Often, I hear of automatics that fail to feed after they have been purchased. I have even had some. If you call the manufacturer, they will often tell you, "Oh, it just needs to be broken in, shoot 500 rounds through it and call us back if it still is a problem".
And so I have taken that advice, and every time I have, the gun still had the same problem it did 500 rounds earlier. I call back, they let me send the gun in, fix whatever was wrong with it, and send it back. Usually that solves the problem.
Never in 30 years of shooting though have I had a gun that actually improved with break in.
I think the 500 round break in is just manufacturers putting off a problem. It costs about $20/ box of ammo, so the owner is out of $200 of ammo trying a break in period that doesn't seem to work very often (at all in my case).
I know some tightly built custom 1911s probably do need a break in, but short of that I am not a big fan of having to waste $200 of ammo on a gun that jams before a manufacturer wants to take it back and work on it some more.
And so I have taken that advice, and every time I have, the gun still had the same problem it did 500 rounds earlier. I call back, they let me send the gun in, fix whatever was wrong with it, and send it back. Usually that solves the problem.
Never in 30 years of shooting though have I had a gun that actually improved with break in.
I think the 500 round break in is just manufacturers putting off a problem. It costs about $20/ box of ammo, so the owner is out of $200 of ammo trying a break in period that doesn't seem to work very often (at all in my case).
I know some tightly built custom 1911s probably do need a break in, but short of that I am not a big fan of having to waste $200 of ammo on a gun that jams before a manufacturer wants to take it back and work on it some more.