Barrel break in, does it matter?

[Formidilosus]

And, suppressed for all 221 rounds…. Without cleaning. It’s magic.

 

[Stu]

@Formidilosus
It’s a race to see who blows up first.

 

[Jake Larsen]

@Formidilosus

On a side note, I think you'd get along with Eric lol. His stuff is great. All performance/result driven, and he's competing in F class. So I think the mindset of "quit worrying about all the numbers/wives tales/proven facts/ect, go shoot and believe the results" works at the highest levels too.
Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[david2duck]

Posted this on a different thread already.

I decided to take forms advice on not cleaning. I bought a cheap ruger American predator in 6.5cm. No break in, no cleaning. That barrel now his just shy of 1000’s rounds on it. It shoots exactly the same as day one. I have multiple 3 shot groups at 1/4”. When shooting 10+ it’s 3/4”. Since then I’ve done it with every rifle I’ve bought (3 Seekins, 2 tikkas, 1 bergara, and a Savage). More money and time to actually shoot. Thanks form for putting out practical info that makes sense if you just stop and think about it.

I’m on my first try with his reloading process and so far it’s going great. I loaded 1 round at 1 grain under max, 1 at 1/2 grain under, and 1 at max (just to be safe) all at mag length. With no pressure signs I loaded 10 at max and tested velocity and had an sd of 7.2. My group was at 2” with my magnetospeed on. I loaded 10 more at max and am hoping to head out tomorrow to shoot a group. I’ve never had a gun shoot as good of a group with the V3 on vs without it.

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus

Outstanding.

 

[Formidilosus]

“Snip”

I’m glad to hear it’s working out, I would say that I’m surprised….


But I’m not.

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus
It’s a race to see who blows up first.

Oh no doubt. I don’t know what’s going to go first, the 308 barrel I am currently using that has about 10,200 rounds on it without cleaning (more than 2k just since the scope evals started), or maybe one of the suppressors with 20 thousand plus rounds on it…. ‘tis a mystery.

 

[Stu]

Oh no doubt. I don’t know what’s going to go first, the 308 barrel I am currently using that has about 10,200 rounds on it without cleaning (more than 2k just since the scope evals started), or maybe one of the suppressors with 20 thousand plus rounds on it…. ‘tis a mystery.

Sweet, that's a lot of rounds.

Rabbit trail: Have you seen barrels speed up compared to day one? I never kept the records to know on my limited samples.

 

[Formidilosus]

Sweet, that's a lot of rounds.

Rabbit trail: Have you seen barrels speed up compared to day one? I never kept the records to know on my limited samples.

Usually they speed up a bit until somewhere between 80-200 rounds or so. For the most part I don’t even take them serious until they have about 200 rounds on them.

 

[Stu]

Usually they speed up a bit until somewhere between 80-200 rounds or so. For the most part I don’t even take them serious until they have about 200 rounds on them.

I'm going to blast some more tomorrow- testing some minutia that will make your eyes roll. Curious to see if I find some extra speed after.

 

[Formidilosus]

I'm going to blast some more tomorrow- testing some minutia that will make your eyes roll. Curious to see if I find some extra speed after.

Haha. Do tell.

 

[Stu]

Haha. Do tell.

Well. I don't put a ton of stock in my labradar's accuracy, but my compressed loads of varget seem to get smaller SD and ES values than my recent non-compressed loads in the new barrel. The extended throat on my new 223 barrel allows me to pack as much Varget in the case as I'm comfortable with based on CCI400 and Fed 205M primers' appearance after firing. Those loads are not compressed. Labradar had higher SD/ES values than I'm used to. Want to test compressed charges vs. not. Untested variable I'm throwing in the soup here is a new seating depth, but I've yet to see it matter with 77TMKs.

Test: 100 and 600ish yards

Group A: Lake City '16 brass, 77TMK at 2.450" OAL, 24.2 gr Varget, CCI 400. Not even close to compressed
1. 10 rounds at 100 baseline
2. 40 rounds at 600 to evaluate vertical dispersion

Group B: Lake City '16 brass, 77TMK at 2.350" OAL, 24.2 gr Varget, CCI 400. Moderate powder compression.
1. 10 rounds at 100 baseline
2. 40 rounds at 600 to evaluate vertical dispersion

I'll keep some dummy rounds in the mag to keep me honest.

 

[Formidilosus]

snip

Let me know how it goes.

 

[Stu]

Let me know how it goes.

Didn't see much difference

 

[Formidilosus]

Didn't see much difference

Worth a shot.

 

[Stu]

Worth a shot.

Compressed vs non-compressed powder test

I recently got a new barrel for a tikka action I had chambered in 223. The barrel shoots well, but when trying a new load that wasn’t compressed, I saw a bit larger SD/ES values than I was used to when using the same components in a different 223. This got me wondering if a compressed charge...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Stu]

Threw an SWFA 10x on my Bartlein/T3X 223 and rezeroed. I said I’d keep good records, but I didn’t. Think round count is about 600 rounds. No cleaning.

 

[Super tag]

I never “break in” a barrel, I clean after hunting season, before going back in the safe, never had any accuracy issues.

 

[Sako300]

I just picked up a discounted brand new Christensen Arms Ridgeline 300 win mag. This is the 4th one I have in my safe so I have confidence in them. I decided to try something different with this brand new rifle. I cleaned the bore extremely well last night without a single shot fired. I went to the range early this morning and fired 4 rounds without cleaning with factory 200 grain eldx to get it sighted in at a hundred. After the 4 rounds of factory ammo, I went with my trusty handloads. 215 hybrids behind 77.5 grains of H1000 and a 215 federal gold magnum rifle primer. 3 shots at 100 yards .36 MOA. I think I will continue to shoot without cleaning!!!!!

 

[mfllood3800]

Love this thread. But I need to go clean my barrel. Hope I don't miss too much while I am gone. I must say, I have never shot 8000 rounds my whole life, let alone in a year. I am a long way down the experience ladder. But what I do is working so until it doesn't I'm ok with what I do.
That actually sounded like a Kamal Harris Word Salad. lol