Barrel break-in?

[texfed]

The only barrels I break in are the one's that come with specific manufacturer recommendations.
Mt McMillan HRT rifle had such recommendations and I followed them. This rifle was designed to be a MOA gun and it is!

 

[Hawk]

If a manufacturer wants a break-in they may feel free to do it. I believe that was Dakota's attitude: it should be broken in and will be such when you get it.

I read far too much Gale McMillan to do something like that on my own, intentionally. Some of the stuff still responds to a search engine:
http://www.6mmbr.com/GailMcMbreakin.html

But I don't feel any urge whatsoever to convince anyone else that Gale was right. If they derive good results or even just think they derive good results I'm not inclined to argue.

 

[Zwetschgen]

Honestly, I didn't know people did this. I like spending time looking over and cleaning my firearms, but not enough to clean them... daily? Actually, I've stopped cleaning my .22 after each outing, I've heard it can help with accuarcy, some say it doesn't help, I am too poor a shot to notice, but I do notice I am cleaning it 2 or 3 times less than I used to. It'd be interesting to see if this could be proven in some kind of tests...

 

[Eyesac]

Count me down for a "no"...

 

[The Bushmaster]

Kimber recommends 400 to 500 rounds for breakin and cleaning every 100 to 150 rounds...Beings I usually shoot only 50 rounds a session this was easy...I usually have 4 to 6 firearms on the range at atime anyway...

 

[1911Gunslinger]

The barrel break in issue is not as much for barrel life as it is for metal fouling and accuracy. Most rifle barrels are still made by button rifling them. The carbide button is forced through the bore and "irons" the rifling into it. This process results in tooling marks which will scrape material off of the outside of bullets. The idea is to shoot and clean after the first few shots to allow the bullets to polish out the tooling marks and avoid the metal fouling. Most people never truly get a rifle barrel clean and the metal fouling can continue to build up to a point where accuracy is severely degraded. I have seen rifles that were supposedly worn out and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn shoot very well after cleaning out the many years of fouling that had built up inside their barrel. Hammer forged and/or chrome lined barrels are less affected by metal fouling due to their smoother internal surfaces.

 

[Bartkowski]

I find it amusing when people break in their barrels just because, or the way they think they should. Of course some people follow the manufacturers recomended process, but others do as they please. Why? Why do people give advice like "Oh, well, what I would do...." and have no reason to think that.