Barrel Break in Procedure

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

I’ve seen guys recommended anywhere from 40-100+ rounds for the break in stating that they still see velocity changes with that many rounds through it. Is there some truth to that?

Someone already said it but barrel speed up is different than break in, and speed up varies depending on whether its a cut or button rifled barrel.
Button rifled usually speeds up within 50 rounds while cut can take 100 or more, usually it's a pretty small increase 20-30 fps is what I've seen.

Because I've done it meticulously and I've completely ignored it. And there's no appreciable difference in how the rifles shoot or clean up afterwards.

The only benefit I can see is you're getting to shoot your new rifle more, and the practice is likely more valuable than any perceived "seasoning" of the barrel. Heck, just shoot it, clean it, and repeat...you'll "break in" your barrel organically while not blasting through $500 in ammo up front.

Where in the world are you getting ammo where 20 rounds costs $500.. Gunbroker?
Seriously though it's not any extra shooting to do proper break in, just clean between shots as recommended while sighting in and working up loads.

 

[Rdolcini]

Factory or custom barrel?? If custom you really aren't gaining anything doing a "barrel break-in" since its a custom barrel that was hand lapped already. What you are doing is breaking in the throat area of the barrel. After finish reaming there can be some rough spots depending on how well it was done, that area might need to smoothed out/broke in.

It’s a custom barrel. Never knew that was the reason behind the break in. Thank you

 

[deerhunter628]

Check with the barrel maker. I have recently bought a proof, christensen arms, kimber and Q. They all recommend a different barrel break in. I just follow what the manufacture recommends. Its usually not too much ammo. Good rifles are expensive and worth the time and ammo money.

 

[hereinaz]

When different manufacturers all have different procedures, lots of shooters just go shoot, and there is absolutely no appreciable difference, its a waste of time for accuracy purposes.

Sometimes it appears to maybe make a difference for cleaning an ugly factory barrel.

 

[B23]

I'd imagine a barrel expert would have more productive ways to spend his time than arguing with internet nitwits.

True, but generally guys like Frank Green w/Bartlein or smiths like Alex Wheeler that frequent different forums get treated with more respect or they just don't engage with nitwits. lol

 

[JohnJohnson]

If it's a custom barrel, you probably don't need to bother. Some gunsmiths will give you a barrel break-in instruction sheet with the gun. That's referred to by some as a "don't call me sheet". Know why they include it? Because if they didn't, a lot of their customers would call them to ask about it. So it's easier to give them that sheet with some copy/pasted procedure than it would be for them to answer 10 calls a week telling people they don't need to break in their barrel. I started out breaking in my custom barrels and now I don't bother. There's been no difference at all.

 

[ChrisAU]

This is the very first 5 shots out of a Bergara 6.5 PRC today, factory ammo. And I sent it off to Karl Kampfeld for fluting before shooting it. Lots of no-no’s per the internet, and here we are. I’ll probably never clean it unless I drop it in a creek.

 

[Dogman-K]

For those that use the "traditional method", I’m not being argumentative but want to know the benefits of cleaning the barrel after each shot for the first 5 shots vs say, shoot 3-5 shots then clean?

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

This is the very first 5 shots out of a Bergara 6.5 PRC today, factory ammo. And I sent it off to Karl Kampfeld for fluting before shooting it. Lots of no-no’s per the internet, and here we are. I’ll probably never clean it unless I drop it in a creek.

View attachment 283450

You should really give this a read..

https://criterionbarrels.com/media/...-barrel-after-each-range-trip/?v=00dc5da36527

 

[B23]

For those that use the "traditional method", I’m not being argumentative but want to know the benefits of cleaning the barrel after each shot for the first 5 shots vs say, shoot 3-5 shots then clean?

It's so you are down to bare metal every shot for the first few shots and there is no carbon or copper layer. The whole point of the "break in" is to smooth out any imperfections inside the barrel.

 

[Dogman-K]

Thanks B23.

 

[Wrench]

I install quite a few barrels. I have a pretty good understanding of how my reamers leave the throat and what to expect.

I clean after all the chambering work is done, then load up a ladder and hit the range. I shoot 3-5 and watch for speed and pressure. I'll then clean and pay attention to the patch to see if it tells me anything I need to address. If so, I'll do it again....if not I'll bust 10-15 and clean and see if it tells me anything.

Some powders (rl26 for example) can burn pretty dirty and bring a lot of carbon to the barrel. I have no problem shooting through this.....but I want to know if I've got anything stripping copper before carbon becomes burned in too hard.

If all is well, I'll shoot till it needs cleaned.....which might be 100 rounds, might be 500. The gun will tell me.

 

[hereinaz]

For those that use the "traditional method", I’m not being argumentative but want to know the benefits of cleaning the barrel after each shot for the first 5 shots vs say, shoot 3-5 shots then clean?

You are asking the impossible...

 

[WCB]

Clean rifle when you get it to get all the factory crud off of it. Shoot a few rounds of some different loads to see what seems to shoot best out of it. Once I find the load that shoots best I clean it one good time....then never again until the grouping starts to open up. The nonsense of after every round for 10 rounds (or whatever) then every 5...then every ten...in my opinion and experience shows zero benefit and takes way to long.

 

[tdhanses]

Pretty simple, clean factory new and shoot it a ton after, I clean after 40rds and then again after 150rd. After that I don’t clean until groups open up. Your barrel will not be broken in till around 120-150rds.

 

[Frank Green]

Not sure if Frank Green is a forum member here or not but if we could get him to sign up Frank is always really awesome about answering just about any and all barrel related questions I've ever had for him. Maybe one of the Mods could reach out to him and see if we can get Frank to post on here as well.

I know they make an excellent top tier barrel but I've never used a Bartlein barrel on a build but because Frank has been so good about answering my and many others questions on other forums, my next barrel is going to be a Bartlein.

Per your request....I'll make a post later. I just did the registration.

When I get a small break in between stuff I'll do a post.

This isn't a short and is a controversial subject to say the least.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

 

[JohnJohnson]

Bracing for the knowledge bomb that's about to be dropped.

 

[slowelk]

You should really give this a read..

https://criterionbarrels.com/media/...-barrel-after-each-range-trip/?v=00dc5da36527

Sample size of 1.

 

[Frank Green]

This is the very first 5 shots out of a Bergara 6.5 PRC today, factory ammo. And I sent it off to Karl Kampfeld for fluting before shooting it. Lots of no-no’s per the internet, and here we are. I’ll probably never clean it unless I drop it in a creek.

View attachment 283450

I'm going to tell you....you best be careful with these over bore capacity type rounds and the 6.5PRC is a classic example of one. If you don't keep up with the cleaning and you let the barrel get away from you....I'm going to guarantee you that you will have problems! I had two guys back in February....neither guy cleaned the gun. One guy for 280 or so rounds fired thru it. Took bore scope pictures of it and called and complained about the accuracy falling off and that he thought it was bad steel from the erosion/wear that he was seeing.

For one....he wasn't seeing erosion. Most people when they look down the bore they don't know what they are looking at. What he was seeing was the amount of carbon build up. I got him to clean the rifle and I told him how to do it because of how bad it was by letting it go the way he did for 280 rounds! So to my surprise he cleaned it and took it to a PRS match that next weekend. He said accuracy came right back and he won all of the long range portion of the match as well. Longest distances he shot was 1250 yards. Was over all match winner.

I've seen too many guys already putting 120ish round thru the gun in one day and they have a two day match to shoot and they will not clean the gun that night before the next day. Then they wonder why they're having issues.

I'll also say this....I've seen shooters as well as ammo makers let the 6.5PRC barrels get away from them and they've wrecked the barrels in as little as 400+ rounds. Take care of them and they can go around 800-900 rounds in 6.5PRC.

I will also say this....in calibers where you have over bore capacity cartridges vs. bore size....the carbon can keep building up and for one cause accuracy issues and another even though it's rare it can happen but you can blow up the gun. Not our barrel but last October a shooter put 1000 rounds thru a 338 Lapua and didn't clean it for even a single round. The gun came a part. Shooter wasn't harmed. By not cleaning it....the bore will tighten up/restrict especially at the throat of the chamber area. There could've been other issues with the barrel itself that compounded the problem but I do know that not cleaning it isn't going to help anything either.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

 

[Frank Green]

First thing I say and I say to everyone....even said it at the beginning of the last class I talked on barrels at the Scout Sniper School 6 weeks ago at Quantico.

If you have a cleaning procedure that you use and for one your not wrecking anything and the gun keeps shooting well....just because the guy next to you cleans differently doesn't mean he is doing it better! As long as your not wrecking anything I've got nothing to say. So take what you hear from some of the shooters and some of the stuff you read on the internet with a grain of salt.

Also pay attention to the gun. It will tell you what is going on you just have to learn how to read it.

Also think of this....would you drive your car/truck and never change the oil?

I'll get to the picture below in a bit....

If you read the attached breaking in and cleaning guide lines I have below....I don't do a set break in per say anymore like it says. What I do is this.....brand new barrel...I'll shoot two or three rounds thru it and clean it. I'll look to see what the patches are telling me. If the barrel cleans up easily with little to no fouling/copper coming out. I'm done. I'll take it out and not beat the hell out of it but I'll put 20-30 rounds on it and clean it again. If it's still cleaning decent.....it's done and broken in.

In a high end match type barrel I tell guys the only thing your breaking in....is the throat of the chamber. This is because the reamer will cut the chamber/throat the opposite direction of bullet travel. The nicer the finish the reamer leaves in the throat....the faster the throat will polish/break in and the faster your fouling will go down. Sometimes guys think they have a barrel with a fouling issue and they think the barrel is to blame when it can be from all the way back at the chambers throat and the finish the reamer left and have nothing to do with the barrel itself.

Some barrels the bore is so rough....they per say will never break in and will foul like a prick! Look at the 3rd picture attached below. Sometimes these bore reamer marks will be present but as long as they are faint they might cause an issue. The rougher it is though the more the barrel will most likely foul and per say never break in.

In the first picture below....this was from a shooter that wrecked the barrel by improper cleaning it. He was using a brush in conjunction with an abrasive cleaner. Guys that is guaranteed bore damage! The gouge marks are from the brush trying to rotate with the rifling but there is no way that every little bristle will follow the twist of the rifling and because the lands stick up in the bore of the barrel....they take the most beating/abuse. Remember the lands on average are only about .004" tall. Think of a .308 barrel. Bore is .3000" and the grooves are .3080". So your talking .008" total but divide that in half....so each groove is only .004" deep. Not much more than the thickness of a human hair. The gouge marks is from the bristles riding up and over the side of the land, over the top and down the trailing side of the land. Using an abrasive cleaner accelerates/amplifies the wear/polishing that is going on. The shooter that did this was a F class shooter. Gun was chambered in 284Win. At 100 rounds he started having accuracy issues. Picture below is at 800 rounds and the gun almost couldn't hold a sub 2" group at a 100 yards. The bore should measure .2770" x .2840". It now measures .279" x .2855". Yes he basically polished .002" out of the barrel. A full .002" out the bore (tops of the lands) and .0015" out of the grooves.

I got off track of the original topic of breaking in a barrel....sorry!

look at the pic's and read the attachment.....

Pay attention to your gun...it will tell you what is going on! Just learn how to read it!

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels