New Rifle Break-In Routine, Ideas Wanted

[Boatdog]

A long time Ifish sponsor had a great deal on a Remington .30-06, so I picked one up to fill in the gap between my Winchester .300 Win Mag and Ruger 7X57.

My question is: what would you recommend for a minimum break-in routine for a button-rifled barrel? I'd like to use it this year starting in early October. I am a member of a local rifle club, so shooting and bench-time is not a problem.

Thanks a lot,

Boatdog

[skein]

Most of the competition barrel makers suggest a routine like the following:

Clean the barrel and make sure it's dry.
Shoot one shot
Clean with a wet patch, let it sit for a couple minutes, then follow with a wet patch, continuing until the patch comes out clean. Then run a dry patch through.
Repeat for 5 shots
Then shoot 3 to 5 shots and clean, using the same technique.
You may also notice the bore gets smoother as it shoots in.
Try not to heat up the barrel too much.

That's pretty close, but I think the Hart or Shilen barrel websites have a page that steps you through it. Your gun will shoot better all its days if the break-in is done right. Have fun.

Skein

[Boatdog]

Thanks skein, I truly appreciate the input.

Boatdog

[Flatfish]

Shoot it. When you are done shooting for the day, clean it to bare steel. I have broken in 5 rifle barrels. One ( a hart barrel) it may have helped. The rest was a huge use of time and innocent cleaning patches.

The main supposed benefit is decreased barrel fouling and therefore easier future cleanings. Ask yourself this- How many times a year am I actually gonna clean this thing?- If the answer is less than 10, forget about it. It sounds like a fine hunting rifle, but lets keep it in perspective, it is a big game rifle.

A varmint rig or competition rifle may show a benefit in time savings or tiny incremental accuracy gains( bench rifles may be able to prove this. Again I doubt very seriously any ordinary hunting rifle could prove it in the field. Or even on paper) but on a hunting rifle that in a really busy year (most likely it is a hunter, and not a Garand) will fire 100 shots a year.

I do not want to seem down on anyone trying to do the best for their equipment, but shooting has fashions and fads just like everything else. And breaking in a barrel is one of the worst fads to make it to the average Joe Hunter in a long time.

Had it been a .223 or another varmint rig, it may be worth the time.

My 2 cents.

Sorry if I come across as grumpy. Just a pet peeve.

Mark and the dog.

[Boatdog]

Thanks Mark and the Dog,

I appreciate all angles on this. It is a hunting rifle, not a match grade or varmint gun. I don't want to put too much time into this, but enough to get reliable accuracy.

Boatdog

[Flatfish]

Barrels, bedding , and bullets.

if the gun is bedded and everything on it is tight and in place, then the barrel may be a problem. Shoot it first to find out.

I have a .338 win. Rem STS plastic stock. Your basic ugly gun. When I bought it, work was really busy so I did not fix the horrible factory bedding( pry the stock off just to remove it for a basic cleaning. PRY is catch phrase). Bolt lugs are uneven. Crown looks questionable.

I did set the trigger at 2 3/4#.

Time ran out on bedding and lapping so I shot it "as is". Glad I did.

With a 1.5-5 Leupold( and me holding it rather firmly) it shoots 1/2" every time. Every load I have tried has shot 3/4" or better. With it's favorites, she will break 1/4" often enough that I know it is not a fluke. All with hunting bullets.

I have always wondered what she is capable of with match bullets, carefully prepared ammo, and a real target scope. I wonder how often the 1/4"ers would be then.....

Clean the factory gunk out of your tube and try it. It may do just fine as is. It may need some fiddling to get what you want. The journey to little groups is part of the fun.

Mark and the seating just almost touching the lands dog.

[Boatdog]

Mark and the reloading Dog,

This a brand new out-of-the-box rifle.

I have been handloading for 25 years, but have never really put much thought into breaking-in a virgin barrel. I'm picking this gun up tomorrow, and I wanted to utilize this enormous resource to see if I could find out anything to help with brand new Remingtion firearms. Are they shooters out of the box? That would be cool!

I really appreciate your advice. Thanks!

You're right... developing and finding the sweet shooting load is like finding a 20 pound gold nugget in your back yard...pure happiness!

BD

[skein]

Note to self: Don't buy any used guns from Flatfish.

Just kidding! :grin:

I'll still use the competition break-in method because I tend to keep a gun a long time and want it to be the best that it can be. That process also gives me time to learn the nuances of the rifle itself. I learn the "hold," the trigger squeeze, the recoil, and where it ends up pointing for that follow-up shot.

It's a fine rifle. Don't hesitate to treat it as such.

Skein

[Killertraylor]

I used to shoot competitively and never heard of breaking in a rifle barrel (maybe everyone else did it and just kept it a secret from me [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img] ), but I think Skein has some great advice. I have several rifles that were purchased new and shoot remarkable groups, even with factory ammo and I've never broken in the barrels. I never let my barrels get too hot on my rifles I depend on for accuracy (SKS, 10/22 and other "fun" guns I'll heat em' up good while plinking)

I know a guy who has killed more bull elk than most of us will ever see and he shoots a .300 Weatherby and NEVER cleans his rifle! I've never seen him shoot it for groups, nor do I know if the gun will still shoot groups, but he never misses. Ticks me off - I spend so much time taking care of my stuff and have killed just a handful of elk and this guy has shot more than 50 branch bulls and his Mark V looks like he used it as a boat paddle for a few years :shocked: .

[DAB]

Boatdog
Take the time to break it in. It will not harm it and could do it some good, The way I look at it the better it shoots that makes up for my shooting skills. When I was shooting compitition back a few years I did every thing my pocket book would alow me to do to make the rifle into a shooter. I am not as steady as I once was so haveing a hunting rifle thats a shooter helps out a lot. Do what your pocket book will alow you to do. #1 make sure the stock is the right length and the scope mts are not to high or Low ( you need to be able to put it to your sholder and not have to move your head around to see through the scope). A triger job would be #2, then bedding and free floating the barrel #3. I have found that some barrels ( 1 in a blue moon ) wont shoot good free floated. The list goes on for what you can do. Anyway have fun with it.
DAB

[Flatfish]

Skein,

I figured I would take a ribbin' for that. :smile:

Now don't get me wrong, I take good care of my rigs. Every rifle I own is cleaned and lightly oiled within a month of season ending.

If you want to break it in, feel free. If you want to lap the lugs, pillar bed, free float, seat bullets to different overall legnths( a huge make or break point), crown,fire lap the bore with lead covered in a grinding compound, boil water and face Mecca.... whatever blows yer dress up. Feel free to do so.

But this lazy thing aint all bad. Mt .338 has more bad qualities than Bob Packwood, Rosie, and Bill Clintin rolled into one. But the barrel is the finest I have ever seen on a factory rig( and a good couple notches above a lot of the aftermarket suppliers stuff too). It is screwed in straight to the receiver. And most importantly it vibrates the same amount and stops in the same place every shot. Even with everything else that is apparently wrong with it, I doubt I could improve groups by fiddling with it no matter what I did. It would cost about 3000.00 do duplicate it with an accuracy guarantee from the smith. I just got lucky.

Point is I used to "Do it all right by the book". Sometimes it would help( a bolt lapping experience and "WOW does that thing shoot now" comes to mind.). Sometimes it did not. I am sure there are many guns I fiddled with that would have shot just fine before I "fixed" their ills.

I would be very careful to keep her cool when you are shooting groups. I found myself getting tired of aiting for the thing to cool down more than once.Next thing you know, mirage that makes it hard to even see the target halfway clearly....oops.

Remingtons shoot well( I assume a 700 of some sort) from the box. They are easy to fish when they do not want to shoot also.

Keep us posted on how she does.

Mark and the Sweets 7.62 huffing dog.

[SeanD]

Gale Mcmillian's thoughts...

[GutshotApe]

Originally posted by Flatfish:
Now don't get me wrong, I take good care of my rigs. Every rifle I own is cleaned and lightly oiled within a month of season ending.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">I'll confess...I don't do any better with my shootin' irons, either...sometimes worse. :shocked:

Why do you think WD-40 comes with the little red tube if not for quick & easy gun cleaning & winterization? :whazzup:

[Boatdog]

Thanks all!

SeanD: thanks for the link, interesting reading. Thanks!

BD

[brshooter]

From Dan Lilja's website

Break-in Procedure
For an effective break-in the barrel should be cleaned after every shot for the first 10-12 rounds or until copper fouling stops. Our procedure is to push a cotton patch that is wet with solvent through the barrel. This will remove much of the powder fouling and wet the inside of the barrel with solvent. Next, wet a bronze brush with solvent and stroke the barrel 5-10 times. Follow this by another wet patch and then one dry patch. Now soak the barrel with a strong copper removing solvent until all of the blue mess is removed from the barrel. The copper fouling will be heavy for a few rounds and then taper off quickly in just one or two shots. Once it has stopped or diminished significantly it is time to start shooting 5 shot groups, cleaning after each one. After 25-30 rounds clean at a normal interval of 10-25 rounds. Your barrel is now broken-in.

[StickFish]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Boatdog:

My question is: what would you recommend for a minimum break-in routine for a button-rifled barrel?

Good deal. The competition method is good, but last year at the shot show a friend brought back a flyier from Ken Jarret. He recommends shooting one round and cleaning the barrel with Sweets 762 until the patch comes out white. Repeat until you have fired 10 rounds.

A friend of mine just did this on his Rifles Inc Win 70 with a Lilja barrel in 300 RUM. By the 10th round it didn't cooper foul any longer.

After the 10th clean as you normally do with Shooters Choice or Butches Bore Shine, oil with your favorite - I strongly recommend Ezzox for that.

Good luck