7mm Rem Mag Tikka T3 barrel break in

[JDMarshall]

Looking for some advise on how to break in the barrel on my brand new T3.

I'll be mostly using to for a hunting rifle but plan on some long range training as well. Not sure on ammo but will be using match/factory as I'm not loading yet. Thinking about 7mm rem mag HST168gr. Will be fit out with a PST 6x24 EBR-2c mrad.

[Chucky]

I don't believe in barrel break in. If you search you can see the old article where Gale McMillan said that barrel makers and gunsmiths came up with that idea so you have to get a new barrel sooner. A quality barrel is a quality barrel and I have a pile of sub-moa guns in my safe and a lot of them 1/2 moa guns or better that never had the barrels broken in.

[dauntedfuture]

step 1. Clean barrel on a new rifle to remove oil etc. Step 2. Load and shoot. Don't waste your time and or ammo. You have 1200-1400 shots before that barrel is toast; make them count.

[jdknotts1]

Shoot 1 then clean for 5 shots.

Shoot 5 then clean for 25 shots.

Don't clean until accuracy drops off. Estimated 250-400 rounds. Every barrel is different on the fouling though.

[ShooterSteve]

I have always been a clean freak with my guns, but the more I read and investigate, the more I get away from cleaning. I thought my dad was gonna have a stroke when I told him I wasn't cleaning my rifle when I got home from shooting. He is an old school hunter, where you take your gun out Nov 1, shoot three or four shots to make sure it is zero'd, clean it, hunt with it for two weeks, clean it again, and put it up till next year. I've had to learn the differences between being a hunter and being a shooter. Very similar, but also very different.

[fastarget]

Here is a copy/paste from Bartlein Barrels, if you have had the opportunity to clean and shoot multiple rifles, you will have noticed some of these traits

The age old question, "Breaking in the New Barrel". Opinions very a lot here, and this is a very subjective topic. For the most part, the only thing you are breaking in, is the throat area of the barrel. The nicer the finish that the Finish Reamer or Throating Reamer leaves, the faster the throat will break in.

Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I'm getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 - 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done.

If the barrel shows some copper or is taking a little longer to clean after the first two, shoot a group of 3 rounds and clean. Then a group of 5 and clean.

After you shoot the 3rd group and 5th group, watch how long it takes to clean. Also notice your group sizes. If the group sizes are good and the cleaning is getting easier or is staying the same, then shoot 4 - 5 round groups.

If fouling appears to be heavy and taking a while to clean, notice your group sizes. If group sizes are good and not going sour, you don't have a fouling problem. Some barrels will clean easier than others. Some barrels may take a little longer to break in. Remember the throat. Fouling can start all the way from here. We have noticed sometimes that even up to approximately 100 rounds, a barrel can show signs of a lot of copper, but it still shoots

really

well and then for no apparent reason, you will notice little to no copper and it will clean really easy.

This is meant as guide lines only. There is no hard and fast rule for breaking in a barrel.

[zmanktm]

I’ve used the Sinclair break-in method, shoot 1 shot and clean through the first 10 shots than 3 shots and clean through the next 30 rounds.

I have done these only two times but both of these guns are my most accurate…coincidence?

[fastarget]

Takes time to shed some of the information from the past that actually applied to old barrel manufacturing methods , today good barrels are polished and lapped at the factory.

In a Sig SSG, it took one wet patch with Wipe-out and two dry patches for the barrel to be clean, 150 rounds without cleaning and it shoots fantastic groups. My father's 20 year old browning A bolt, well I was getting annoyed after running 14-16 wet and dry patches and still having it look carboned up, so we are benefitting from good technology, more accurate shooting , less work

Edited December 30, 2014 by fastarget

[TonytheTiger]

^ I don't disagree with you at all, but it's hard to do an apples to apples comparison of a Sig SSG and a an A-bolt. Just my .02.

[zmanktm]

If you would clean your barrel and shoot one time and see how much copper fouling you get out of it will give

you some direction. If it has heavy copper fouling it could use some break in which is just the poor man’s

method of lapping out any burrs left over from the manufacturing process.