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+--- Thread: Breaking in a new barrel ? (/showthread.php?tid=682)
Breaking in a new barrel ? - Bassfish1952 - 07-03-2022
Getting a new barrel from Pac-Nor and was looking at their break-in sheet. The range I go to doesn't allow cleaning while on a lane so I take an hour to shoot maybe 10 rounds to sight in take it home and clean then off to Alabama and hunting. While there last year I made 4 shots and went home to clean and put rifle in safe for next year.
How much will that affect the barrel and in time with the few shots I take at a time will the barrel slowly be broken in ?
Right now I have a cz557 in 6.5CM that has less than 20 rounds fired , a Savage axis II 6.5 CM with no rounds fired and will be getting the cz527 back around Dec. with zero rounds thru it. My plan is 1 rifle for hunting and 1 for backup and rotate each year unless I like that 527 too much. The Savage was going to be backup but now probably will go to a great grandchild (coming this year) if they follow their father into the field. It's a compact youth model
So will be rifles be affected by no formal break-in
Thanks
RE: Breaking in a new barrel ? - Bassfish1952 - 07-03-2022
I thought of putting this in general but it applies to my new 6mm ARC. barrel as well as the others so maybe this is where it should be. Thanks
RE: Breaking in a new barrel ? - grayfox - 07-03-2022
There are probably as many theories and opinions on "break in" as, let me see, as Carter has pills (there's an old one for ya!!!).
First of all on the general question about how a long time for a gun sitting in the closet... the thing that affects steel more than anything is moisture and thus corrosion. So if there is moisture, humidity for corrosion then the barrel can be negatively impacted. If stored clean, maybe some light gun oil on the inner and outer surface, then that is best for keeping corrosion/ rust at bay. So I'd recommend that you clean and oil it before putting it away for any length of time.
For break in, my take on this personally is some barrels may benefit from it, some barrels may not need it. For a typical rack grade barrel like the savage (and I like savages, have a few of them), a break in smooths out the barrel insides and takes some possible burrs/roughness off the inner surfaces. So for those barrels, some "break in" helps, usually after the first 5-10 it will take somewhere from 50-100 rounds for the barrel and chamber to settle in to where they want to be. For a custom barrel, like if PacNor did a hand lap and that sort of finishing, honestly I doubt if break in does much one way or the other. But if you want or need to get any warranty work done, you probably ought to do it.
Back to rack grade like Axis etc. I take a barrel like that and use some JB bore paste on it first thing after initial cleaning to get any grease/oil out of the inside, one or 2 patches a few times back/forth inside, which smooths out rough spots nicely... then do a 5-10 shot break in as part of my finding zero for a cartridge I've got loaded -- typically use factory cause getting the scope on paper and to a beginning zero is usually easier with factory loads. Cleaning in between for those 1-10, again if hand-lapped or you used JB's -- not that critical, again IMO. Letting the barrel stay relatively cool (ps, all the time, I never rip off lots of shots or get it really hot), so waiting a minute in between, that's usually enough.
Lots of times at the hunting lodge of outfitters, they have some kind of "zero-in" shooting range so you could use that not only to verify your zero hasn't shifted from the trip, but also a few more rounds down the pipe helps with those initial "break ins" of new barrels.
Rack grade and even some nicer barrels seem to pick up maybe 50-100 fps after like I say, the first hundred rounds.
RE: Breaking in a new barrel ? - Bassfish1952 - 07-03-2022
(07-03-2022, 06:56 PM)grayfox Wrote: There are probably as many theories and opinions on "break in" as, let me see, as Carter has pills (there's an old one for ya!!!).I have found an outdoor range within 30miles that allows cleaning while on the range . I may run up there once the weather cools down , Maybe Nov. and do some shooting.
First of all on the general question about how a long time for a gun sitting in the closet... the thing that affects steel more than anything is moisture and thus corrosion. So if there is moisture, humidity for corrosion then the barrel can be negatively impacted. If stored clean, maybe some light gun oil on the inner and outer surface, then that is best for keeping corrosion/ rust at bay. So I'd recommend that you clean and oil it before putting it away for any length of time.
For break in, my take on this personally is some barrels may benefit from it, some barrels may not need it. For a typical rack grade barrel like the savage (and I like savages, have a few of them), a break in smooths out the barrel insides and takes some possible burrs/roughness off the inner surfaces. So for those barrels, some "break in" helps, usually after the first 5-10 it will take somewhere from 50-100 rounds for the barrel and chamber to settle in to where they want to be. For a custom barrel, like if PacNor did a hand lap and that sort of finishing, honestly I doubt if break in does much one way or the other. But if you want or need to get any warranty work done, you probably ought to do it.
Back to rack grade like Axis etc. I take a barrel like that and use some JB bore paste on it first thing after initial cleaning to get any grease/oil out of the inside, one or 2 patches a few times back/forth inside, which smooths out rough spots nicely... then do a 5-10 shot break in as part of my finding zero for a cartridge I've got loaded -- typically use factory cause getting the scope on paper and to a beginning zero is usually easier with factory loads. Cleaning in between for those 1-10, again if hand-lapped or you used JB's -- not that critical, again IMO. Letting the barrel stay relatively cool (ps, all the time, I never rip off lots of shots or get it really hot), so waiting a minute in between, that's usually enough.
Lots of times at the hunting lodge of outfitters, they have some kind of "zero-in" shooting range so you could use that not only to verify your zero hasn't shifted from the trip, but also a few more rounds down the pipe helps with those initial "break ins" of new barrels.
Rack grade and even some nicer barrels seem to pick up maybe 50-100 fps after like I say, the first hundred rounds.
I do clean before putting in safe and have humidity control in the safe so no problem there
Thanks for the answer