Breaking in a new barrel ?

[Bassfish1952]

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.

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.
I do clean before putting in safe and have humidity control in the safe so no problem there 
Thanks for the answer