Agree totally. Lead bullet rounds at fairly low velocity as compared to true jacketed bullets (NOT copper washed) at a much higher velocity......like a centerfire. I broke in my CZ 457 .17hmr Varmint barrel just like I do a new centerfire barrel. Don't know if it was the break in procedure, or if I won the 'CZ barrel lottery', but the rifle shoots lights out. Much better than the used 453 .17hmr varmint I had.A 22 rimfire and a 17 hmr are two different animals. You're shooting a lead lubed bullet in one and a vmax or similar in the other.
Hi Scott,Agree totally. Lead bullet rounds at fairly low velocity as compared to true jacketed bullets (NOT copper washed) at a much higher velocity......like a centerfire. I broke in my CZ 457 .17hmr Varmint barrel just like I do a new centerfire barrel. Don't know if it was the break in procedure, or if I won the 'CZ barrel lottery', but the rifle shoots lights out. Much better than the used 453 .17hmr varmint I had.
I do agree with Lee to a point on .22lr, but since the OP asked about factory barrels, that is also a different animal than custom .22lr barrels. A properly lapped custom barrel, IME, needs frequent cleaning to be at it's optimum, but really no break in is needed. Factory barrels seem to be all over the place as to what they really like. If I was breaking in a .22lr factory barrel, I would clean it right out of the box, then shoot it and keep the bore cleaned frequently (say every 50rds) for a several 100rds. After that, I would test different round counts before cleaning to see what that particular barrel liked as far as cleaning. This will show on the target when accuracy either improves, or degrades, according to the frequency of cleaning. Just my 2 cents worth.
Scott
Enjoyed the read, thx for the link!![]()
A Guide to .22LR Barrel Care for the Precision Rimfire Shooter - The Truth About Guns
By Gregory J. Roman As anyone involved in the shooting sports knows, precision rimfire is growing rapidly. The internet is full of tons of advice, good and bad, on how to perform better as a shooter. If there is one thing that my time at Vudoo has taught me, it’s that there is not much ... Read morewww.thetruthaboutguns.com
only problem is that C4 is about 50 bucks a pint, but it works great. Using this method, I broke in a wood-stocked CZ Varmint and shot my first 2500 with it in ARA competition. Although now that has a good layer of seasoning I only clean it every couple of hundred rounds and make sure it has at least 50 down the tube before competitions.
For what it's worth, factory produced match rifles such as those used in 3P shooting, including Anschutz, FWB, Walther, Bleiker, and G&E don't have a recommended "break in" regimen.
If some factory barrels do shoot better after a few hundreds of rounds, it may be because there is some degree of "smoothening" or something else occuring inside the bore, but it must be difficult to see with a borescope.
A lengthy period of time may pass in some cases before some barrels shoot to their potential. According to Bill Calfee, some factory barrels with minor imperfections such as small burrs in the leade may experience improved accuracy performance after a few thousand rounds are shot. The many rounds passing by the burr may reduce it in size so it no longer causes damage and irregularity to the bullet.