Breaking in a new barrel.

[czbeardly]

Hi!

There seems to be a few schools of how to break in a new barrel, and I was wondering what some of you guys might have to say. Next week I get delivery of my .223 Stag 3G upper - a feat that is not as easy as it sounds in Sweden.. The only way to own a AR/AK style semi-auto rifle here is IPSC (and very old competition format called "free-rifle" that nobody seems to know about), and it is currently a process that takes a few years. Yeah, you read that correctly - a few years.

Finally last week my licence application was processed, and after 3 days on the desk of a laywer at the local Policestation (again, you read that correctly - a laywer have to approve any application that is for sport shooting...) they came to their senses and approved it. Sadly there are many districts around the country that denies any and all applications for AR weapons based not on the law, but on biased judgment. I think most of you Americans can relate to that seeing the firestorm around ARs that has swept the US for the past 2 years.

Anyhow, I am quite green to the rifle bit, besides owning .22lr AR for IPSC Mini-Rifle. Any input an thoughts about it would be helpful.

[Steve RA]

IMHO - clean the barrel as well as you can and then go shoot it.

[striped1]

Here is a link to GA Precision's barrel break in instructions.

http://www.gaprecision.net/ga-precision-download.html

[Paul-the new guy]

I broke mine in by shooting 30 or 40 rounds just to get everything set up with the LMOS and the scope dialed in and then 120 or so rounds at a 3-gun match... I still have not cleaned it. After reading that GA precision thing I am thinking maybe I should clean it...

[Vlad]

For a different opinion, Gale McMillan had the exactly opposite view on barrel break in: http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_breakin.asp

I think just shoot the thing and don't worry about it.

[LoganbillJ]

Just shoot it. I did exactly as Paul stated above. Shoots under 1 MOA with all factory ammo I have run through it. Handloads are just over .5MOA from a bipod.

ETA: I researched this exact thing when building my new upper. I figured if McMillan doesn't think its necessary, its not.

Link to another article by McMillan:

http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html

Edited July 28, 2014 by LoganbillJ

[czbeardly]

Thanks for the Quick replies and the input. I read the McMillan articles, and I found a few more that points it towards being sort of a waste doing the full one-shot-clean procedure. Then again, one of my friends did this with his 700 Rem in .308, and it is one of the most accurate rifles I have seen or shot myself. Talk with him earlier today, and he more or less said that next time he gets a new barrel for it, ie a couple of years from now, he will not waste the time doing the same break in routine (I was with him those days as moral support at the range so many many hours, so few bullets fired.)

Now I just need to find a good comp, and the basic setup will finished. Then I guess it will be weeks and $$$ to tune it

[bgary]

IMHO, for what we do, barrel break-in is more religion than science.

Every stroke of a cleaning brush takes barrel life off the bore. I went with what JP told me - shoot 25, clean it really well and then go shoot.

At this point, nothing goes through the bore but quality bullets, and an occasional bore-snake.

[Jakobi]

They guy that built my barrel is an accuracy nut. He told me to go shoot and clean it when I notice the accruacy drop off. Couple hundred rounds and I haven't cleaned it yet.

Edited July 28, 2014 by Jakobi

[ltdmstr]

Here's what Bartlein recommends.

[dauntedfuture]

I would just clean it before you go and shoot it the first time. Its likely a button rifled barrel so all that you might accomplish is smoothing out the tool marks from the reamer. For what its worth, I just go and shoot after cleaning on all my LR NRA highpower guns. 6.5x284 barrels only last so long.

[czbeardly]

Well, getting the upper tomorrow, and bcg on friday, so just a few more looooooong Days at work and hopefully an fun weekend. My vortex PST should arrive tomorrow aswell, but still trying to find an offset and an adaptorplate for my RMR, but no need to rush. Got a big box yesterday with Magazines and some Taran Tactical extender plates. Hopefully I will get a chanse to go to a something more then some mini-rfile matchs before Winter comes in late september *brr*

[Iowashooter]

My barrel break in consists of initial cleaning then running a solvent soaked bore snake through the barrel for the first 20 rounds and every 5 rounds after that up to the first 100. A barrel lapping compound can also be helpful. That's just how I do it.