Barrel Break-In — Essential Procedure or Total Waste of Time?
Photo courtesy Sierra Bullets.
The question of barrel break-in is controversial. Some folks advocate an elaborate, lengthy cycle of shooting and brushing, repeated many times — one shot and clean, two shots and clean and so on. This, it is argued, helps barrels foul less and shoot more accurately. Others say minimal break-in, with patching and brushing after 10-15 rounds, is all you need. Still others contend that break-in procedures are a total waste of time and ammo — you should just load and shoot, and clean as you would normally.
We doubt if there will ever be real agreement among shooters concerning barrel break-in procedures. And one must remember that the appropriate break-in procedure might be quite different for a factory barrel vs. a custom hand-lapped barrel. This Editor has found that his very best custom barrels shot great right from the start, with no special break-in, other than wet patches at 5, 10, and 15 rounds. That said, I’ve seen some factory barrels that seemed to benefit from more elaborate break-in rituals.
What’s the best barrel break-in procedure? Well our friend Eric Mayer of Varminter.com decided to ask the experts. A while back Eric interviewed representatives of three leading barrel manufacturers: Krieger, Lothar-Walther, and Shilen. He recorded their responses on video. In order of appearance in the video, the three experts are:
Wade Hull, Shilen Barrels | Mike Hinrichs, Krieger Barrels | Woody Woodall, Lothar Walther
Do I Need to Break-In a New Rifle Barrel?
Eric Mayer of Varminter.com says: “That is a simple question, [but it] does not necessarily have a simple answer. Instead of me repeating my own beliefs, and practices, on breaking-in a new rifle barrel, I decided to answer this one a bit differently. While we were at the 2016 SHOT Show, we tracked down three of the biggest, and most popular, custom barrel makers in the world, and asked them what they recommend to anyone buying their barrels, and why they recommend those procedures. We asked the question, and let the camera run!” Launch the video above to hear the answers — some of which may surprise you.
Long-Term Barrel Care — More Experts Offer Opinions
Apart from the debate about barrel break-in, there is the bigger question of how should you clean and maintain a barrel during its useful life. Some folks like aggressive brushing, other shooters have had success with less invasive methods, using bore foam and wet patches for the most part. Different strokes for different folks, as they say. In reality, there may not be one solution for every barrel. Different fouling problems demand different solutions. For example, solvents that work well for copper may not be the best for hard carbon (and vice-versa).
Chip Lohman, former Editor of Shooting Sports USA Magazine, has authored an excellent article on barrel maintenance and cleaning: Let the BARREL Tell You — Match Barrel Care. In this article, Chip shares the knowledge of a dozen experts including respected barrel-makers Frank Green (Bartlein Barrels), John Krieger (Krieger Barrels), Dan Lilja (Lilja Barrels), and Tim North (Broughton Barrels).
“Why worry about a little barrel fouling when the throat is subjected to a brutal 5,600° F volcano at 55,000 PSI? To investigate these and other questions about taking care of a match barrel, we spoke with a dozen experts and share their knowledge in this first of a series of articles.
After listening to folks who shoot, build barrels or manufacture cleaning solvents for a living, we concluded that even the experts each have their own unique recommendations on how to care for a match barrel. But they all agree on one thing — the gun will tell you what it likes best. Because the life expectancy of a match barrel is about 1,500 to 2,500 rounds, the objectives of cleaning one should include: preserve accuracy, slow the erosion, and remove fouling — all without damaging the gun. This article doesn’t claim that one cleaning method is better than the next. Rather, we set out to interject a little science into the discussion and to share some lessons learned from experts in the field.” — Chip Lohman
Similar Posts:
- Barrel Break-In: Expert Barrel-Makers Explain the Best Methods
- Barrel Break-In: What’s the Best Method — Expert Advice
- Barrel Break-In Process — What the Experts Recommend
- Barrel Break-In Methods — What Do the Experts Recommend?
- Best Barrel Cleaning Methods — Top Barrel Makers Offer Advice
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Tags: Barrel Break-in, Barrel Cleaning, Barrel-making, Bore Cleaning, Bronze Brushing, Krieger Barrels, Lothar Walther, Shilen Barrels, Tech Tip, Wade Hull, Walther
Each rifle… because once the barrel is mounted, it becomes a rifle need break-in.
It is good practice to inspect/clean a rifle before the first shot, making sure all is dry, no oils,residue in barrel, dust,lapping compound or shaving in the lugs area,check that all the screws are to the correct torque. Then oil or grease the proper area.
Shoot the first shot, Clean the rifle, action,and the barrel,inspect all parts of the rifle. Is everything ok?
With today technology you can bring a endoscope camera to the range, it connects to your phone, and you can inspect the inside of the barrel. Low cost one work just find for at the range inspection. And you get the immediate answer to the questions : is the barrel clean, is there fouling in the barrel, do I still see tooling marks?
The inspection of the rifle will tell you what you need to do, or if the break-in is done. The number of shot will vary from rifle to rifle.
Also, take note of the target, the poi change will also tell you a story.
Doing all this the proper way with the proper equipment is mandatory. Using wrong tool for the job will only cause more problem. Like: Using a wrong size cleaning rod, not using a bore guide, using a dirty brush, over cleaning, false positive with brass brush, leaving oil in barrel are all issues that cause problem to shooter.
Even if this topic is not a tutorial on how to clean, it is important to know that break-in need to be done the proper way, otherwise you just waist your time and bullets.
Think of your rifle as being a car, you don’t buy a new car and go pedal to the metal on the first ride!
Mike
If you have a new match barrel that has been honed, then clean it out as normal before first shooting.
There is no need to do anything else as the honing has smoothed out the barrel to perfection better than any break-in method.
What did the dean of American barrel making say about barrel break-in?