New barrel 6br 8 twist - how many rounds until considered broke in?

[Andr01d]

Just looking for some input on roughly how many rounds down the tube until you would consider a barrel broke in. I am not looking for break in procedure, just when to say she ain't gonna shoot any better, with respect to break in. Want to nail down a final load recipe after I know barrel has settled in so to speak. Factory Savage 12f, 8 twist.

 

[Tim Singleton]

Just looking for some input on roughly how many rounds down the tube until you would consider a barrel broke in. I am not looking for break in procedure, just when to say she ain't gonna shoot any better, with respect to break in. Want to nail down a final load recipe after I know barrel has settled in so to speak. Factory Savage 12f, 8 twist.

I know it's frustrating to ask a simple quaestion and have 20 asked back.
But. It depends on if it's a factory mass produced barrel?
A hand lapped custom or semi custom?
Some factory savage or Rem barrels may never (break in) so to speak. They are so rough they never stop stripping copper.
Most hand lapped barrels from a reputable vendor. Will smooth down in the throat in 10-12 shots. FME

 

[Andr01d]

Thanks for the reply Tim, I appreciate the info, that makes sense too, the smoother it is from hand lapping the less it should strip off. I have searched the inter web, YouTube , etc and have not found anyone that sells any sort of kit to hand lap a barrel. Would be fun to try, but I am thinking I'd do more damage than good. Would like to see a video on how the pro's do it.

 

[noload]

I start looking for good loads as I break it in, If you have 50 down the tube it should be ready to go. Look in the muzzle end with a flash lite you may see slight copper, but if its not excessive you should have a decent barrel. For long range stuff try 29.8 reloader 15 with a 105 Berger VLD .002" off the lands. Or you may find Hybrids easier to find a load for.

 

[Jet]

I'm a fan of Savage rifles so don't take this as Savage bashing.

I don't think it is possible to break in a Savage barrel the way many folks break in their custom barrels. I have bore scoped a few new Savage barrels and without fail I would have thought each barrel wouldn't shoot. The rifling looks like railroad tracks with railroad ties connecting them. They definatly aren't smooth and as Tim says above, they will never really be broken in.

Most Savage shooters likely find their barrels take awhile to settle down after cleaning and prefer to shoot dirty. This is likely due to copper and powder fouling filling in all the tooling marks that you don't find on custom barrels.

Recommend you do a short break in process to clean up the throat a bit but don't obsess over it. It will likely shoot great.

Good Shooting.

Rich

 

[expiper]

If it and you are NOT shooting within 50 rounds ,,there is a problem,,,Roger

 

[CSM19Z5M]

If it is a quality lapped barrel it will shoot consistently in a couple five shot groups. At least mine always have. If it's a factory production barrel, just shoot it. There are some good ones and there are some not so good ones. It's probably as good as it is ever going to be so don't waste so much time on breaking it in. I'm by no means bashing factory barrels here, just speaking from my experience. I have always thought that the break-in process was a bit over rated. I've seen so many people obsessed with cleaning after every shot or two when breaking in. They add premature wear more often than not by cleaning improperly too.

 

[Andr01d]

All great information, exactly the experienced information I was looking for. She is shooting better than I am holding steady for five round shot groups. Getting consistent .5 MOA at 200yds, remove the one flyer from the groups and they are .2 -.3 MOA at 200yds. Once I get the best hold figured out, I hope to limit those flyers. 6BR is all I hoped it would be, less brass prep /reloading time and more fun shooting. Getting consistent single digit SD, no neck turn lapua brass, Berger 108 BT jam .020. Using Wilson size and seat dies. Varget 30.6 grains- 2840fps w 30 " barrel.

 

[noload]

thats sounds like a stout load by a couple of tenths. Especially with the jam, How's the brass holding up?

 

[Andr01d]

No load, 30.6 is right at the upper limit of my initial ramp/ ladder load during some frigid temps. 30.8 gives firing pin craters. Prob should back it down a bit for an all weather load and see if grouping suffers at all. Brass is doing good, primer pockets tight, no split necks, primers show very slight squaring/flattening. I know varget is supposed to be temp insensitive but from zero degrees to 90's or higher in the sun I do not have any first hand knowledge of with varget. Thanks for the heads up on stout load.

 

[noload]

I tried Varget VS Reloader15 in a Sav 6br with different barrels, I never could get the varget to group as good as the R15, but the R15 will give you fits when the temp goes up. I stuck with the R15 for my powder choice and hope for cool match days. Thats why its best to pick a charge thats mid point of your accuracy node.

 

[A_Gamehog]

One more thing to consider is the Torque of the action screws. As you lower the poundage of the new rifle you remove it from the stock to access the spring screw under the trigger. If you do not torque it correctly as you re-assemble the rifle it will never obtain the accuracy from the factory. "Google Savage action screw torque" lots of good info on youtube. It does make a difference on the 3 screw actions and 2 screw also. More than a few have found "the load" only to go home and clean the action and lower the trigger pull, then realize the 1/4" MOA groups are gone.

 

[Andr01d]

That is some great info. Has me debating a tweak one way or the other to see if groups change. There is a good article on it right here in accurate shooter.com, thanks!

 

[rvn1968]

I still think that your load is the most important component in barrel life.Load over 3000fps with a bullet over 87gr and you will have a much shorter life. IMHO,Tom.

 

[Joe R]

David Tubb sells a product called Final Finish and that is supposed to lap your barrel by firing some specially coated bullets. Here's the link.

http://www.davidtubb.com/final-finish-bullet-kits