Barrel Break-In

[D Coots]

Good Custom bbl. Competition. Break in 15 -20 pieces of brass while ff'ing to the bbl. Clean after 5, and a couple more times during the string. Check with bore scope. Develop load.

What do you say Frank G.

Later

Dave

 

[jelenko]

I'll just speak to the barrels we use in F Class (and for that matter PRS).

Very cool! Great shooting. Obviously really knows what he's doing. And, no barrel breaking/seasoning/fairy dust/incantations.

But, what range is that? It looks like there are huge baffles a few yards out? And, is the range lighted?

 

[Bc'z]

@Mike in Oregon
LET'R EAT!!!!
This barrel went right into load development, as have all my barrels factory or custom.
It's my honest opinion barrel makers like folks to break in barrels, as those are rounds down the pipe that you'll never get back putting you that much closer to buying another barrel.
Think about it.

 

[Acyr]

No break-in. 50 rounds, take home and clean. Cut rifled barrels.

 

[F Class John]

Very cool! Great shooting. Obviously really knows what he's doing. And, no barrel breaking/seasoning/fairy dust/incantations.

But, what range is that? It looks like there are huge baffles a few yards out? And, is the range lighted?

It's TCGC in Oregon. In the middle of a city so lots of safety baffles and yes, most of our ranges are lit so we can shoot until 9pm 365 days a year on any lit ranges.

 

[Bc'z]

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The lapped surface will smooth out in early barrel life. Mostly on top of the lands. You can see this happen with a bore scope pretty easy. Thats why barrels speed up in the early life like they do. Thats the only break in thats happening in a good barrel. Most of the time a good barrel with a good chamber wont show any copper on the first shot even. I dont do any break in, nor do I recommend one. That "break in" will happen no matter what you do. That very early barrel life is great for doing rough load work like finding the powder, primer and neck tension that a barrel likes. If its a combo you know with your reamer and a barrel your familiar with in many cases you can start load development right away. But its always good to see a few powders and bullets just to be sure.

 

[butchlambert]

You do realize that I didn’t write that don’t you? As stated, it was copy and pasted out of AI because asked it what it had to say about seasoning barrel steel.

I’ll edit to add that I thought it backed up your argument in that many believe break in to be unnecessary in a quality hand lapped barrel albeit in a less snarky manner

Mark, Sorry I upset you. I know that you didn't write it, but posting it as you did says what you posted was what you believe. If not, that is OK.
Tony Boyer said a barrel's best accuracy was with the first round and it slowly went away. He normally replaced his barrels at the 600 round count +or_.
The copper that you see on a new custom lapped barrel is from the machining fluff in the newly reamed chamber. If you will put a bronze bore cleaning brush with a cleaning patch wrapped around the brush. Put a little cleaning solvent with JB paste on it. Message the throat for about 5-10 seconds and you are ready to go.
Have a great week and no offense was intended.

 

[Mark W]

Mark, Sorry I upset you. I know that you didn't write it, but posting it as you did says what you posted was what you believe. If not, that is OK.
Tony Boyer said a barrel's best accuracy was with the first round and it slowly went away. He normally replaced his barrels at the 600 round count +or_.
The copper that you see on a new custom lapped barrel is from the machining fluff in the newly reamed chamber. If you will put a bronze bore cleaning brush with a cleaning patch wrapped around the brush. Put a little cleaning solvent with JB paste on it. Message the throat for about 5-10 seconds and you are ready to go.
Have a great week and no offense was intended.

I have way more important things in my life to get upset with someone on the internet over a misunderstanding. I simply shared something that actually outlined several of the arguments before and against barrel break in, as well as delving into seasoning of steel as you had mentioned.

I certainly never said which if any of the theories that I subscribed to, and I didn’t intend to imply that I believe any of them. You thinking that does however, explain your response.

I do appreciate your reply well thought our response and sharing what you learned from Mr Boyer.

For the record, I have done a shoot and clean break in on some barrels and some I just shot. I saw no positive effects from done a break in or any negative effects to not doing a break. These days I don’t bother.

 

[JMayo]

Search the thousands of topics on this !

 

[jelenko]

Search the thousands of topics on this !

And, get 10,000 ways to break in/not break in.

 

[butchlambert]

I have way more important things in my life to get upset with someone on the internet over a misunderstanding. I simply shared something that actually outlined several of the arguments before and against barrel break in, as well as delving into seasoning of steel as you had mentioned.

I certainly never said which if any of the theories that I subscribed to, and I didn’t intend to imply that I believe any of them. You thinking that does however, explain your response.

I do appreciate your reply well thought our response and sharing what you learned from Mr Boyer.

For the record, I have done a shoot and clean break in on some barrels and some I just shot. I saw no positive effects from done a break in or any negative effects to not doing a break. These days I don’t bother.

We are good Mark!

 

[Dgd6mm]

For the record, I have done a shoot and clean break in on some barrels and some I just shot. I saw no positive effects from done a break in or any negative effects to not doing a break. These days I don’t bother.

This is also what I have experienced.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Mike, I think you misread my post. Let me try again. What is in a barrel that requires break in? I'm speaking of custom barrels.

Nothing really. You break in the throat.

All throats, no matter how perfect will need some degree of wearing in. Just by the nature of the cutting tool being fed 90 degrees to the bullet path, it leaves a surface that will smooth over time compared to how it was cut.

Edit: I see you already said that in a later post.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Rough throats may need break in, but in quality barrels with quality chambers I have not seen that. No copper and the touch point to the lands does not change early in the barrels life. The "settling down" and speed up that happens is all to do with the lapped surface. Set back a used barrel and the fresh throat will not cause another speed up.

 

[Ranger188]

This ^^^^
I'm just waiting for the barrel to stop speeding up and stabilize the FPS.

 

[5spd]

Never done a break in via barrel instructions, but i dont just burn off 50 fast rounds in a new bbl either.

 

[Bronsin]

After I get a new barrel, I give it the 1 shot and clean method, checking for copper. Sometimes it's gone in 3 rounds, other might take up to 10. Once that's done, I get on with it. If I wait 8 months on a barrel, a few more for it to get chambered and then for the weather to clear up enough to shoot it, I'm going to break it in first. I'm not wasting anyone else's time by doing it, so I'm not concerned what they think about it.

 

[butchlambert]

After I get a new barrel, I give it the 1 shot and clean method, checking for copper. Sometimes it's gone in 3 rounds, other might take up to 10. Once that's done, I get on with it. If I wait 8 months on a barrel, a few more for it to get chambered and then for the weather to clear up enough to shoot it, I'm going to break it in first. I'm not wasting anyone else's time by doing it, so I'm not concerned what they think about it.

 

[butchlambert]

Chuckler chuckle, I believe that is what we all do. Don't give a shift what our friends do!