Barrel break-in and maintenance

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Barrel break-in, first five consecutive shots, no cleaning, .223Rem, Lilja barrel, 55gr Sierra HPBT. Got lucky, just used a load that worked in another rifle.

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@Hogpatrol
What load and powder are you using
Bob

 

[rdog]

@mdwest, thanks for posting what you did about cleaning. I'm not OCD about gun cleaning either. They all get a wipe down after every use but I don't break them down and completely clean them after every use. I clean them when they're dirty. Unfortunately there's a stigma about those of us that aren't cleaning fanatics. Apparently, not meticulously cleaning your gun after every use is on par with pedophilia. It's refreshing to hear someone else acknowledge that their guns get put back in the safe less than perfectly clean. I've seen no evidence in 50+ years of shooting that leaving a rifle/pistol with a little residue in the barrel is in any way harmful. However, and this is a big however, I use my guns regularly. If I have reason to believe it may be more than a few months before I get around to shooting a particular gun I'll give it pretty good cleaning before I put it away.

I could not sleep at night with a dirty rifle bbl, i think the Army did this to me

 

[BeeMaa]

I could not sleep at night with a dirty rifle bbl, i think the Army did this to me

More military rifles are worn out prematurely from improper cleaning than shooting. Damage to the throat, crown and the rifling because the users don’t have a good grasp of what NOT to do. I saw it a lot.

 

[rdog]

More military rifles are worn out prematurely from improper cleaning than shooting. Damage to the throat, crown and the rifling because the users don’t have a good grasp of what NOT to do. I saw it a lot.

YES i agree with you, i took a one piece coated cleaning rod with me to Vietnam!

 

[Hogpatrol]

@Hogpatrol
What load and powder are you using
Bob

H335, load was 25.3 gr. .005" jam.

 

[Woodcarver]

So, after reading through this, my takeaway is, don't buy a bore scope.
Dad was pretty anal about cleaning our rifles after every outing, but I have moved away from that as the years went by. I have never "broken in" a new barrel, and like others, still manage to wring sub-moa groups out of most of them once I find the load they like. New to me and brand new rifles get swabbed to remove whatever gunk might be in them, and then I head out back to the range to see how they perform. They get cleaned if I need another "fix" of Hoppes #9 (always have loved that smell-kid bought me a car air freshener with it). So far, it's worked fine for me. Breaking a barrel in definitely seems to be an idea a barrel maker would come up with.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Personally, I found that once I stopped caring too much about the inside of my barrels, the better they started shooting.
I will run a bore snake through the barrel throughout the hunt and once the groups start to open, only then will I run some solvent.
After the solvent, it usually takes a few rounds to settle down again.

 

[gbflyer]

So, after reading through this, my takeaway is, don't buy a bore scope.
Dad was pretty anal about cleaning our rifles after every outing, but I have moved away from that as the years went by. I have never "broken in" a new barrel, and like others, still manage to wring sub-moa groups out of most of them once I find the load they like. New to me and brand new rifles get swabbed to remove whatever gunk might be in them, and then I head out back to the range to see how they perform. They get cleaned if I need another "fix" of Hoppes #9 (always have loved that smell-kid bought me a car air freshener with it). So far, it's worked fine for me. Breaking a barrel in definitely seems to be an idea a barrel maker would come up with.

I think a borescope is probably a good tool in the right hands. Most of us have no idea how to correctly interpret the information we get from one. I don’t have one and won’t get one. When I chamber a barrel that doesn’t do exactly what I want it to do, I quietly curse the barrel manufacturer a little and ride on. So far nothing I can’t live with. Ignorance is bliss!

 

[John Wasmuth]

I mostly use ER Shaw barrels when rebarreling Mauser. Each new barrel comes with instructions on proper break in and cleaning. No reason to deviate from their instructions.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I mostly use ER Shaw barrels when rebarreling Mauser. Each new barrel comes with instructions on proper break in and cleaning. No reason to deviate from their instructions.

@John Wasmuth
The barrels I have bought have also come with break in instructions but I have never followed them. I've just given them a through initial clean and shot them with no ill effects. All have been moa or better and that includes a new howa rifle in 308. Even that rifle groups 0.4 inches with its favorite load of 50gn cfe223 and a 150gn accubond.
Bob

 

[mdwest]

I could not sleep at night with a dirty rifle bbl, i think the Army did this to me

Lol… the army is probably why I refuse to clean anymore…

I can’t even count how many times I sat cleaning a rifle for 2+ hours AFTER it had long since been completely clean…

After the military, I jumped firmly into the “hell no! Never again” camp lol…

 

[CoElkHunter]

So, after reading through this, my takeaway is, don't buy a bore scope.
Dad was pretty anal about cleaning our rifles after every outing, but I have moved away from that as the years went by. I have never "broken in" a new barrel, and like others, still manage to wring sub-moa groups out of most of them once I find the load they like. New to me and brand new rifles get swabbed to remove whatever gunk might be in them, and then I head out back to the range to see how they perform. They get cleaned if I need another "fix" of Hoppes #9 (always have loved that smell-kid bought me a car air freshener with it). So far, it's worked fine for me. Breaking a barrel in definitely seems to be an idea a barrel maker would come up with.

The handful of "new" rifles I have ever purchased, get a look down the barrel for any styrofoam, cardboard or any other packing materials, and then get a bullet(s) down the barrel to break it in. We all probably buy MANY more used firearms than new ones with no clue as to the previous owner(s) "barrel break in" technique (or most likely NONE), so what's the difference with a new firearm?

 

[Woodcarver]

The handful of "new" rifles I have ever purchased, get a look down the barrel for any styrofoam, cardboard or any other packing materials, and then get a bullet(s) down the barrel to break it in. We all probably buy MANY more used firearms than new ones with no clue as to the previous owner(s) "barrel break in" technique (or most likely NONE), so what's the difference with a new firearm?

Occasionally I have found a bit more cosmolene than I like, so I just got in the habit of running a patch through once or twice just to be sure. Probably one or two got shot without a patch, but I usually try to do it before I hit the range.