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