Thoughts/wisdom on new barrel 'break-in'?

[Bang!]

Bought a DPMS LR-308 and the 'break-in' schedule per owners manual seems lengthy.

"To achieve the best results for accuracy you should clean the chamber and bore after every round for the first 25 rounds and then every 10 rounds up to 100 rounds. It usually takes about 200 rounds per barrel for optimum accuracy."

I'll follow the manufactures instructions but curious as to what this procedure 'technically' does for the barrel. My thoughts are that you're 'wearing' the new barrel in and don't want dirt to interfere with the process. But clean after every round for the first 25 shots?

On a side note. I cleaned/inspected the new rifle before first shot. Fired. FTE. Thoroughly cleaned/inspected again. Fired. FTE. Cleaned/inspected. Fired. FTE. Boxed it up and sent back to DPMS. They quickly repaired, sent it back. Ready for round number four.:banghead:

 

[dfariswheel]

The theory is that standard (non custom Match barrels which are hand lapped by the maker) have microscopic burrs and machine marks.

When a bullet is fired these tiny imperfections tear off some of the bullet jacket and this builds up small "speed bumps" that get bigger and bigger, affecting accuracy.

By breaking in the barrel you remove the small copper speed bumps so the next bullet down hits and wears away the imperfections.
As they wear down, the barrel will foul less and less, improving accuracy.

Barrel break in is hotly debated. Best advice is to do exactly what the gun or barrel maker recommends.

 

[Trent]

Barrel break-in is more designed to save you heartache than to "protect" the barrel.

Newly reamed barrels are harsh, and tend to strip a lot of copper from jackets until the initial roughness is worn off (50-100 rds). That'll build up FAST, and DEEP on new barrels. Which makes cleaning it out later, quite a chore.

Use Sweets 762 on a jag, followed by a dry clean patch (repeat wet/dry until it stops coming out blue), after 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 shots. Discontinue and treat as normal when the amount of copper removed falls down to insignificant levels.

After 50/100 shots (depending on barrel quality, rifling type, etc) you'll find there is very little / no copper fouling after 10-20 shot strings. You know your barrel is "broke in" at that point.

 

[ScottyPotty]

barrel break in is voodoo

but yeah, this topic has been done to death. do a search

 

[jmr40]

Almost all barrels will be more accurate after 200 rounds. Cleaning after every round for 25 then once every 10 etc. is a waste of time. Shoot the gun, clean it when it is dirty.

 

[taliv]

i sure wouldn't clean that many times.

 

[Art Eatman]

Shooting is a lapping process. Somewhen during the first 50 to 200 rounds, the bore should become all nice and cleaned of any "after-birth" from the machining.

I've never done all this clean/clean/clean thing. I never even heard about it until coming to the world of Internet guns in 1998. Shot lots of sub-MOA groups since 1950, though.

 

[Bang!]

Good stuff. Thanks.

 

[HexHead]

I followed the break in procedure Weatherby recommends on both of mine. Clean and allow barrel to cool in between shots for the first 10. Then do the same between strings of 10 for the next 30 rounds, total of 40 rounds.

Spent a couple of hours at the range each time. I can't argue with the results.

They're only new once.

 

[yzguy87]

Congrats on your purchase and wish you the best of luck to you regarding your rifles performance.

Just out of curiosity, what model of the lr-308 did you get?

 

[cacoltguy]

I agree that barrel "Break in" is more myth than reality. I've never done a barrel break-in procedure for any of my rifles whether they be plinkers or rifles I use in Highpower or F-Class competition. I do run some patches down a new barrel before I shoot it to remove any loose dirt or debris from the factory. After that I clean it as I normally do all my rifles when I get home. There are many online articles out there that basically show nothing to be gained from the OCD "shoot and clean" method. Mostly all it does is reduce your barrel life by whatever number of rounds you shot through it during this exercise. If for some reason your gunsmith used a dull reamer and left rough edges near the in the chamber/throat area or there are serious burrs in the rifling, it is going to take hundreds of rounds to smooth them out. (if they ever significantly wear down out at all.) Some high quality barrels are hand lapped at the factory to smooth them out and allow for less copper fouling during shooting but this is done with an abrasive compound and cant be duplicated by the firing of 25 rounds with some cleaning in between. If a barrel isn't lapped then some copper fouling isn't a bad thing since it evens out the high and low spots. Most factory barrels will shoot better with some copper fouling.

 

[ford8nr]

Take a look a July/August RIFLE SHOOTER magazine. They have a GOOD article on if and why you might need to do it. IF the mfg recommends it I'd do it. They should know their barrels. My guess his it's NOT chrome lined.

 

[MtnCreek]

Just a note on hand lapped. The lapping is performed to a blank. Then the chamber is cut. IMHO, even a new, quality reamer is going to leave a little bit of a rough spot where the reamer stopped.

I somewhat broke in a new, lapped barrel recently. The builder fired ~15 rds through it and cleaned it. When I got it, I put 20 rds through it and cleaned and got a small amount of copper out. Another 100 through it, cleaned and very little copper (very slight color on one patch). I've shot it a good bit and cleaned it the other week and had no copper that I could see. So, quality barrel, I'm pretty sure the builder did a good job, but there was a little copper at first and now there's not. Something changed.

 

[tahunua001]

barrel break in is not a myth, every single procedure ever conceived for proper barrel break is IS a myth.

take your gun out, shoot a few boxes, and clean it. your rifle is now officially broken in.

 

[itsa pain]

you do more damage cleaning it after every shot then not barrel makers like that because they want you to ruin the barrel and buy another one