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Set back barrel question

joshb

Gold $$ Contributor
Hey guys: I bought a used gun. It had a 6br chambered Krieger. Round count at about 550. I did a chamber cast and didn't like what I found. I sent it up to Bob Green to be cut back and rechambered but I forgot to ask the question. Should I treat it like a new barrel with the "break in" procedure or just shoot it like normal? Thanks, Josh Merry Christmas
 
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I hesitate to even comment knowing the wide variance in opinions on barrel break-in. I follow Krieger's advice for my Krieger barrels (I believe what they have to say). I don't shoot more, I just clean more for the first xx rounds. Here is their words directly from their website. Since you will be cutting across the lapped lands, I would follow new break-in directions.

"
BREAK-IN & CLEANING:

With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these reamer marks.

Because the lay of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, very little is done to the bore during break-in, but the throat is another story. When your barrel is chambered, by necessity there are reamer marks left in the throat that are across the lands, i.e. across the direction of the bullet travel. In a new barrel they are very distinct; much like the teeth on a very fine file.

When the bullet is forced into the throat, copper dust is removed from the jacket material and released into the gas which at this temperature and pressure is actually a plasma. The copper dust is vaporized in this plasma and is carried down the barrel. As the gas expands and cools, the copper comes out of suspension and is deposited in the bore. This makes it appear as if the source of the fouling is the bore when it is actually for the most part the new throat.

If this copper is allowed to stay in the bore, and subsequent bullets and deposits are fired over it, copper which adheres well to itself, will build up quickly and may be difficult to remove later. So when we break in a barrel, our goal is to get the throat “polished without allowing copper to build up in the bore. This is the reasoning for the fire-one-shot-and-clean procedure.

Every barrel will vary slightly in how many rounds they take to break in For example a chrome moly barrel may take longer to break in than stainless steel because it is more abrasion resistant even though it is a similar hardness. Also chrome moly has a little more of an affinity for copper than stainless steel so it will usually show a little more color if you are using a chemical cleaner. Rim Fire barrels can take an extremely long time to break in, sometimes requiring several hundred rounds or more. But cleaning can be lengthened to every 25-50 rounds. The break-in procedure and the cleaning procedure are really the same except for the frequency. Remember the goal is to get or keep the barrel clean while breaking in the throat with bullets being fired over it.

Finally, the best way to tell if the barrel is broken in is to observe the patches; i.e. when the fouling is reduced. This is better than some set number of cycles of shoot and clean as many owners report practically no fouling after the first few shots, and more break-in would be pointless. Conversely, if more is required, a set number would not address that either. Besides, cleaning is not a completely benign procedure so it should be done carefully and no more than necessary."
 
My take is ..."normal". It has already been shot. All the break-in, if any was done, was done long ago. Clean good and shoot normally.
 
I just recently did the same with a 308win barrel. just shoot if it didn't copper foul before it won't now.
 
I hesitate to even comment knowing the wide variance in opinions on barrel break-in. I follow Krieger's advice for my Krieger barrels (I believe what they have to say). I don't shoot more, I just clean more for the first xx rounds. Here is their words directly from their website. Since you will be cutting across the lapped lands, I would follow new break-in directions.

"
BREAK-IN & CLEANING:

With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these

So I have a new Bartlein coming my plan is to shot and clean. Then shoot a couple and clean ,repeat then shoot 4 and clean, something like that till I smooths out and cleans better.

The question I have is on the tubbs micro finish bullets. Wondering on what everyone's opinions is on running something abrasive like that system. Myself I would never use them, but iam asking because I have a friend that runs them thru every rifle he buys. He usually buys higher end factory guns. I have shot quite a few of them and they all seem to be really good shooters. I would think it takes some barrel life. He just ran them thru a kimber 300winmag and it shoots amazing. Just asking for opinions
 
I just had a 260 barrel with 3600 rounds set back and rechambered to 260ai as a forming barrel. After the first five shots on the original chamber this barrel never held copper. After the set back, it took about 10 shots for the copper to stop showing. It's the first barrel I've ever set back so; sample size of one.
 

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