New Rifle Break In Procedures

[Dewy]

Hey Guy's,
After a few months of research I bought my first rifle, a Tikka T3 Superlite 270 Win. from Sportsmans. I've owned a TC muzzeloader for a few years but being that this is my first rifle I'm not aware of the standard practice regarding break in do's and dont's. I've read about shooting and then swabbing five times each, followed by shooting groups of 5 and swabbing after that, until total of 50 rounds have been fired, however that's only one way I'm guessing. Anyone care to share their process of breaking in? Thanks

 

[rayporter]

a brush is needed to get it clean. several passes with a brush soaked in solvent and then patch it dry. i dont know any shooters that compete that go much over a dozen cycles to break in a barrel.
now factory barrels can be a whole new game.

i had a CZ that took about 8 hours of brushing with solvent to get the crud out of the barrel before the first shot could be fired.

https://www.kriegerbarrels.com/faq#breakin

 

[Jimbob]

this is the process I used for two T3's.

1 shot then clean with Butch's and copper solvent until clean. Do this after 1 shot for the first 5 bullets. Total of 5 cleanings.

3 shots then clean with Butch's and copper solvent until clean. DO this after 3 shots for the next 15 bullets. Total of 5 cleanings

Grand total of 10 cleanings while going through the first box of bullets.


What I found was the gun was very hard to clean at first and took a good chunk of time. After barrel break in the barrel cleans op squeaky clean with minimal effort. I think it was worth the little bit of effort to go through the process.

 

[Dos Perros]

FWIW, my T3 with carbon steel barrel in 223 takes a long time to clean, even after a proper barrel break in and several hundred rounds. I've had two Sako's in stainless and they clean very fast.

 

[GKPrice]

this is not a barrel "break in " procedure but it holds true for most rifle barrels I've encountered over 25 or so years - swab out the barrel, brush if you want to, and use your normal cleaning procedure 'til you are satisfied that it's "clean" - boil a couple of cups of water then, with use of a long spouted funnel or such, slowly pour the HOT water down the barrel from the breach end and let it "cool" for 5 minutes then clean it again and BEHOLD the crud that has emerged from your bore - as the steel opens up from the heat the residual crap will come forth - I don't know if it really means anything but a machinist told me about this many years ago and I've yet to follow these steps and not have black and brown patches for quite a few passes afterward

 

[GKPrice]

FWIW, my T3 with carbon steel barrel in 223 takes a long time to clean, even after a proper barrel break in and several hundred rounds. I've had two Sako's in stainless and they clean very fast.

Sako / Tikka hammer forged barrels have a very solid reputation in the "barrel industry"

 

[GKPrice]

Hey Guy's,
After a few months of research I bought my first rifle, a Tikka T3 Superlite 270 Win. from Sportsmans. I've owned a TC muzzeloader for a few years but being that this is my first rifle I'm not aware of the standard practice regarding break in do's and dont's. I've read about shooting and then swabbing five times each, followed by shooting groups of 5 and swabbing after that, until total of 50 rounds have been fired, however that's only one way I'm guessing. Anyone care to share their process of breaking in? Thanks

IMO you could not have made a better choice

 

[5MilesBack]

- as the steel opens up from the heat the residual crap will come forth - I don't know if it really means anything but a machinist told me about this many years ago and I've yet to follow these steps and not have black and brown patches for quite a few passes afterward

I'm not a metallurgist, but IF the metal is "opening up" from the heat and releasing stuff, when it cools how does it go back to the exact same tolerances with the lands and grooves?? And wouldn't this same stuff be released the first time the barrel heated up from shooting?

 

[Dos Perros]

Sako / Tikka hammer forged barrels have a very solid reputation in the "barrel industry"

I agree. I like my 223 just fine and have killed pdogs over 600 yards with it. However my 25-06 had to be replaced because of a barrel issue. Running a patch through it was tight at the breech, loose in the middle, and tight at the muzzle. Could never get it to shoot the MOA guarantee and Beretta replaced it for free with a more expensive model in 270. This one is shooting well.

 

[belly-deep]

Break in is a myth.

Just go shoot the thing.

 

[belly-deep]

I'm not a metallurgist, but IF the metal is "opening up" from the heat and releasing stuff, when it cools how does it go back to the exact same tolerances with the lands and grooves?? And wouldn't this same stuff be released the first time the barrel heated up from shooting?

I've never heard anyone in the gun industry recommend pouring hot water down a rifle barrel. Not that it would hurt anything, but I don't see how it would help break a barrel in.

The idea behind the break in process is that most barrels have small irregularities (burrs, tool marks, etc.) in the bore caused by the process of making the barrel. The first bullet down the barrel will start to smooth the irregularities out, but also leaves fouling behind. So you clean after each shot, which strips the fouling out, and gets back to the steel, which is slowly being polished by each bullet, so to speak.

The thing is, a good barrel will shoot good with or without a break in process. A bad barrel won't become good.

It is something that started with match shooters and somehow hunters got they idea that they needed to do it too. In a hunting rifle, it is a pretty much useless exercise, as it will never turn a 1.5 MOA rifle into a 1 MOA gun.

 

[hodgeman]

Break in is a myth.

Just go shoot the thing.

+1..Absolutely. Swab the manufacturing goop out of it and just go shoot it. It's a hunting rifle, if the "break in" it gets you anything...it's minimal at best.

Of bigger concern to me is to not shoot it until it gets too hot. 3 rounds and then let it cool down.

 

[Nuke Man]

If you want to waste a bunch of time and Ammo then break it in. Otherwise clean the factory shit out of the barrel and shoot it. 100% agree that break in is pointless.

 

[BroodBuster]

I'm no expert but common sense would suggest that any fouling would cause high spots in the barrel. If those high spots aren't removed each succeeding shot will foul on the high spots creating higher spots. I've broken in the barrel of both of my rifles and they shoot better than I can so not real sure if the breaking in helped or not but it helps my piece of mind. Sort of like the whoopeddedo's on logging roads. If you don't knock down the high spots occasionally they just get worse and worse.

 

[5MilesBack]

+1..Absolutely. Swab the manufacturing goop out of it and just go shoot it. It's a hunting rifle, if the "break in" it gets you anything...it's minimal at best.

I'm glad someone else said that. Because I've been shooting most of my rifles for 30+ years and I never did anything special with them. My Browning A-bolt 7mag still bangs the 8" gong at 600 yards, and that's the one I shoot the most.

 

[bhylton]

I dont know any better myself, but if nearly every barrel manufacturer suggests some sort of break in then it must do something. I dont know, but i would assume the barrel manufacturers do not get a royalty for how much hoppys #9, sweets and cotton patches get sold. i agree it probably wont make a 1.5MOA gun a 1MOA gun, but it cant hurt. if nothing else it will smooth things out so its easier to clean down the road

 

[belly-deep]

I dont know any better myself, but if nearly every barrel manufacturer suggests some sort of break in then it must do something. I dont know, but i would assume the barrel manufacturers do not get a royalty for how much hoppys #9, sweets and cotton patches get sold. i agree it probably wont make a 1.5MOA gun a 1MOA gun, but it cant hurt. if nothing else it will smooth things out so its easier to clean down the road

They suggest it because people asked them about it and they needed something tell their customers.

It all started because match shooters were doing it, and of course, in the match game, .1" can mean the difference between placing and not.

Hunter started thinking that if match shooters were doing it, they should too.

In reality, it doesn't get a hunter any further than 100-150 rounds of the "normal" shoot/clean cycle most hunters use.

 

[GKPrice]

I'm not a metallurgist, but IF the metal is "opening up" from the heat and releasing stuff, when it cools how does it go back to the exact same tolerances with the lands and grooves?? And wouldn't this same stuff be released the first time the barrel heated up from shooting?

Oh yea, I forgot that my barrels curled up like pretzels .....

ALL metal pores "open up" when heated even slightly .... that is why engines run better when warmed up BUT in rereading that post I can see where I didn't explain myself very well - I never meant that hot water down the bore as a "break in" and I agree that largely, let the barrel break in if it needs it WHILE you are shooting and enjoying the rifle - Now, back to the pores of any metal "opening up" when heated .... maybe I don't explain it correctly but ya'll best read up on metal properties because the pores of the metal open up and THIS is what causes metals to change dimension when heated, or cooled for that matter - rather than ridicule me you should give it a try ..... I'll just shut up and make all happier

 

[Dewy]

Thank you for all of the info guy's, I appreciate it!