Break in barrels

[ShtrRdy]

The factory fires at least one shot . You really need to let the barrel tell you how much break in it needs. I start with firing two rounds and clean steps.

 

[urbanrifleman]

We really aren't breaking in the bbl, but the throat, fwiw. Some take a while and some need near nothing at all. I just posted pics over that last few days of a Krieger 10 twist that I fired the first 20 rounds down before cleaning it. I let it soak overnight and it had no copper in it at all, but they aren't all like that. I don't think a deer will ever know the difference but I think some top competitors can see it on some barrels. But you only get one chance at it. Waiting untill you've got a couple of hundred rounds down it while it's coppering up a single land, for example, probably makes doing it later a waste of time. Either do it from the start or don't do it at all, imho.

I know right?

Barrels don't need breaking in for the most part. Throats do. And the coppering comes from the throat. Not the barrel.

 

[K22]

This is a controversial subject for sure.

To answer your question, "who in the hell knows", no one for sure because you can't test the same barrel and compare the results from so called "break in" procedures versus not breaking them in.

I can only tell you what I've done for the last 50+ years that has worked for me as a precision varmint hunter but let me qualify my remarks by saying that I never have been a bench rest shooter. I am not nor do I profess to be an expert on anything other than groundhog behavior.

I have never followed those so-called break in procedures. With judicious reloading, I have been able to meet or exceed my accuracy standards of 1/2 to 5/8" moa with almost every rifle that I ever owned, and I've owned many different brands and some with aftermarket custom match barrels. When I wasn't able to achieve my standard, it was due to a bedding or other mechanical issue with the rifle, stock, etc.

However, if makes you sleep better at night, following these break in procedures touted by the "experts."

 

[jackieschmidt]

I have developed a simple break in procedure that is a modified version of one found on Bangaway.com.

After the chambering, while the barrel is still in the lathe, I lap the throat with first course lapping compound, the with the two finer compounds progressivly.. To do this, I use a special tool given to me by a Grandiose High Master Exalted Poobah in 5 different Shooting Disciplines.(that I am not at the liberty to show pictures of). I then polish the throat with jewelers rouge.

I then clean the barrel’s ID with a solution of five parts carburetor cleaner, one part hydrochloride acid, and one part sulphuric acid, thoroughly flushing with distilled water. Do not use tap water, as there could be impurities in the tap water that could have a reaction with the acid.

At the range, I load up 20 rounds with a progressively hotter load in each round , firing and cleaning after each round with a mixture of STP injector cleaner, ammonia, and Aqua Regina. (You should be able to find Aqua Regina at any supply house for toxic substances). Be careful , as the ammonia will unclog your sinuses, you don’t want a bunch of snot in the cleaning solution.
You use the progressive loads so yo can “sneak up“ on the barrel, so to say.

After these 20 rounds of shooting and cleaning, I then remove the barrel and run patches saturated with olive oil and ground up pencil lead. I place it in a regular oven at 425 degrees for 2 hours, turning 1/4 turn every 1/2 hours.

I then repeat the initial lapping with course lapping compound, medium lapping compound, fine lapping compound, then jewelers rouge while it is still hot from the oven.

After cooling the barrel is now ready to reinstall on the rifle and start load development. You really won’t have to clean it very often after this initial break in procedure, because there won’t be much in the way of lands and grooves left. after all, these are the major cause of copper build up and carbon fouling in the first place.. Removing as much of these as possible will greatly improve the appearance of the bore when gazing at it with your borescope.

I was going to post this simple break in procedure on the 1st of April this year, but I was in the Arctic just south of the North Pole assisting in drilling through the ice cap to hit the land mass. We we’re having problems because we kept hitting large quantities of salt water.

 

[wildcatter]

Any barrel will foul less quicker. I always do with premium barrels. There is no set how many shots and clean, one shot and clean should tell you if one or three shots should be your next cleaning by how well it cleans each time. The trick is not overfouling in the beginning, and usually makes cleaning each time easier. Usually one shot clean, three shots and clean twice, and then 5 shots and clean shows me on a good barrel it's broke in. After that, I never shoot more than about 20 rounds between cleaning, usually 10 or less, but every outing it will get cleaned before putting away. But all barrels are different and should be treated as such.

 

[kochie]

Any barrel will foul less quicker. I always do with premium barrels. There is no set how many shots and clean, one shot and clean should tell you if one or three shots should be your next cleaning by how well it cleans each time. The trick is not overflowing in the beginning, and usually makes cleaning each time easier. Usually one shot clean, three shots and clean twice, and the 5 shots and clean shows me on a good barrel it's broke in. After that, I never shoot more than about 20 rounds between cleaning, usually 10 or less, but every outing it will get cleaned before putting away.

Ok thanks that sounds like a good method let the barrel tell you how much cleaning it will need sounds like every barrel is different.

 

[urbanrifleman]

5 Tubb number 1
5 Tubb number 3

Then I do my first load work up.

 

[Steve Blair]

I broke in a Brux .300 WSM barrel by fire-forming 300 cases over two days, cleaning after each day. That barrel took fifth at the F-Class Nationals and won the California LR and Twentynine Palms LR Regional.

 

[kochie]

I broke in a Brux .300 WSM barrel by fire-forming 300 cases over two days, cleaning after each day. That barrel took fifth at the F-Class Nationals and won the California LR and Twentynine Palms LR Regional.

Ok thanks

 

[D Coots]

I have developed a simple break in procedure that is a modified version of one found on Bangaway.com.

After the chambering, while the barrel is still in the lathe, I lap the throat with first course lapping compound, the with the two finer compounds progressivly.. To do this, I use a special tool given to me by a Grandiose High Master Exalted Poobah in 5 different Shooting Disciplines.(that I am not at the liberty to show pictures of). I then polish the throat with jewelers rouge.

I then clean the barrel’s ID with a solution of five parts carburetor cleaner, one part hydrochloride acid, and one part sulphuric acid, thoroughly flushing with distilled water. Do not use tap water, as there could be impurities in the tap water that could have a reaction with the acid.

At the range, I load up 20 rounds with a progressively hotter load in each round , firing and cleaning after each round with a mixture of STP injector cleaner, ammonia, and Aqua Regina. (You should be able to find Aqua Regina at any supply house for toxic substances). Be careful , as the ammonia will unclog your sinuses, you don’t want a bunch of snot in the cleaning solution.
You use the progressive loads so yo can “sneak up“ on the barrel, so to say.

After these 20 rounds of shooting and cleaning, I then remove the barrel and run patches saturated with olive oil and ground up pencil lead. I place it in a regular oven at 425 degrees for 2 hours, turning 1/4 turn every 2 hours.

I then repeat the initial lapping with course lapping compound, medium lapping compound, fine lapping compound, then jewelers rouge while it is still hot from the oven.

After cooling the barrel is now ready to reinstall on the rifle and start load development. You really won’t have to clean it very often after this initial break in procedure, because there won’t be much in the way of lands and grooves left. after all, these are the major cause of copper build up and carbon fouling in the first place.. Removing as much of these as possible will greatly improve the appearance on the bore when gazing at it with your borescope.

I was going to post this simple break in procedure on the 1st of April this year, but I was in the Arctic assisting in drilling through the ice cap to hit the land mass. Whe we’re having problems because we kept hitting large quantities of salt water.

No oven. It was gas and is now outlawed. Is it possible to substitute a microwave oven??? Asking for a friend.....

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I do not do any specific break in. But barrels do break in. Sometimes they will copper foul sometimes they wont. But most all of the time the lapped finish smooths out and they speed up. Normally they are settled once they get 100 or so rounds down them. And no its not the throat breaking in (if the work was done right). You can prove this by setting back a used barrel. It wont go back to coppering and it wont speed up again. And I dont expect my original touch point to move at all on a new barrel for at least a couple hundred rounds. Factory rifles or barrels that are not lapped may act totally different. My experience is with quality lapped barrels only.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I do not do any specific break in. But barrels do break in. Sometimes they will copper foul sometimes they wont. But most all of the time the lapped finish smooths out and they speed up. Normally they are settled once they get 100 or so rounds down them. And no its not the throat breaking in (if the work was done right). You can prove this by setting back a used barrel. It wont go back to coppering and it wont speed up again. And I dont expect my original touch point to move at all on a new barrel for at least a couple hundred rounds. Factory rifles or barrels that are not lapped may act totally different. My experience is with quality lapped barrels only.

Different experience, for a lot of years, but I'm probably doing the work wrong. IME, bbls speeding up has nothing to do with breaking the throat in. Two different animals and not related in the least. They do go through the speed up process whether or not they ever get the first speck of copper during the initial break in. You didn't state this as your opinion or your experience but as a fact. Which means anyone who has ever done a 1 shot and clean break-in, and seen copper fouling dramatically fall off within a few shots, has been doing it all wrong.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Different experience, for a lot of years, but I'm probably doing the work wrong. IME, bbls speeding up has nothing to do with breaking the throat in. Two different animals and not related in the least.

Agreed.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Different experience, for a lot of years, but I'm probably doing the work wrong. IME, bbls speeding up has nothing to do with breaking the throat in. Two different animals and not related in the least. They do go through the speed up process whether or not they ever get the first speck of copper during the initial break in. You didn't state this as your opinion or your experience but as a fact. Which means anyone who has ever done a 1 shot and clean break-in, and seen copper fouling dramatically fall off within a few shots, has been doing it all wrong.

I have done the one shot clean thing many times. If a barrel wants to copper early on you can do the one shot and clean or you can just shoot and clean as usual. Either way, that barrel will eventually stop coppering. My point is, you cant stop them from breaking in if you shoot them. Doesnt matter if you do a break in or not. The copping is a different thing that the speed up, true. But, they are both related to the bore finish. You can see the lapped surface changing a lot early in barrel life. Like I said, if you set back a barrel thats already broken in, you dont see the speed up or the copper return. If I saw the copper return after a set back, then Id agree its from the throat. If the throat was breaking in , Id also expect to see some touch point movement early on, I dont. I should ad that Im not saying a throat cant be nasty and cause copping. But its only adding to what the new lapped bore is causing.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I'll go a little farther. At one point I believed what I had read about throats breaking in. So I decided to come up with a break-in to prevent this. I lapped the throats with many different things from lapping compounds, jb/iosso, steel wool, scotch bright, ext. I could remove any trace of the original machined finish and produce a throat that looked just like the lapped bore. The conclusion I came to was that no matter what I did or didnt do the barrel was going to copper or it wasnt. There just no connection between what I did in the throat and if the barrel was going to copper or not.

 

[Dave Way]

So recently I wound up with six barrels to break in. For years I did the one and clean thing. It took an entire afternoon. Then I began to modify it to one and clean, two and clean then three and clean. Still took a long time, but after the three and clean, no copper could be found. These were all high quality lapped barrels.

With six to do in one day, I just fired them all three times and took them home to clean them. Surprise surprise, no copper in any of them. Next I shot 5 shot groups at 1K with all of them, and found no copper in any of them after 18 rounds each and most already had at least one group in the 3’s or smaller. I will never do the one and clean thing again.

Dave.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I have done the one shot clean thing many times. If a barrel wants to copper early on you can do the one shot and clean or you can just shoot and clean as usual. Either way, that barrel will eventually stop coppering. My point is, you cant stop them from breaking in if you shoot them. Doesnt matter if you do a break in or not. The copping is a different thing that the speed up, true. But, the are both related to the bore finish. You can see the lapped surface changing a lot early in barrel life. Like I said, if you set back a barrel thats already broken in, you dont see the speed up or the copper return. If I saw the copper return after a set back, then Id agree its from the throat. If the throat was breaking in , Id also expect to see some touch point movement early on, I dont. I should ad that Im not saying a throat cant be nasty and cause copping. But its only adding to what the new lapped bore is causing.

Without splitting hairs, I agree with all of that. Now, what happens if you have a throat that collects copper on one land but not the others? That one land erodes at a different rate than the others because that copper plating shielded it from the heat and flame the other ones saw. So, inevitably, there is only one chance to prevent that from ever happening. Granted, I do think your and my idea of post break in cleaning are different than the extremes that some people go but let's just say that someone fires say 400 rounds in that condition, where only one land is shielded from the heat and flame before it's cleaned. There is just no way it evens out in a reasonable and competitive lifespan. But yes, a big factor is what do we all call competitive in the various disciplines.

I've had different results with the same reamer and same setups, but just different bbl steel. I do my best but some reamers do better and some steels cut better than others. I have an old PTG 6BR reamer that seems to alway do a very good chamber and I can tell you that the throat is virtually always perfect looking with it. I also have a 6 Grendel PTG reamer that pretty much always looks like crap but it has at least 3 or 4 national championship agg wins and multiple 2nd and 3rds. The reamer actually appears to be better than ever with each chamber it cuts, fwiw and regarding the looks of the throat and the break in. The first several chambers looked bad and fouled bad without a good break in but the 90gr 10 twist thread I posted a few days ago...had 20 rounds on it with zero cleaning and no copper after an overnight soak in Patch-out with accelerator. The prior few chambers were pretty much the same way, too. After the first chamber or two fouling pretty bad, I really looked at the reamer using a borescope. It literally looked like a serrated steak knife but the chambers shot great. I started kissing the throat with a throating reamer to smooth it out and fouling on those barrels was better, as well as the finish looking at it with a borescope.

I've been doing this for a while and can give other examples that are quite similar but not with as many big wins under their belts, of my own. I've seen several reamers that will squeak in some steel but not others, as well. Never liked that either but those reamers/bbls won too.

There's more to it than is obvious, IMHO, but I do think the particular heat treat of steel is part of that, as several were same bbl make, same setup and same reamers.

I d think that the throat is where most copper fouling originates and the reamer going against the direction of bullet travel leaves very fine machining marks that are best removed by a break in than not. You can also see different types of copper fouling, such as copper wash at the muzzle vs streaks at the edges of lands/grooves. I think that's typically two different things and causes. I think the fairly common copper wash generally originates at the throat area where streaks can be a different story. i can't imagine a scenario that a poor finish can leave a super fine and even coating near the muzzle but not elsewhere unless it deposits there and flame temp and pressure drops as the bullet travels down the bore. IOW, I think the theory that jacket upset that happens at the throat but deposits down the bore as temps drop has merit to it, as the copper is suspended at the high pressure and temps until it cools enough to actually plate the bore behind it near the muzzle end. I can't prove that but I read this years ago and have a ton of evidence to support that actually being the case. There has to be a reason for the very thin and even coating only near the muzzle vs streaks that are easily attributed to friction. I'm sure you've seen what I'm referring to while it may or may not be as clear as I'd like for it to be to everyone. Either way, I think most of us know the difference between what I'm calling copper wash vs streaks of copper in a bbl.

I guess the bottom line is that some might need it and others not so much but the ones that clean up fast and easy...well, it's not much to ask and can't hurt anything. We've all got examples of the other way working. IMO, they mean the same as the examples where we don't know for sure but did a break in anyway. To each their own. I do it for what I consider to be good reason or I simply would not. I might do something once based on what I read on the internet. The rest of what I do or don't do is based on experience, because I DID it, typically more than just a time or two. Some very good bbl makers recommend doing a break in. The argument that they want to sell more barrels doesn't carry much weight to me if it can be done in less than 50 rounds and typically, IME, 20 or less, often 10 or less. Just not a lot of bbl life used there.

 

[47WillysGuy]

German Salazar had page on barrel break in that I follow. First page had the subject listed (barrel break in). The next 4 or 5 pages were blank. But the very last page at the bottom stated, “and that’s it”. Ha ha!

 

[6.5 forever]

Thanks to all who have added here. Good information to be evaluated. It seems this subject is always evolving!

 

[kochie]

Thanks to all who have added here. Good information to be evaluated. It seems this subject is always evolving!

Yes very good information thanks