breaking in new rings without ammo

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Hjalkarsson

Hjalkarsson

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when you have a brand new BCG, it runs extremely sluggish for the first 50 rounds. gets up to normal speed after 100 rounds. fully broken in after 150 rounds.

I did that with the first brand new BCG I got, but with the second one I realized that ammo is hard to come by. so instead I worked the bolt back and forth 150 times. took it to the range. yep it works like it's broken in.

but, that one time I rebuilt the engine in my car, the Hayne's manual said to seat the piston rings by taking it on the street, keep it in gear, and speed up and slow down (at low RPM's) so there is load on the rings in both directions, so they get seated properly.

does it make a difference if you just work the bolt back and forth instead of actually shooting it 150 times, which puts a load on it?
 
It may make a small difference. It is unlikely that the difference will matter.

When times are good, I prefer to shoot guns "in". When times are lean, I make do.
 
The difference would be that 150 cycles by hand would equal, say, 75 cycles (arbitrary number) from ammunition. You cant cycle it as fast by hand. That means forces are less on the parts that have to push each other in tangential directions, I.e. the bcg resetting the hammer, bolt rotation, etc. Think of it like sanding by hand vs on a belt sander. Same end result, but one is slower to achieve.
 
Varminterror said:
Much ado about nuthin’....

Go shoot your rifle.

(And make some phone calls for yourself to manufacturers about proper use of go/no-go gauges).
Click to expand...
Agreed. If your AR won't make it through the first magazine then it's borderline reliable, no matter how many rounds you put through it. The exception is if you are feeding it mediocre ammo.
 
I found that my AR wouldn't cycle my reloads the first time I shot it, kept jamming. So I used some brand new american eagle, and it ran great, then went back to reloads, and this time it ran just fine.
 
I’ve never noticed a rifle being “sluggish” in the first fifty rounds. In fact, the only time I’ve ever seen an AR with sluggish cycling it was due to being dirty. Hand cycling may help round off some sharp edges here and there, but not enough to matter without a LOT of hand cycling. Just go shoot it and stop worrying about it.
 
This is new to me, too. With 7 ARs now sitting in the safe and at least four spare BCG’s that go with them... replacing rings when needed and even using coil gas rings rather than split rings...I’ve never heard of this issue.... same for the M-4 full autos and spare BCGs we have at the office.

I hear about sumptin’ new everyday...

Stay safe.
 
I can tell a difference in slickness between newer ARs and ones with say 10k rounds on them. I cannot tell a difference between round 1 and round 50.

if you can, my guess is you have some sort of factory applied preservative you need to hose off with brake cleaner and then lube properly.
Poor machining might be another culprit but seems like it would take a lot more than 50 cycles to smooth it
 
Well, the AR's I put together for myself, I spend time polishing/dehorning key parts and areas, so it's probably a waste in the way I do things. But I've never had an issue associated with newness, but I'm particular about what parts go into my builds.

The older I get the more time I take for the small things, like mentioned above. It gives me something to do and satisfaction in how it feels and performs.
 
I have had 3 brand new BCG's to break in. 2 were Toolcraft and 1 was Del-ton. they all did the same thing. run very sluggish for 50 rounds (probably would not lock back on empty mag), loose after 100 rounds, normal after 150 rounds.

so today I called 4 gun shops and asked about this. all 4 confirmed that yes that's how it goes. 2 told me it takes 200 rounds to break in a BCG.

and here is a fourth BCG I have, which is brand new and has not yet been shot.

explain this.

bolt-hang.jpg
 
Hjalkarsson said:
I have had 3 brand new BCG's to break in. 2 were Toolcraft and 1 was Del-ton. they all did the same thing. run very sluggish for 50 rounds (probably would not lock back on empty mag), loose after 100 rounds, normal after 150 rounds.

so today I called 4 gun shops and asked about this. all 4 confirmed that yes that's how it goes. 2 told me it takes 200 rounds to break in a BCG.

and here is a fourth BCG I have, which is brand new and has not yet been shot.

explain this.

View attachment 963512
Click to expand...
The gun shops want to sell you ammo. I don’t believe for a second that anybody can tell a difference between round 1 and round 151 on an AR-15. I’ve shot too many, built too many and worked on too many. If it makes you feel better to think that you can tell a difference, knock yourself out.
 
marksman13 said:
The gun shops want to sell you ammo. I don’t believe for a second that anybody can tell a difference between round 1 and round 151 on an AR-15. I’ve shot too many, built too many and worked on too many. If it makes you feel better to think that you can tell a difference, knock yourself out.
Click to expand...
explain this.

bolt-hang.jpg
 
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