Breaking in a new barrel (mostly shoot lead)

[BigBore45]

So I shoot mostly lead bullets in all my pistols and a couple rifles. I have never got a new gun that was primarily made to shoot jacketed bullets ( Ruger SR 1911 ).

I am going to pick up the new Ruger tomorrow and was wondering if I should run a few hundred plated bullets though it before going to lead.

I will run some wipe-out copper remover after the break in. Do you think this will help smooth out the barrel before going to lead bullets?

I have a new 45 colt Blackhawk convertible that I went strait too lead with and it doesn't lead to badly but does lead some.

 

[eldon519]

I doubt a plated bullet would do much. Maybe a jacketed bullet or the cheaper steel case ammo sometimes uses bimetal jackets which are harder. Beartooth also makes some fire lapping kits which you could try.

All of that said, I'd just shoot it with cast bullets. If they are sized correctly and of proper hardness, you shouldn't have a problem in a semiauto unless you've got some kind of variation in the bore diameter. There isn't that much to go wrong in a semiauto.

 

[edmo01]

I don't think you will do much to "break-in" a barrel at 1911 pressures and velocities. The barrel is much, much harder than the bullets. It will easily outlast you!

Some rifle shooters will ritualistically go through a "break-in" regiment in an attempt to gain more perceived accuracy. I've never done this. I shoot them and thoroughly clean them when done and things seem to work out just fine. If the manufacturer did their job with the bore this break-in regiment only serves to provide the shooter with peace of mind..

Your break in regiment of firing XXX number of rounds is more helpful in getting the moving parts to wear into each other and to determine reliable function. That is the real goal with a defensive auto pistol.

Shoot your new gun and enjoy it! It will pick up some leading so just plan to clean it after your range trips.

Edmo

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have never heard of breaking in a handgun barrel.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have never heard of breaking in a handgun barrel.

Neither have I. IMO if you are going to shoot primarily lead bullets in your 1911 I see no reason to shoot jacketed bullets first.

Who said the Ruger was made to primarily shoot jacketed bullets? The only barrel that allegedly is a poor performer with lead bullets is a factory Glock barrel and even that I disagree with.

Please don't forget the range report and maybe a picture or two if you can.

 

[JTQ]

Who said the Ruger was made to primarily shoot jacketed bullets?

I hadn't heard that either. They've been shooting lead bullets, and lots of them, through 1911's for a very long time.

 

[tcj]

On a 1911 most of what you're "breaking in" the slide-to-frame fit, other surfaces that interact (hammer, seer, etc.) and springs in the gun & magazines.

Personally, I shoot 1 box of factory ammo in any new gun so that if there is an out-of-the-box failure the gun manufacturer can't blame the reloads. After that I just shoot my normal loads (all reloads with coated lead bullets).

 

[Steve C]

If you find your bore is rough and leads up regardless of bullet size due to it being that way you can lap your bore using bore lapping compounds. These are available from firearm product suppliers like Midway and Brownells among many others. Do a Google search on "lapping firearm barrels" to find product and information. This is probably the quickest way to get a smooth bore.

 

[BigBore45]

Well. The barrel slugs .451 on the dot. Took it out after a good cleaning and ran 100-150 rnds of Lee 228 gr. Round nose lead bullets 50% pure lead mixed with 48% ww and 2% tin. Sized .4525 and aloxed in front of 4.7 gr. Of 700-x.. It leaded up extremely bad. I'm almost positive I should of lapped it or used jacketed bullets for awhile. This stainless barrel has to have all kinds of microscopic chips in it. Getting the lead out is gonna suck.

Here is some picks after 15 mins of scrubbing with a copper brush and hoppes, probably 100 passes or more. hard to see with the picks ( to much going on to hold the camera real steady) but trust me it is leaded up pretty good. I new when I looked at the barrel this was gonna happen.

 

[bgw45]

My SR 1911 started with lead from Lazercast. Barrel shoots better than I can. Cleans up easy.

 

[RecoilRob]

A lot of new guns come with barrels that while serviceable are pretty rough and will lead. If it looks really shiny and smooth...I'd try some lead and see how it goes. If it looks dull and under the 10x pretty gnarly...it's getting some polishing before I shoot it. Thinking about it, most of my guns have gotten polished so it's no bashing on Ruger that it's leading. They make a good product at a good price which would be considerably higher if you had to pay someone to sit and lap barrels all day. Lap it yourself and then it should shoot the lead without grief.

 

[BigBore45]

yeah I was going to but the above posts about just shoot it got me on a lazy idea. Im not bashing on Ruger either, Ruger is awesome and its a good tight gun that's really accurate.

I duno what they were talking about in the above posts about never hearing of breaking in a barrel or polishing it before shooting lead, I wonder if they really shoot lead bullets or really get there guns clean?

O well lesson learned, I guess I will be shooting some plated bullets to get the lead out. then ill clean it with some wipeout and lap it like I should have in the first place.

 

[eldon519]

What kind of hardness are you getting with that alloy? I would think with that much pure lead and depending on what type of wheel weights (clip on vs stick on), your alloy might be too soft, but that is just a guess.

Also bevel or plainbase?

 

[BigBore45]

my lee tester is running around 13.5-14 BHN they shoot good in my Blackhawk 45colt/45acp convertible and a springfield 1911 and a springfield xds and 2 new model 45 colt vaqueros. they are plain based lee mould 228 rn. its a 228gr round nose 1 lube groove bullet.

 

[eldon519]

Are you quenching them? That seems much harder than I would expect.

 

[BigBore45]

yes I water drop them. they hit around 1000 FPS in the 45 colt so I started water dropping.


air dropped they run around 11-12 BHN. after they set a few days to a week they gain about 1/2 to 3/4 of a point higher on the BHN tests.

the water dropped don't gain much at all after a few days of setting

 

[eldon519]

Maybe you're right and it did need a polishing/firelapping of some sort. I can't say I've ever noticed that problem in an auto before. I still question if plated would do the trick though since they usually have a soft lead core and the plating is too thin to really provide much hardness. Jacketed or the really cheap bi-metal jacketed would probably provide the most polishing effect.

 

[BigBore45]

I hand lapped it about 100 passes with 800 grit valve grinding compound. It looks a lot better., I think I'm going to run a few hundred xtps through it and retry lead. After some checking it seems stainless is more apt to micro chipping during the machining process and harder to make smooth. Just a typical rough barrel I think is the culprit. I will report back soon. I shoot around 700-1000 rounds a month so it shouldn't take to long.

 

[BigBore45]

On a side note, after the hand lapping it was a lot smoother to run a patch down the barrel and it still slugged at .451 on the money. Seemed a bit easier to slug too, but could just be all the muscles I'm building removing lead and hand lapping it lol

 

[ljnowell]

yeah I was going to but the above posts about just shoot it got me on a lazy idea. Im not bashing on Ruger either, Ruger is awesome and its a good tight gun that's really accurate.



I duno what they were talking about in the above posts about never hearing of breaking in a barrel or polishing it before shooting lead, I wonder if they really shoot lead bullets or really get there guns clean?



O well lesson learned, I guess I will be shooting some plated bullets to get the lead out. then ill clean it with some wipeout and lap it like I should have in the first place.

I literally shoot thousands of lead bullets through several of my handguns without as much as a single pass of a brush. No leading issues at all. That's with soft swaged lead and cast. I've never lapped a barrel in my life.

Also, your load is pretty darned got compared to mine with 700x. I use 4.6 grains under a 200 grain bullet. Load development may be in order for that pistol.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I bought a new Colt National Match January 2015. I have only put about 3k rounds thru it. All of them lead. I have only cleaned it a time or two. It has no lead in the barrel.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I doubt it's the barrel causing the leading. How did you figure the hardness numbers? When the leading is at the muzzle end of the barrel it usually indicates you are running out of lube before the bullet leaves the barrel. I shoot 12 BHN bullets in my 1911 @900/925 fps all the time with zero leading, even when the barrel was brand new.

 

[Shimitup]

I just got back from my second outing with my new Ruger lightweight commander. I shot a few jacketed first, then a box of MBC 200 SWC wax lubed over 4.5 gr Bullseye, not a trace of lead tonight. I broke the gun in last week with a box of MBC 200 Hytek then a box of jacketed and a few more lead. the bore looked beautiful both times.

 

[BigBore45]

I figured the hardness with a Lee gauge that goes in my single stage press.

I also have shot this load out of several other guns without leading.

After some research as I stated above, it's stainless metal and it machines differently than other barrel metal, as a result it is more apt to micro chipping and those chips will cause it to catch lead and begin the leading right away.

I'll report back after I finish smoothing the barrel out with jacketed bullets. Have an IDPA shoot at 1:00 today so it will see a couple hundred xtps today.

 

[BigBore45]

I don't know where you checked your load data but on hodgdons website 4.5 gr of 700-X is the starting load for a 230 gr round nose. With 5.0 grains being the max. In my Lee and lyman book it's showing 5.0 and 4.9 as max load.

I have crony data out of my Springfield 1911 that shows an average velocity of 847 with a SD of 17 fps.

I believe at 4.5 grains my Springfield xds would not cycle 100% of the time
Don't quote me on that I developed this load awhile ago, I remember one of them not cycling correctly at a lower charge weight. Might of been my old RIA I do not have anymore...