when you deem it necessary.

Some go as far as to lap the barrel themselves prior to use (you have to do this one right or you can damage the barrel) or use firelapping techniques (get educated before doing this one as well). Again, controversy exists on this issue with people taking different positions.

FWIW, cold hammer forged barrels that Ruger makes for their rifles are supposedly less problematic on barrel roughness (along with other benefits) so it may not need much to break it in. They use very heavy machinery to hammer the barrel around a mandrel to create the rifling versus cutting the steel in the barrel with a button or cutting hook. CHF versus cut rifling is another one of those call to battle on flame postings.

My take is that your rifle will tell you what you need to do. Bad fouling causing poor accuracy--get more aggressive on cleaning or other methods. Don't see fouling and accuracy is fine, then just treat it just like your others on cleaning etc.
 
I had two early stainless Minis, from NIB. I just sighted them in and did a little cleaning. After that, they worked well on jackrabbits, coyotes and tin cans.

FWIW, I started shooting centerfire in 1950; I never heard of "break-in" until from the Internet in 1999. My gunsmith uncle never mentioned it, and he'd been in the centerfire shooting game since the 1920s. So, IMO, worrying about it is a waste of psychic energy. :)

Good marketing technique for selling gun-cleaning paraphernalia, however. :D
 
"...a new high grade barrel..." No Mini-14 has one of those. Either try a box of as many brans of ammo as you can or work up a load and go shooting.
"...left over from the manufacturing process..." All of which should have been dealt with by the QC Department. Any sharp corners, machining marks or burrs left there means the QC people either didn't do their job or there was no QC. Removing all of that stuff is a standard step in the manufacturing of anything.
"...until from the Internet..." Lotta stuff wasn't heard of until there was an internet. Can't imagine how we survived. snicker.
 
Sunray said:
"...a new high grade barrel..." No Mini-14 has one of those. Either try a box of as many brans of ammo as you can or work up a load and go shooting.
"...left over from the manufacturing process..." All of which should have been dealt with by the QC Department. Any sharp corners, machining marks or burrs left there means the QC people either didn't do their job or there was no QC. Removing all of that stuff is a standard step in the manufacturing of anything.
"...until from the Internet..." Lotta stuff wasn't heard of until there was an internet. Can't imagine how we survived. snicker.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the pricing game at the low end means that something has to give--some people have even documented getting rifles with no rifling in parts, chatter marks, etc. With many low end AR barrels approaching $70-80 dollars, I suspect that the real QC happens when a customer returns one for being defective. Without a borescope examination, a lot of folks don't notice these things until the barrel fouls quickly or bad accuracy obtains. Even crowns on new rifles at the low end often have bad marks that are readily apparent to the naked eye. The rush to low prices which also means manufacturers lowering costs through automation often results in inferior products. Recently, a poster noted that a brand new M------ lever action had canted sights as shipped, and the factory repairs to it made things worse. Summation, you get what you pay for and sometimes you pay for things other than money.
 
Very few mass produced rifles have had their barrels properly lapped, which means that the bore is as-machined. More often than not this means that bullets will slowly polish the surface and it usually takes a couple of hundred rounds before it's smooth enough for excessive copper fouling to stop.

Personally I prefer to hand-lap barrels, a routine I've had for some three decades, and when done properly the results vary from good to great. No fouling to speak of, muzzle velocity increase of 20...100fps depending on the rifle and quite a bit more consistency both in fps and accuracy. Casting a lead lap into a pre-heated barrel requires some care and gauging the barrel beforehand is a good idea, but the lapping process itself isn't that difficult and while ruining a barrel is possible, it takes quite a bit of effort. What you're aiming at is uniform resistance from the chamber to 3-4" from the muzzle and slightly tighter feeling muzzle end. I've also moly-coated some barrels after lapping but haven't found much meaningful difference.

So it's all up to you. Learning to lap a barrel is an experience but not absolutely necessary unless there are serious burrs or other irregularities that shouldn't be there in the first place. Bullets do (some of) the job for you after a while, too. Hand lapping has been mystified a lot lately but all in all it's a fairly simple job that can potentially improve the barrel quite a bit. Even a finished one, in spite of myths that only barrel blanks (hah) should/could be lapped properly.
 
add me to the "shoot it" list. I did make sure to clean all the copper out of the gun between range sessions for the first few months i owned it, but it chewed up thousands of rounds in that time period, and never really got any more accurate. It was a consistent 1.5" gun with everything besides cheap wolf ammo.

One thing that actually made a difference with my mini-14 was removing and torquing the gas block after we shot a thousand rounds or so (all in one day with no malfunctions besides the mag falling out cause i didnt lock it properly). I also installed a reduced gas bushing at the time, tho so that might have helped...
 
My suggestion is to clean it good before you shoot and take a bore snake with you and pull it though after every 5 rounds until you get to 50 rounds. I like to clean my barrels both old and new with Brasso and a plastic brush just to make sure I get all the rough edges off and all of the machining particles from between the grooves. I also pull the brush from the chamber end to the muzzle end and not from the muzzle end first just to protect the muzzle from excess wear. Keep the magazine in the gun and push your CLEAN rod through the barrel. Screw your bush on and pull. The magazine keeps the brush from falling to the floor and it holds the bolt open. (no slammed fingers)

I know, I probably take it too far but you never get a chance to break in a barrel once you start randomly sending bullets down range. Just my method.
kwg
 
Load it, shoot it, clean when dirty. The same applies to even the most expensive custom target barrel. There are those who used to try to convince us that a complex procedure of firing "X" number of shots, cleaning, then fire "Y" number of shots then clean and repeat for the 1st 100-200 rounds would make the rifle more accurate. That has all been disproved.

All barrels, all of them, settle down and shoot better after 100-200 rounds have been through them and your Ruger will be no exception. But the barrels can't count, they don't know how many rounds have been through them between cleanings. You can make a good argument that a new barrel will be easier to clean if it is cleaned more often during the 1st 100-200 rounds. But it won't be any more accurate if you clean it after every 5 shots than if you wait until 200 rounds are down the barrel before you clean it.
 
FL-NC said:
Do this. A mini 14 is far from "match grade", even if they are priced like they should be.
Click to expand...
Neither is my Holland & Holland double rifle for that matter, so price tag alone is hardly a yardstick for anything even intended to be match grade or not.
 
hq said:
Neither is my Holland & Holland double rifle for that matter, so price tag alone is hardly a yardstick for anything even intended to be match grade or not.
Click to expand...
Your H&H is likely a custom built rifle. It may be a collector's piece, for all I know. A mini 14 is mass produced on an assembly line for the past 40+ years. I bought mine new in 1986 for $250. To me, they will always be $250 rifles, regardless of what the price tag says.
 
My experience with Ruger barrels is any break in other than just using FMJ ammo is pointless and a waste of time.

The first barrel I didn't do anything but shoot it. The second barrel I "broke in" using Howa instructions as none came with the Ruger.

Guess what. I could not detect any difference in accuracy or fouling.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions here.

I did notice a considerable amount of grime in the barrel after each shot up to 20 rounds. All this tells me is eventually the barrel gets broke in, it just happens faster with a one round and clean procedure.
 
Last edited:
hq said:
Very few mass produced rifles have had their barrels properly lapped, which means that the bore is as-machined. More often than not this means that bullets will slowly polish the surface and it usually takes a couple of hundred rounds before it's smooth enough for excessive copper fouling to stop.

Personally I prefer to hand-lap barrels, a routine I've had for some three decades, and when done properly the results vary from good to great. No fouling to speak of, muzzle velocity increase of 20...100fps depending on the rifle and quite a bit more consistency both in fps and accuracy. Casting a lead lap into a pre-heated barrel requires some care and gauging the barrel beforehand is a good idea, but the lapping process itself isn't that difficult and while ruining a barrel is possible, it takes quite a bit of effort. What you're aiming at is uniform resistance from the chamber to 3-4" from the muzzle and slightly tighter feeling muzzle end. I've also moly-coated some barrels after lapping but haven't found much meaningful difference.

So it's all up to you. Learning to lap a barrel is an experience but not absolutely necessary unless there are serious burrs or other irregularities that shouldn't be there in the first place. Bullets do (some of) the job for you after a while, too. Hand lapping has been mystified a lot lately but all in all it's a fairly simple job that can potentially improve the barrel quite a bit. Even a finished one, in spite of myths that only barrel blanks (hah) should/could be lapped properly.
Click to expand...

With three decades of experience, you could probably get a job here in the U.S. at the premium barrel makers here lapping barrels. Thanks for sharing your procedures.
 
I know most would maybe say just load it and shoot it

You probably mean 'shoot it after a cursory cleaning', which is fine, but just in case: I'd at least pull a patch through it. I once bought a brand new mini and found a six inch piece of cable tie halfway up the barrel. That would make for an unhappy first trip to the range.
 
I have a long thread with many pictures showing what difference it makes and I notice most of the nay Sayers were strangely silent in that thread. I'd also submit that most people including just about everyone prior to 10-15 years ago lacked the ability to notice the difference for several reasons not the least of which was that instrumentation wasn't really available to most people.

That said I would only clean a ruger barrel and then shoot it. If there is a difference for a ruger barrel I doubt anyone will ever know as it's not exactly a precision rifle.
 
Here is what I do. When I first get a rifle I look through the owners manual. If there is a break in procedure, I usually do what it says, if not, I take it out and shoot. If you want to go through a barrel break in procedure, Savage rifles has one in their owners manual, might not be the same manufacturer, but it should work.
 
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