BREAKING IN A NEW RIFLE

[shortpants]

I'm buying a new Browning 300wsm. I'm just curious to how you guys break in your new rifles? Final Finish?

[coues7]

Your gonna get a million answers on this one. Some will say shoot and clean, shoot and clean: 15 times. Then shoot 3 and clean, shoot 3 and clean: 10 times. Then your done. Others will say shoot the heck out of her' and be done.

 

I know this isn't helpful but for what's it's worth I had a custom AR15 upper built for me and the instructions said the 1st thing I mentioned. So I'd go with that!

[azryan]

which browning rifle is it? is it a BAR...or one of the A bolt's

[Guest Ernesto C]

There is no specific procedure to breiking-in a new barrel/rifle.Every body has their own method. If you get the gun see if it comes with breik-in procedures from the manufacturer and follow them.

 

My suggestion in the following: since you are going to be shooting a Magnum caliber,fire 3 rounds and then let the barrel cool down;clean the barrel. Then fire only one shot and let the barrel cool down again but do not clean it.Again fire one shot only and let the barrel cool down and so on and so on.One shot groups only.

You are going to be doing this while sigthing-in your rifle/scope.Remember one shot groups only,let the barrel cool down after every shot and do not exceed 40 rounds per session.You can clean your rifle once you are done or when you get home.

 

Magnum calibers shoot at super high velocities and heat increases wear and erosion.................like I said before every one has their own method but with a Magnum caliber that's what I do. With my 270 and 30-06 I shoot 3 shot groups. God bless.

 

Ernesto C

[.270]

i usually start out by droppin' it 3 or 4 times and then draggin it around in a scabbard on my horse in the brush. or were you talkin' about shootin' em? with most rifles, especially for hunting, just shoot it. a lot of paper shooters have a set protocol of "lapping" bullets, light loads, different types of cleaning brushes, etc., but it really doesn't have a lot of effect, unless you're looking for an improvement of thousandths of an inch in group size. proper trigger pull, good bedding and good ammo that your rifle likes should do what you want without a lotta worries about smoothin' out the lands. Lark.

[shortpants]

which browning rifle is it? is it a BAR...or one of the A bolt's

A-bolt, S.S.

[More D]

Nice

 

 

 

[DEERSLAM]

I didn't know or ever heard of breaking in a barrel years ago and just shot my rifles. They all shot good with the right loads. Then I started having custom rifles built and they have specific barrel break in instructions. It is time consuming and a pain in the *$& but these rifles shoot amazing. Now it could be that it is the top of the line barrel or it could be because of the fine tuned crisp trigger or the perfect bedding or a combination of all of these things but I believe if you want to get the best performance outta your new rig, break the barrel in. And when spending a good chunk of change why not do it right.

 

Here are the instructions that I have;

 

Use a one piece cleaning rod with a snug fitting bore guide and properly fitting patches. Use plain copper jacketed bullets for the break-in and several dozen shots afterwards. (I understand this as no coated bullets.) Use Hoppe's #9, Hoppe's BR, Shooter Choice, Shooters Choice Copper Remover, Butch's Bore Shine, or similar solvents to remove the powder fouling (black or grey in color). Use Sweet's 7.62 Solvent or Barnes CR10 to remove the copper fouling (blue or green in color). The goal of this procedure is to prevent fouling build up, especially copper fouling, in the early life of the barrel.

 

Step 1; Push a hoppes patch through the barrel, letting it fall off before withdrawing the cleaning rod to remove metal dust, chips and dirt.

 

Step 2; Push a clean dry patch through the barrel to remove remaining particles and dry out the hoppes.

 

Step 3; Using "3 in 1" or a similar light oil not containg graphite, moly, silicone or teflon (hoppes #9 works well) push a lightly oiled patch through the barrel insuring that the lands and grooves are completely coated, with no runs or drips left inside the berrel. Dry out the chamber.

 

Step 4; Fire one shot.

 

Step 5; Push a hoppes patch through the barrel letting it fall off as in step 1. Use another hoppes patch to scrub back and forth 5 to 10 strokes. Let the barrel soak about 5 min. Drying patch will be black or gray.

 

Step 6; Using a new or new condition bronze brush, and a dropper or squeeze bottle to wet the brush, never dunk the brush into the solvent, scrub the bore 5 to 10 times and let soak for 5 min. Dry the barrel with a clean dry patch. Never reverse direction with brush inside barrel. Never use a stainless steel brush.

 

Step 7; Using sweets 7.62 or barnes cr10, wet a clean slightly looser fitting patch and scrub the bore back and forth 10-15 times. It is ok if the sweets foams alittle because oxygen helps in the copper removal. Let the barrel soak no longer than 5 min. Remove sweets or barnes with a clean dry patch. If there are any traces of blue color on the dry patch repeat this step until there is no blue found on the drying patch. It may require 4 or 5 seperate treatments.

 

Step 8; Once no blue is found on the sweets or barnes drying patch, oil the barrel as in step 1.

 

Step 9; Fire a second shot.

 

Step 10; Repeat steps 5,6,7 and 8

 

Step 11; Fire a third shot.

 

Step 12; Repeat steps 5,6,7 and 8

 

Step 13; Now fire 3 consecutive shots without cleaning between shots.

 

Step 14; Repeat steps 5,6,7 and 8

 

Step 15; Repeat step 13

 

Step 16; Repeat steps 5,6,7 and 8

 

Step 17; Repeat step 13. There should total 12 shots through the barrel now.

 

Step 18; Repeat steps 5,6 and 7. The amount of copper (blue color) removed by the sweets or barnes should be greatly reduced by now. If not go back to shooting singles or triples (step 3 or 13) and continue the break-in until the wet sweets or barnes patches come out of the barrel with a light blue-gray color and the drying patches come out with only faint traces of blue or light gray. Once you can fire 3 to 5 shots and only get a pale blue or gray at the end of the first sweets or barnes treatment, as in step 7, more consecutive shots can be fired between cleanings. It is recommended to not fire more than 20 shots without a thorough cleaning. Steps 5,6 and 7 can be used as a normal cleaning routine.

 

 

WOW it's a pain but I pick a day when I have plenty of time and invest the time. Most will think this is extreme and it may be for a huntin rig but with the price of the custom guns I've had built I'll keep doing it.

[shortpants]

Lot's of good info. I think I'll stick to the DEERSLAM method. This is the way I've always heard to do it. I still have'nt heard anybody mention Final Finish? Must be a reason.

[Red Rabbit]

Deerslam's method sounds typical. Don't use a brass brush with the Sweets or other copper remover, as the brass has copper and you will get a false blue reading.

Regarding step three, I would run a dry patch or two through the bore to remove any excess oil before firing.

If the barrel seems rough and fouls a lot after breaking in, or doesn't give acceptable accuracy, then I'd use TFF. It helped my 260 a little.

 

I think the break-in and TFF may help a factory barrel more than a custom barrel that has been lapped and polished.

 

RR

[DEERSLAM]

Don't use a brass brush with the Sweets or other copper remover, as the brass has copper and you will get a false blue reading.

RR

 

Good point Doug. I don't use the brass brush either during regular cleaning but was told by the gunsmith not to skip step 6 on initial break-in.

[firstcoueswas80]

When Doug and i were breaking in my Kimber 22-250, we did shoot one shot,clean one shot clean etc for the first 10 shots. then we shot 2 shots and clean for the next 10 shots. then, i shot between 3-5 round groups and cleaned after each group. the gun is at about 80 rounds now and the groups are still getting tighter.

[billrquimby]

I'm proud to say I have used Lark's method on at least 15-16 new rifles over the past fiftyyears and have never regretted doing so.

 

Guns to me are merely tools, like shovels and hammers. I am afraid I don't take good care of any of them.

 

My favorite rifle, a 7mm Rem Mag that I stocked myself from a piece of walnut we cut in Texas and a Czech-made Mauser barreled action, has taken at least 40-45 head of large game on five continents and it has never had a cleaning rod run down its bore. It puts my reloads into a 1.5-inch group at 100 yards, and that's good enough for me.

 

All I ask of my rifles is to put a bullet consistently into a kill zone the size of a dinner plate at distances of no more than 300 yards.

 

So far, all of mine still do. I presume Lark can say the same thing.

 

Bill Quimby

[azryan]

thats a nice gun you just got yourself...im looking to buy the BAR .270 or .300wsm

[COOSEFAN]

dang, I just read through all the reply's and read Deerslams whole procedure and was feeling pretty stoopid! I have never even thought much about breaking-in a rifle, but have been told to clean it alot when shooting it the first couple of boxes. I had a brand new gun last year and when shooting it the first time, I would clean it after every 3 rounds, mainly to give the barrel a chance to cool down because I was sighting it in at the same time. Mr. Quimby made me feel alot better though with his ideas on break-in, but I really like a clean gun, so I'll just find a happy medium here and go with that. Great info from everybody, I learned something today! JIM>