Barrel Break-in...thoughts?

Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
8,184
I thought Jake Vibbert (top 5 shooter in the precision rifle world) said he basically doesn't clean his barrel at all after break in. Shoot a bit to break it in, clean, shoot until its time to replace.
 

ghostmoney

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
118
Location
Salem, OR
Negative, what I wrote was a generalized statement regarding how as to why I believe you should clean your rifle. That why being as to what I have been taught as my current career path. Stop looking at singular sentences as a different topics. The original comments regarding scrubbing it until it shines was not what got me writing. What did was the fact that it’s so left field from any person who shoots for a living to not clean your barrel in regards to accuracy. Mentioning all those weapons was saying, in all sorts of firearms with barrels all of them need cleaned, which in turn the cleanliness does effect accuracy and zero. This information is coming from myself, however I have plenty of good friends who do more specialized shooting MOS’s, with high powered bolt action rifles, I’ll consult their opinion to shed further light on the topic aforementioned.
I only clean my rifles barrels when I notice accuracy decrease, end of season and wont shoot for awhile, or just when I have the free time and been long enough. One of my rifles the accuracy degrades around 50 rounds and takes 3 fouling to get it back to zero, but have another rifle that I shoot 3-400 and don't notice any accuracy issues but clean around 400. Both of these rifle get cleaned after each use, I clean the chamber, bolt, grease bolt, and wipe down any metal surfaces with oil, but don't touch the bore.

I think you might be under the impression that the people stating they only clean when accuracy degrade are not touching their rifles until that time.
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,250
Check out the latest edition of Rifleman (or join the NRA if you haven’t seen it). Reminded me of this thread and all the folks in the don’t need to clean your rifle camp. Good article by Towsley on fouling.
I don't think anyone has stated you never have to clean your rifle. I think most guys in that "camp" are saying there is no set number of rounds. The opening part of the article says the gun was no longer shooting good groups. The solution was to clean it.
 
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