Berry's bullets suitable for breaking in a new bore?

[Uniquedot]

I am not ready to accept the concept of breaking in a 9mm handgun barrel.

For .45 acp i might agree, but have you ever cast for a 9mm handgun?

I would like to think the steels used in todays barrels are superior to what was used in black powder rifles of the 1800s.

Of course they are as the old barrels were much softer, but not as soft as linen or oiled supple leather which wore them out. I think a barrel maker would agree that copper and friction do cause wear on barrel steels.

 

[nofishbob]

Please keep in mind that it is impossible for a softer material, like brass or copper, to wear a harder material, like a steel barrel.

If there is, in fact, wear on a steel barrel with these soft bullets and cleaning brushes, it is from contaminants and grit carried along with the softer metals.

Pure copper or copper alloys will not wear steel, not at all, not even a little bit.

Bob

 

[Uniquedot]

Please keep in mind that it is impossible for a softer material, like brass or copper, to wear a harder material, like a steel barrel.

Please keep in mind that when friction is added that the softer material will indeed wear a harder material. Just think about the bolsters on your pocket knife, which is harder the bolsters and blades or the lining of your pocket? I think the brass, nickel, and steel is harder, but yet with daily carry your pockets eventually wear the bolsters down and the backs of the blades.

Wouldn't you agree that the average stone is much harder than steel? Do you think water is much harder than steel or a stone? I think not yet a stone in a river, creek or great ocean is polished and worn smooth from friction of running water. Take a hand towel and wrap it tightly around a steel bar and move it back and forth building up friction and the towels will wear out many times before the steel, but eventually the steel will wear through.

Bottom line is________ A softer material will wear out a harder material with a little help from friction. This is how a STEEL barrel is worn out from COPPER jacketed bullets.

 

[nofishbob]

Respectfully, Uniquedot, you are confusing the action of dirt and grit being carried by a soft substrate with the action of the substrate itself.

Perfectly clean water will not erode rock by wearing it. Water carrying small pebbles, sand and particulate will erode rock.by wear from the solid matter it is carrying, and water may slowly dissolve minerals in the rock due to chemical reactions.

Clear water is not abrasive. Think of a fish tank power filter...water runs though the soft plastic for years with zero wear...the plastic is not even polished.

The cotton of your pocket, on a microscopic level, contains contaminants that make it an extremely fine abrasive cloth. ( I am not insulting the cleanliness of your pockets!)

The most common definition of what relative hardness of a material is talks about the ability of one material to scratch another. Lots of scratches eventually make wear. If a material is softer than another, it cannot scratch it, hence, no wear.



Bob

 

[LiveLife]

Hmmmm ... I thought rifle barrels wore from hard carbon residue from powder combustion and not from copper jacketing.


As to pistols with surface hardened barrels like Glock and M&P, I don't worry too much about barrel wear from copper jacketing (I believe the hardness from the surface hardening treatment is like on par with tungsten carbide).


As to OP, since more factory pistol jacketed ammunition is going copper plated, you may not even know which bullets are plated vs jacketed unless you pull the rounds apart. My guess would be using Berry's plated bullets to break in a pistol barrel would be fine. If you have hardened/treated/coated barrels like Glock and M&P, I would not even worry about "breaking-in or burnishing" these barrels). I clean my barrels after each range session, so I don't worry about wear from fouling.

As to using Berry's rifle bullets to break in a rifle barrel, not sure. Perhaps Jay from Berry's Manufacturing can comment about that.

 

[Uniquedot]

Respectfully, Uniquedot, you are confusing the action of dirt and grit being carried by a soft substrate with the action of the substrate itself.

Perfectly clean water will not erode rock by wearing it. Water carrying small pebbles, sand and particulate will erode rock.by wear from the solid matter it is carrying, and water may slowly dissolve minerals in the rock due to chemical reactions.

Clear water is not abrasive. Think of a fish tank power filter...water runs though the soft plastic for years with zero wear...the plastic is not even polished.

The cotton of your pocket, on a microscopic level, contains contaminants that make it an extremely fine abrasive cloth. ( I am not insulting the cleanliness of your pockets!)

The most common definition of what relative hardness of a material is talks about the ability of one material to scratch another. Lots of scratches eventually make wear. If a material is softer than another, it cannot scratch it, hence, no wear.



Bob

Your explanations do makes sense, but could you explain to me how a cotton buffing wheel with no abrasives added will still polish (wear) a knife blade when friction is created between the two?

 

[nofishbob]

I am sorry, Uniquedot, but I don't have an explanation for that!