Barrel Break In

I have read that some people have some intricate break in procedure and some just clean and shoot.

I guess I fall into the “clean and shoot camp.” I just don’t see how shoot and clean every round or every few rounds will help. Clean the barrel, run a box of ammo through it and give it good cleaning afterwards.
Just my $0.02.

I whole heartedly agree with BobABQ, in fact the first time I took my Creed Moor out to the range here recently I first cleaned out the barrel of manufacturers oil and gunk really well, and then fired 20 rounds of hand loads, and about a half box of factory ammo, and finally got my zero after about the first 6 rounds at 100 yards. Took it home and gave it a very thorough cleaning and put it up pending deer season.

I used to work for a custom rifle builder. He sponsored a few competitive shooters, and they would come in yearly for servicing, usually a barrel change. So I asked them what they're break in procedure was...and to a person, it was shoot the hell out of it and clean.

I hear a lot about barrel break-in.

Not so much, about keeping your barrel clean, so it doesn't ruin it's accuracy. I would say "Worry less about barrel break-in, and more about regular barrel cleaning."

DazedandConfuzed said:

I used to work for a custom rifle builder. He sponsored a few competitive shooters, and they would come in yearly for servicing, usually a barrel change. So I asked them what they're break in procedure was...and to a person, it was shoot the hell out of it and clean.

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What type of competition ? Makes a difference.

Heat and dirt are the two things that will shorten the life of any barrel but especially those chambered with high pressure rounds. Keep them clean and keep them cool; aside from not shooting, there's really little else you can do this side of Voo Doo "break -in" incantations.

I break in all my bolt action rifle barrels regardless of cost and definitely see benefit from doing it.barrels are much easier to clean out later on and you learn about that particular barrel far as at what point it shoots best or accuracy falls off but main thing fouling doesn't stick hardly at all and it's much easier to clean out after a range session.
I do the 2 wet patches, brush ten times with bore brush then dry out, shoot and repeat.
Fire one clean,fire two then clean fire there and clean and so on.if fouling gets bad you will need to keep round count down between cleaning until fouling isn't sticking as badly.some barrels require more Time and effort than others

I break in mine with initial cleaning.
Then with 10 rounds, running a lubed patch after each round. Letting the barrel cool between each shot.
All before I sight in whatever optic I'm going to use.
That's what Howa recommends for their rifles.

red rick said:

Do y’all think it is necessary to break in a new budget rifles barrel . If you do , what is your procedure ?

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clean the rifle/bore before range day.

for bolt action, get 2 to 5 boxes of ammo, zero the rifle and enjoy the day at the range getting used to the recoil and trigger pull. Clean and oil the rifle. Done, rifle is broken in.

for semiautos, 3 to 4 mags, zero the rifle, enjoy the day at the range, do a mag dump (hard with ammo prices nowadays) clean and oil the rifle. Done.

I’m a simple guy, if it hits what i aim at after zeroing then it’s good to go.

Dibbs said:

I hear a lot about barrel break-in.

Not so much, about keeping your barrel clean, so it doesn't ruin it's accuracy. I would say "Worry less about barrel break-in, and more about regular barrel cleaning."

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taliv said:

Precisely the opposite of this.

the reason I break in my custom practical precision rifles is so I do not have to worry about regular barrel cleaning.

regular barrel cleaning isn’t possible for some sports with high round counts. And it changes your velocity until you foul it back in.

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I’m with @taliv - cleaning is just an opportunity to induce change in a bore. When barrels are “living,” cleaning means the barrel has to be fouled again with non-competition shots, wasting components and barrel life, and when barrels are “dying,” cleaning typically induces slips in velocity which may not have slipped for 100 more rounds the barrel was left alone.

When I prioritize making time for break-in, I shoot 1-3 and push out copper and carbon for each until 50 rounds, then push out carbon every 3-5 until 150. Then I start load development, knowing the barrel should be reaching the phase where velocity stabilizes and I can rely on the barrel to shoot the same every round, every hundred rounds, every match. At that point, I only clean every 300-400 rounds. Going past 500 tends to bite me in the ass, so I don’t, and 300-400 coincides well with having shot a little practice, load confirmation, and some permutation of one two day match with extra practice, two one day matches, or a one day and a two day match.

When I’m foolish and don’t break in an extra barrel in the winter and I’m stuck doing a swap mid-summer, I might end up just blasting 100 rounds of an arbitrary load, cleaning carbon, firing 10 to foul, 25 to develop the load, 10 to confirm zero, 5 to confirm chrony, and go to a match... ain’t ideal, but it’s worked when I’ve painted myself into a corner.

Once again this thread ended where it always does.
Camp 1 will follow mfg or barrel makers recommendations and try to ring out the best accuracy and ease of cleaning possible

Camp 2 are non believers and are OK with whatever accuracy the gun has and are willing to put up with copper fouling. From my 50 years on the range, most were from the hunting persuasion. Today you can add the 'blasters' to the list.
'Blasters' are the group that wants to do mag dumps whether they hit anything or not or are people happy when the hit paper plates at 50yds.