Seasoning of modern barrels

[WilliamFeldmann]

There are many debates on the topic of "seasoning" your revolver or rifle barrels will do any good or can even be accomplished. But I think there is something to be said for all the ancedotal evidence that velocities increased and cleaning was easier with years and firings under the gun's belt. The small (microscopic) pitting that is natural or occurs as a result of black powder would allow lubes and greases to soak in and build up and act like ball bearings to the bullets. This should increase velocities with time and firings. We know that rifles will get the "black bore" after a good many seasons and years. But old guns were made of old steel.

Can such a process occur with modern stainless steel, or modern blued steel for that matter? I don't know if anyone has had their stainless inlines or revolvers long enough to really have built up such a bore in their guns. I have put almost 500 balls through my 1858 Remington (blued) at about 20 rounds a session, and have never used soap on it and only used nylon brushes. I believe that it is getting faster as my slugs are hitting harder and penetrating further into my sand berm and stumps, etc. Without a chrony it is hard to say for certain. The sand and stump could be feeling the effects of time and lots of lead.

The inside of my barrel looks shiny yet. Not dull and "black bore"ish like my dad's old hawken. Do I have the start of a seasoned barrel, is my gun just speeding up, or is my stump and sand whispering sweet nothings to my ears?

Let me hear your thoughts.

 

[arcticap]

Maybe your gun barrel is breaking in and getting smoothed out just as if you were performing a lapping process while firing it.
I suppose any lubrication being used helps more than hurts while shooting it too.
What powder are you using?

 

[Elbert P . Suggins]

How do you know you are penetrating deeper by using a sandburn or stump? Gee Wiz! Best thing would throw up some 2+6's that you could depend upon a constant and then dig your lead out. Try that and see if your results are the same.

 

[WilliamFeldmann]

I use pyrodex, but would like to try the real stuff, if I can find it. I am not paying to ship it.

Elbert - I find the penetration in the sand the old fashioned way, with a shovel and determination. I figure that I pull at least 90% of the balls I fire into the sand each time I dig it up. A friend of mine has a mass mold that makes about a dozen at a time and he cleans and then melts and reuses the lead. Now if he could do that with a .380 mold...

Anyway, the sand is regular old fine grit masonry sand. I built the berm after getting out of the Air Force for my rifles. It's about 8 feet high and about 3 feet thick (horizontal thick) with good Iowa clay hillside behind it. It took about 8 loads with my borrowed little dump truck. A nice golf course rake will keep it looking real nice and stacked up where I want it. The sand won't quite stop a .300 mag but a .454 round ball with 30 grains behind it used to stop in about 16-19 inches. Lately I have been getting closer to 22 inches without changing powder (the lot numbers on my bottles are even the same) or caps Rem #10s or balls Hornady 454s or range (unless some gnomes have come out and moved my bench).

 

[Shultzhaus]

If you can close your eyes, and forget for a moment all the romance of our sport, a gun is a machine, and is subject to both break-in (seasoning), and break-downs.

 

[alemonkey]

forget for a moment all the romance of our sport

Heresy!

 

[Shultzhaus]

The word was "moment" - then it's back to fun, noise, and smoke.

 

[scrat]

Agreed its not just seasoned. its the break in. The fine burs and things you cant see. Just like a machine. When you machine an engine. then use something like a chrome molly ring on the pistons. The rings need to seat to the bore in the cylinder. This is not done as soon as you turn the key. It can take a couple hundred miles on chrome molly rings. Its the same with us shooting. Most important thing to remember is staying consistant. Meaning using the correct size balls and using the same ones all the time. If you cast then checking to make sure the size is correct then stick to the same loading habits. This will eventually improve as every ball going down the cylinder and barrel is honing the barrel to improve its performance. changing bullets all the time or not staying consistant will lengthin this time.