A new Rifle...what to do first?

Longbow53

FNG
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
19
Clean the barrel !!! I spend up to an hour cleaning out the gunk on a new barrel. Then bore paste it for another go round or two. Then one shot ,clean again then use Sweets or another copper remover and clean completely. then one more shot and clean then sweets. You can really lap that Rem,Browning,savage barrel nicely and make that barrel shoot . Your gun is an investment. This little Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel cleaned up in 10 shots ,no blue(copper) showing.then went three shots,clean,Sweets. It had no blue, one of the easiest barrels to get ready,shoots sub MOA. A little time spent in prep work goes a long ways .....
 

B23

WKR
Joined
Aug 17, 2017
Messages
1,007
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NW
Wow! Bore paste, Sweets, those are some pretty aggressive products to be using on a new barrel but if that's what works for you nothing else matters.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Messages
2,228
Location
New Orleans, La.
Solvent (BoreTech Elim), plastic bore brush, new patch every time, and rod guide. Should not need bore paste until a carbon ring starts to show up, but do what works for you.
 
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
427
Location
North Alabama
I look down it, run a single patch, and start shooting. I’ll clean it when it starts opening up. There’s lots of advantages to buying good rifles instead of rifles you have to persuade into shooting


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ChrisAU

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
Messages
6,053
Location
SE Alabama
I read this last night. It’s a good read.

 
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
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1,287
I saw this post when there were no replies and held my tongue, but I agree with the replies given. Just shoot the rifle. It'll tell you when it needs patches, but don't wait up.
 
OP
L

Longbow53

FNG
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
19
I guess its from my 30 years bench Rest shooting. I do my hunting rifles the same way,to each his own. I just cant fathom shooting a gun out of the box without A complete cleaning and lapping the bore with your bullets.....
 

rayporter

WKR
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
4,251
Location
arkansas or ohio
i bought a CZ some years back and if i had not cleaned it before i shot it the bullet may not have exited the barrel. it took hours of cleaning to get the crap out that was in that barrel. have some common sense and push a few patches through the bore before you shoot it. for all you know a mud dauber wasp filled it or a salesman pushed a pencil in the barrel and there could be chips of steel from the factory in there.
 

Haney

FNG
Joined
Jul 17, 2020
Messages
53
I clean a new gun like I just shot it . After that I shoot it and clean it like I just shot it, seems simple enough . In my opinion every shot spent on "break in " is shortening accurate barrel life . If any lapping is to be done I want that done by hand, not by copper and heat . Barrel makers love that break-in theory .
 

B23

WKR
Joined
Aug 17, 2017
Messages
1,007
Location
NW
i bought a CZ some years back and if i had not cleaned it before i shot it the bullet may not have exited the barrel.
I'm not sure what CZ puts in their barrels but I've had four new CZ 527's and they have all had the nastiest sh1t in them to clean out I have ever seen in a new gun. I think it's a mix of coal tar pitch and burnt 120 wt gear oil. It is some of the thickest and stickest crap I've ever cleaned out of a barrel in my life.

I stopped trying to patch it out after the second CZ 527 I bought and instead just ran break cleaner through the barrel till it stopped running out the muzzle black. Then I patch it out with Butch's and started shooting.

I don't see a problem cleaning new barrels with mild solvents like Butch's and the like but to go at them with abrasives and ammonia based solvents, not so much.
 
Joined
Dec 4, 2020
Messages
53
Clean the barrel !!! I spend up to an hour cleaning out the gunk on a new barrel. Then bore paste it for another go round or two. Then one shot ,clean again then use Sweets or another copper remover and clean completely. then one more shot and clean then sweets. You can really lap that Rem,Browning,savage barrel nicely and make that barrel shoot . Your gun is an investment. This little Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel cleaned up in 10 shots ,no blue(copper) showing.then went three shots,clean,Sweets. It had no blue, one of the easiest barrels to get ready,shoots sub MOA. A little time spent in prep work goes a long ways .....
Clean shoot, clean shoot, break in
 

thinhorn_AK

"DADDY"
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
10,341
Location
Alaska
Wow! Bore paste, Sweets, those are some pretty aggressive products to be using on a new barrel but if that's what works for you nothing else matters.

It’s sort of excessive huh??? I just shoot, never cost me an animal.
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
7,407
Location
S. UTAH
My last new rifle I cleaned the new crap out and shot it. Managed a (basically) 1 hole 3 shot group out of it after that. Its a .5" gun with the right load.
 

rayporter

WKR
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
4,251
Location
arkansas or ohio
laff if you will but if you take a new cut rifled barrel and shoot and clean for a few shots you wont believe how the barrel changes at about the shot number 12. they get real easy to clean.

i have 5 new barrels to screw on right now and i always take the time to make brass for each and clean them when i make the brass.. it is no big deal to me.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
308
Location
AK
If it's a brand new off the shelf rifle (non custom), I take it apart and clean everything. Every screw comes off (especially if it has bases) cleaned and if necessary locktite is added. Barrel gets cleaned until the patch shows nothing, then oiled and off to go shooting.
 
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