Barrel Break-in during freezing temps

[dcali]

KG12 is the best copper solvent I’ve used. Or maybe sweets, but that stuff is murder on your nasal passages. That said, I have never seen the need to break in a barrel. Every custom barrel have ever owned has shot fine from the start and had minimal fouling. Factory barrels are beyond help. You get what you get and spending lots of effort on one seems to be penny wise and pound foolish.

 

[Brians356]

I've treated three older factory barrels (one Ruger 77, and two Rem 700s) with Tubb's fire lapping kits, and in each case copper fouling was reduced dramatically, and group sizes shrank by half. These were hunting rifles, for proper context.
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[Homerange]

KG12 is the best copper solvent I’ve used.

+1 and it's much much faster than Sweets.

Or maybe sweets, but that stuff is murder on your nasal passages.
That said, I have never seen the need to break in a barrel. Every custom barrel have ever owned has shot fine from the start and had minimal fouling. Factory barrels are beyond help. You get what you get and spending lots of effort on one seems to be penny wise and pound foolish.

Tikka and Sako tubes all come from the Sako factory and their production processes produces fine factory tubes that are very smooth and copper foul very little right from the start.
I see a few of these, mostly Tikka's and my sons 243 showed the faintest signs of copper after 2 shots which we cleaned with KG12 and then fired another ~30 without signs of copper. Mind you that 243 was the best I've ever seen however generally these Tikka/Sako tubes are bloody good. For a sporting rifle to shoot sub 1/2" with undeveloped handloads right from new installs great confidence in it.

 

[dcali]

+1 and it's much much faster than Sweets.

Tikka and Sako tubes all come from the Sako factory and their production processes produces fine factory tubes that are very smooth and copper foul very little right from the start.
I see a few of these, mostly Tikka's and my sons 243 showed the faintest signs of copper after 2 shots which we cleaned with KG12 and then fired another ~30 without signs of copper. Mind you that 243 was the best I've ever seen however generally these Tikka/Sako tubes are bloody good. For a sporting rifle to shoot sub 1/2" with undeveloped handloads right from new installs great confidence in it.

I’ve never owned one of those, but a friend had a Tikka that made me question the sanity of buying a custom. It was ridiculously accurate considering what was paid for it.

 

[Homerange]

I’ve never owned one of those, but a friend had a Tikka that made me question the sanity of buying a custom. It was ridiculously accurate considering what was paid for it.

Yes, that's generally the case but you need to do your homework if pushing the boundaries of what's capable from an 'off the shelf' rifle.
A buddy into long range varminting got a Tikka Varminter in 22.250 and early on Tikka didn't offer the twist rates they do now so his brother shooting the same rifle but in 223 was able to shoot 69gr Bergers while the 22.250 twist rate wasn't fast enough for them so he rebarrelled it to 6mm Rem (same bolt face), got the bigger/longer mag and changed the bolt stop so to cycle 6mm Rem pushing 105gr Bergers 200+fps faster than anything you will see in print. It grouped 1 1/4" @ 500 yds and I personally watched him bowl a rabbit @ 820 yds.
That's top shooting in anyone's language !

 

[Brians356]

I've got a Rem 700 Varmint Special (a 1967, the very first year for the VS) in 6mm Rem. I bought it in a pawn shop in 99% condition, original 24-in barrel, fleur-de-lis "checkering". It had a Canjar trigger and a nice period Redfield 4-12x target scope, so it likely had some rounds through it. I glass bedded and floated it and moved the Canjar to a custom rifle, so now it has a factory R700 trigger which has been tuned. The rifle shot decently, 3/4 MOA not difficult, but it copper fouled and took some effort to de-copper. I ran a set of Tubb fire-lapping bullets through it and now it cleans much easier. Now it's fairly easy to shoot 1/2" groups at 100 yds. Here are some 4-shot groups (last one is 5) I shot in 3-12 mph switching conditions with no attempt to dope the breeze, just concentrating on holding vertical and taking dead aim. Berger 74-gr moly MEFs. Not bad for a 50+ year-old OEM barrel.



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[46and2]

Sometimes I think using Tubbs Final finish would make life easier than a full shoot/clean repeat session.

Just an update!!!!
The weather wasn't as bad as forecast, it was 32° early and ended up 35°.
The barrel ia PacNor ( had been in the wrapper for a year). Only took 8 shots/clean to stop copping. I don't know if it is cheating or not but I used RL23, lol. This barrel looked immaculate in the borescope brand new.

Oh, the Boretech Eliminator didn't freeze.