I bought a nice cheapo Savage .308 a number of years ago (new).
Cleaned it up when I bought it but no "Barrel break in" here.....shoots nice and straight for me, has killed stuff for me, and was used by my son to get his first mulie last season (at 150 yards).
I don't know....maybe it's better to break in your rifle....but perhaps not???
It is ridiculous for anyone to suggest barrel makers suggest a break in procedure because they may sell more barrels because of wear or sell more ammunition and cleaning products ... 10 or 20 shots breaking a barrel in does not reduce the life of a barrel... it may actually increase effective accuracy life.
Many shooters have had the same experience as you ... with custom quality aftermarket barrels it only takes a few shots to break a barrel in... I have seen this with Gaillard, Lilja, and Kreiger and other Benchrest quality barrels... as little as 10 shots. Both Lilja and Krieger have written informative articles on what a break in procedure involves...
You don't need to spend $5000 on a rifle... but a custom barrel install will run you from $700 on up...
Breaking in mass produced factory rifles - forget it ... they may never break in and are well suited to the hunter who never cleans his rifle and brags about it...
Last edited by guntech; 02-08-2016 at 04:47 PM.
. . . . .If I don't respond to your postings, maybe it is because you are on my "IGNORE" list
. . . . . . . . . . . . I don't see the garbage you write. It's a wonderful tool
So sorry, I can't afford a $5000 custom target rifle. One of the reasons I'm on a hunting website, not a target shooting website.
The OP didn't specify that he/she was asking about a long range target rifle. If that was the case, I wouldn't have responded.
But whatever......carry on.
This is a never ending debate nobody can really prove one way or another but when a young lad who just spent his whole paycheck on his brand new rifle asks a question why not steer him in a direction that possibly could benefit him in the long run. Shooting and cleaning your rifle doesnt cost anymore than just shooting it alone other than the cost of patches and solvents, hell you might not even shoot as much ammo if your taking time between shots to clean. Brand and cost of ammo is up to the shooters budget. I actually handload light charges under a cup and core el cheapo bullet just for break in but not everybody handloads. Anyways the more time you practice the better you are off when it comes time to put the meat in the freezer. I will always point people in the direction of breaking in a barrel no matter what anybody else says as i believe its a good thing. I own cheap and expensive rifles, they all get treated the same way.
I'm not entirely sure anyone is going to agree on whether or not a barrel break in period is actually required however I have noticed that each new rifle I bought took a number of rounds and cleanings in between to find it's mark. This was partly figuring out which bullet/load works best and probably partly "breaking" the barrel in. Just to get rid of factory loads which didn't meet accuracy expectations I've practised field positions at the range and been surprised at how much more accurate they had become. This could also be somewhat accounted for in simply getting to know the rifle but not entirely.
Weatherby recommends a break-in procedure with there vanguards,using cheap ammo and not worrying about sighting in until the procedure is completed .then which to premium ammo for sight in,which I did with my s2 30-06.Don't no if it made a difference ,but it gave me peace of mind .
You can always go back and re-break in a barrel. The point of barrel break in is to try to smooth out rough bits in the bore. Without "breaking in" those rough bits get covered in copper fouling and do not get worn down by subsequent bullets going through the bore. You will get the same effect if you shoot plenty of rounds and clean your gun regularly/semi regularly. It'll just happen over a longer span of time. But you can always go back and do the break in procedure if want to try and smooth out the rough bits at a later time. They'll still be there for you. I am dubious if factory sporter barrels can be improved much with the break in routines I have seen being recommended. High end barrels are a different beast from factory sporter barrels. One of the main differences is they are lapped to remove tooling marks and increase consistency.Go to a high end barrel makers webpage or your rifle manufactures and find a procedure for breaking in a barrel and follow that. At least you will have piece of mind you did it properly. Even if barrel break in is a myth you will never know for sure cause once you dont do it there is no going back on that particular gun.
YES, I don't like to toot my own horn but I've had many $5k+ Rifles and some I've followed break in procedure and some I just shot until accuracy degrades. Guess what... The only thing I noticed without break in was I went through less cleaning supplies and the one I didn't break in took longer to get to my standards of clean once it became time.
If you shoot 50 rounds a day, break in the barrel because it will be easier to clean in the long run. If you hunt or do the odd target session there is absolutely no sense wasting the cleaning supplies and perhaps accidently messing something up during cleaning like your crown for example.
Again just my .02
PS. For anyone who wants to put it to the test there's a beautiful Cadex Precision Rifle in 338 Lapua for sale in the EE