new barrel

[wzee]

Just had a new barrel installed , how many rounds do I have to shoot in barrel before I can do a ladder test ?

 

[Dshooter]

I run about 15-20 rounds first, then start testing

 

[noload]

I look for my load when I break it in at 100yds. After 25 rounds I think you can go for it.

 

[lawrence97]

Each barrel is different! I won't do a ladder on mine until velocities settle down and get consistent. And then the barrel will most likely speed up on you after a certain amount of rounds. My current barrel settled after 120.

 

[jcampbellsmith]

Shots 9, 10 and 11 from my latest 260 Rem barrel, produced one of my best ever groups. Shots 12, 13 and 14 weren't shabby either. Regards JCS

 

[dkhunt14]

I would do load and clean till it stops coppering. If the velocity speeds up you can always drop back to make it what it wants. A chronograph will tell you. Matt

 

[wzee]

I would do load and clean till it stops coppering. If the velocity speeds up you can always drop back to make it what it wants. A chronograph will tell you. Matt[/QU

I would do load and clean till it stops coppering. If the velocity speeds up you can always drop back to make it what it wants. A chronograph will tell you. Matt

Thanks guys

 

[wzee]

I would do load and clean till it stops coppering. If the velocity speeds up you can always drop back to make it what it wants. A chronograph will tell you. Matt

Thanks guys

 

[ShootDots]

Just had a new barrel installed , how many rounds do I have to shoot in barrel before I can do a ladder test ?

Up til about 4 barrels ago, I used to shoot, clean out the carbon and the copper til it quit "coppering up". However, a few barrels before the last one, it took one or two and sometimes NONE to to get the copper out. SOOOOOO, after doing this, I concluded that Kriegers, Bartleins and Brux barrels have come to a level of manufacture that they clean up so fast that I no longer use the "shoot / clean after every shot" method of "Breaking a Barrel in"... I simply shoot about 30 rounds down the bore using a couple of "known loads" from a certain cartridge to see how it may perform, then a GOOD CLEANING and it never coppers up after that til the firecracking begins to set in about 700-1000 rounds later.

I have also found that barrels have a habit of "speeding up" and "normally" settle down somewhere just north of 100 rounds. BUT my last Brux barrel (a .284 Shehane) did not settle down for over 200 rounds! This is an anomaly that I have only seen one time. So I R-E-A-L-L-Y don't do much, but run bullets down the bore for about 100 or so firings and then I get to SERIOUS load development.. Finding a load that shoots well at say 50 rounds will most likely need "tweaking" because it may very well speed up right past the node you're shooting in..

This has been MY experience and it is by no means to suggest that the others way of doing things are wrong or right. It is just MY "hard-headed" way!

 

[centershot]

I believe that Krieger states on his web site that barrel break in is a unnecessary endavor.

 

[dkhunt14]

I believe that Krieger states on his web site that barrel break in is a unnecessary endavor.

Krieger recommends one and clean for a few shots. It breaks in the throat and smooth's it out to help stop coppering. Taken right off their website. Matt

 

[SHootSTraight22]

You may also think about polishing the throat area plus the first 12in afterwards with a fine polish before taken the gun out to shoot for the first time to aid in settling it down.. If you do so be sure to put a good layer of carbon/copper down before shooting the ladder.. I like to perform my ladder and OCW with the barrel pretty dirty like it will be in the real world match.. Develop your load from there..

 

[furmaster]

I cleaned after a few for the first 10 or so in my krieger. No copper fouling since then......None. I will say that at about 200 rds I started seeing pressure in a round I had shot all summer, I backed off 1.5 grains and was at same speed I was initially getting!!! I guess it broke in. My ladder test before 200 rds would have been pointless, but maybe just that barrel. No complaints though, shoots 4" groups at 1k

 

[DHD]

Up til about 4 barrels ago, I used to shoot, clean out the carbon and the copper til it quit "coppering up". However, a few barrels before the last one, it took one or two and sometimes NONE to to get the copper out. SOOOOOO, after doing this, I concluded that Kriegers, Bartleins and Brux barrels have come to a level of manufacture that they clean up so fast that I no longer use the "shoot / clean after every shot" method of "Breaking a Barrel in"... I simply shoot about 30 rounds down the bore using a couple of "known loads" from a certain cartridge to see how it may perform, then a GOOD CLEANING and it never coppers up after that til the firecracking begins to set in about 700-1000 rounds later.

I have also found that barrels have a habit of "speeding up" and "normally" settle down somewhere just north of 100 rounds. BUT my last Brux barrel (a .284 Shehane) did not settle down for over 200 rounds! This is an anomaly that I have only seen one time. So I R-E-A-L-L-Y don't do much, but run bullets down the bore for about 100 or so firings and then I get to SERIOUS load development.. Finding a load that shoots well at say 50 rounds will most likely need "tweaking" because it may very well speed up right past the node you're shooting in..

This has been MY experience and it is by no means to suggest that the others way of doing things are wrong or right. It is just MY "hard-headed" way!

Benjamin,
It's interesting you had the "issue" with a Brux barrel. I had the same thing happen with one. I had started to think it was a dirty dog, but around the 200 mark, it started to impress me. At 250, it became a barrel that never disappointed. Now it has 700 or so and I have to say it is the most consistent barrel, in both accuracy and velocity, of any I have.

 

[ShootDots]

Benjamin,
It's interesting you had the "issue" with a Brux barrel. I had the same thing happen with one. I had started to think it was a dirty dog, but around the 200 mark, it started to impress me. At 250, it became a barrel that never disappointed. Now it has 700 or so and I have to say it is the most consistent barrel, in both accuracy and velocity, of any I have.

I have had probably close to 100 or so barrels in my life. I have come to the conclusion that NOTHING is out of the realm of possibility with barrels or loading.