Author Topic: JB for New Barrel Break-IN? (Read 910 times)

MTNRGR · « **on:** March 25, 2013, 01:26:12 AM »

I know there are 1000 ways to skin a cat, and yes I read the FAQ's thread. Just wondering if JB'ing a new barrel 30 to 50 times prior to shooting is the overall consensus on barrel break in.
Glad I had to work and didn't get that first shoot in, I kinda got a little hasty and neglected to do this, I'm going to do it the right way now before I shoot it.

MTNRGR · « **Reply #1 on:** March 25, 2013, 01:30:04 AM »

And yes I'm tracking, JB paste NOT JB WELD......lol.....

Bob_VT · « **Reply #2 on:** March 25, 2013, 01:56:35 AM »

I have used the LBT bore lapping on a few pistol barrels. I have a bit of machine experience and I am picky about tool marks.

It really depends on two things....... how does the barrel look in the case of tool marks and what rounds are you going to be shooting? Cast or jacketed?

I would personally do it by hand with JB and go SLOW so you do not make it into a shotgun !!!

I have read about filling bullet lube grooves with JB........ it's all personal preference. I have made laps from a slug of lead attached to an old cleaning rod for proper fit.

JUST GO SLOW! Too many things get ruined by people trying to go too fast.

MTNRGR · « **Reply #3 on:** March 25, 2013, 02:04:35 AM »

"I would personally do it by hand with JB and go SLOW so you do not make it into a shotgun !!!

"

Is JB that abrasive?

Shu · « **Reply #4 on:** March 25, 2013, 02:08:40 AM »

I am against "barrel break in procedures" simply for the reason you are accelerating wear. The bullets you shoot will break in or lap that barrel just fine. Rifles will tighten up a group after x number of rounds and will shoot great for x number of rounds then start shooting larger groups.There are some who love to lap barrels etc. and that is another school of thought. I just think rifles need to be shot that will smooth them out.

Revolvers can be a differnt story and may have a "tight spot" in the forcing cone where the barrel is screwed that light lapping may cure.

Your milage may very, there are many good articles out there pro and con. I like to think rifles need to be shot alot and that takes care of the problem. Gale McMillan had alot to say about lapping and it is contrary to what some shooters suggest. I would research what the big name barrel makers have to say then decide from there. I think you may notice they don't believe in lapping and they would have more motive for it than anyone else.

Good luck with your new barrel whatever you decide.

MTNRGR · « **Reply #5 on:** March 25, 2013, 02:22:36 AM »

Yeah I read that McMillan wouldn't warranty a barrel if you used JB or anything like that in it.
There are definately 2 camps on the Lapping debate.

bigvarmnt · « **Reply #6 on:** March 25, 2013, 02:35:48 AM »

I've done it with around 10+ barrels, not only Handis and felt good about doing it. Hard to tell if it helped or not. I know Handis are pretty nasty dirty when new. Be careful with the chamber and muzzle with whatever rod you may be using. Some don't get great accuracy till after quite a lot of shots. I guess just try to get all the variables covered that you can. I like to clean and Loctite the scope base, then rings, clean barrel and dry shelf. Probably all in the Basics & FAQs

Probably don't want to over clean it after shooting $:-\$ Most think Handis shoot better a little dirty. Good Luck

MTNRGR · « **Reply #7 on:** March 25, 2013, 03:09:12 AM »

Since I really don't know what I am doing (and everything I read about it says be carefull when doing it), I really don't want to mess my new gun up maybe I will forgo it and just throw some lead down range and pray for the best.

petemi · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2013, 03:13:54 AM »

I wouldn't do diddly squat. Clean it, get the crud out and shoot it. Let it foul AND DON'T CLEAN IT AGAIN, not until you can't see through the bore. All my Handis like crud...........almost makes me ashamed of them. You're putting the cart before the horse....assuming there's gonna be a problem. Not so. I've done probably about 25 Handis this way and they all shot but one, and that was a different problem. I agree with Shu. All you're doing is putting unnecessary wear on the barrel. Get the manufacturing crud out of it; put forty or fifty rounds through it, See what it's doing and go from there. Adjust load, sights, etc. Ya ain't gonna do nuttin but wear out da bore da udder way.

Guys, what are we doing and saying here to make new folks perceive problems before they even shoot a Handi

Ninety nine point nine percent of all this worry is unneeded. Most shoot out of the box. A lot of them not even cleaned up. I've got 14 shooters or I wouldn't own them and didn't go through this Yankee Dumbassed drill with any of them.

Pete

petemi · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2013, 03:14:40 AM »

Quote from: MTNRGR on March 25, 2013, 03:09:12 AM

Since I really don't know what I am doing (and everything I read about it says be carefull when doing it), I really don't want to mess my new gun up maybe I will forgo it and just throw some lead down range and pray for the best.

Now you've got the idea.

Pete

MTNRGR · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2013, 03:38:45 AM »

Pete, "what are we doing and saying here to make new folks perceive problems before they even shoot a Handi"
You hit the nail on the head, I haven't even shot it yet and I'm chicken little-ing it, thinking I am going to have forend problems, need to lap the barrel, what ammo to use and everything else. However it is of my own doing, I have been asking all the questions, and I have received a lot of good advise thanks to the wealth of knowledge on the forum.

Bottom line is that I need to shut up and shoot it.

As soon as I get off this noon to midnight shift, hence all the time I have to think of and ask a ton of NewB questions

bucco921 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 25, 2013, 04:05:05 AM »

Agree with Pete, just shoot the thing. After my guns initial cleaning I leave the bore alone. Down the road if you are having accuracy problems then start tinkering.

MTNRGR · « **Reply #12 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:08:03 AM »

Pete,
The rack my son is holding in my profile pic is a northern MI buck, taken by my dad in 1983 in Harbor Springs, my hometown, they don't make em like that any more in northern MI or the UP. We've had a deer camp up in the L'Anse/Baraga area since '95 taken a lot of deer out of there, like all the other Trolls

. I sure do miss the hunting up there, but not the Seney Stretch.

Family has a cabin on East Lake in Moran, haven't had any luck hunting the east side of the UP though.

nanuk-O-dah-Nort · « **Reply #13 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:12:43 AM »

I have read pros and cons to lapping, but that is different than JB Paste and cleaning

and if shooting cast, sometimes lapping helps and sometimes you "They" say you can get it too smooth. I don't see how it can be too smooth for cast but.... ODG's would roughen the bore to get it shooting again....

JB paste doesn't remove metal. so don't worry about wearing it out with that.

MTNRGR · « **Reply #14 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:16:44 AM »

OK thanks, I was under the impression that to much JBing could wear the barrel. I am clueless in these matters. Obviously.

I always just shot my guns, rammed a cleaning rod down the barrel, rubbed some oil on em and called it good.
Now days with a wife and 3 kids I realize that guns are getting hard to come by, apparently kids need to eat a lot of food

, and I need to start to take a litttle better care of and preserving the ones that I have. Plus I want to shoot far, 300 yards and further, and at that range I know every little thing can effect accuracy.
Never really thought about ballistics either, just bought the cheapest bullets I could find. Now getting into reloading has opened up my eyes to the importance and possibilities.

cwlongshot · « **Reply #15 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:47:04 AM »

I know search is not working up to snuff. But one time back there was quite a discussion of clean/dirty and break in or no break in...

Personally I like break in, especially with something like JB in our barrels. They are usually quite rough

and really benifit form some elbow grease.

As to shooting break in IMHO the finer or better the workmanship it took to make a barrel has allot to do with break in required.

I suggest this:

1) Simply go shoot it and see how and what it does. Try different ammo and be sure of the handi basics! Be sure NO OIL on latch, Be sure of snapping it closed and NOT resting on anything hard. If on a bench, use a sand bag under the hinge of the receiver. If not so good, refer to #2

2) Clean it and shoot again to see what you get.

3) If accuracy is terrible think about returning to factory under there accuracy gaurenty.

4) If not great, but not bad enough for a return to factory, try the JB and thouroughly clean all JB out and go shoot again.

5) If still not good, shoot some more to get a good ''fouling'' in the barrel and check again.

6) If it shoots good for you... carry on untill it don't any more. In that case refer to #2 of this paragraph.

CW

quickdtoo · « **Reply #16 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:47:51 AM »

Benchrest competition shooters clean with JB Bore Compound, so you're not going to wear a barrel out using it IF you use it right, that is making sure you use a bore guide, I use a muzzle guard on the chamber end if I don't have a proper bore guide, and a stiff rod that does flex and touch the throat or bore. Also make sure that you don't exit the muzzle or it can wear the crown when the tool is brought back over it. I don't JB/flitz all of my new H&R barrels, I clean em good, if they look bright and shiney I shoot em. If they look dull after cleaning, I'll give em 30-50 full strokes with a bore mop or mop wrapped with a patch for a snug fit, they usually look pretty good after that, it saves some range time, bullets, primers and powder that way. The last one I bought was the 45-70 Trapper, it looked great out of the box after cleaning except for a dull spot in the barrel which I polished just that part, dunno what it was, but it was pretty much gone after the treatment.

Tim

quickdtoo · « **Reply #17 on:** March 25, 2013, 06:06:01 AM »

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?60951-How-abrasive-is-JB-Bore-Cleaning-Compound

MTNRGR · « **Reply #18 on:** March 25, 2013, 06:15:30 AM »

CW, Tim
Sounds like a solid plan, I will go with it. I'm just going to shoot factory ammo until I can get some of that CFE 223 powder. But the only factory ammo I could get was that cheap PMC brand so I'm not expecting steller results from that. I have the M855 62gr too, but then I get into the whole 5.56/.223 issue. Decisions, decisions, I wish I had time to shoot the darn thing so I wouldn't have so much time to think and research all the IF's and variables...lol

Tim, Thanks for the link

LaOtto222 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 25, 2013, 08:05:53 AM »

This has been talked about many times in the past. There are many different thoughts on this. I have done nothing to a new barrel, but clean it and shoot it. I have had bore lapped barrels from the maker. They need nothing but shooting and cleaning. Some barrels shoot best clean and some like it dirty. I had a new barrel that was rough on the inside. It showed promise, but the groups would deteriorate with each 5 shot group, going from about .6" to 1" after 4 - 5 shot groups. I polished that bore a whole lot. Maybe as much as 800 strokes. I was rewarded with a barrel that will shoot sub .5" groups clean or dirty. To me polishing the bore has nothing to do with if the rifle likes a clean bore or a dirty bore. If it is rough and fouls quickly, it usually does not shoot well. Some times you hear about a rifle that does not shoot well until it gets a few hundred shots down it's tube. Those are the rifles that can benefit from a good polishing. I have never found that polishing a bore hurts accuracy. Some times it helps and some times, it seems to be of no help. Clean the bore well and look down it. Does it look smooth, just shoot it. Does it look rough, polish it. Does it lack accuracy, but you can not find any thing else wrong like the bedding issues (which includes fore end), crown messed up, chamber defect, etc. Try a good polish job. Does accuracy drop off quickly and only a good cleaning will get it back, you might polish the bore to make it last longer between cleanings. Again, I found that done properly (see Tim's comments), it will do no harm.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

Shu · « **Reply #20 on:** March 25, 2013, 03:45:45 PM »

As stated I don't like the barrel lapping. There is alot of thought on it, Shilen and Hart don't reccomend it Gale Mcmillian was certainly against it. I will say though if you think you need to go right ahead. Lapping that barrel and tweeking a rifle is definely part of the hobby/sport. Some like to look for problem guns and work them others enjoy shooting more. We are all part of the same brotherhood.
I don't have any world records benchrest shooting and I do enjoy tweeking a gun or 2. Bottom line have fun, enjoy the hobby/sport, try to get some new shooters involved and be safe.

cwlongshot · « **Reply #21 on:** March 25, 2013, 04:24:46 PM »

Quote from: Shu on March 25, 2013, 03:45:45 PM

As stated I don't like the barrel lapping. There is alot of thought on it, Shilen and Hart don't reccomend it Gale Mcmillian was certainly against it. I will say though if you think you need to go right ahead. Lapping that barrel and tweeking a rifle is definely part of the hobby/sport. Some like to look for problem guns and work them others enjoy shooting more. We are all part of the same brotherhood.
I don't have any world records benchrest shooting and I do enjoy tweeking a gun or 2. Bottom line have fun, enjoy the hobby/sport, try to get some new shooters involved and be safe.

I cannot disagree with your view point..

My opinion on the three barrel makers you have listed (Goes the same for all quality name barrels) As I mentioned, I see lapping needed to smooth and correct overly rough or poorly finished bores and as a aid in cleaning an extreamly fouled bore. These makers, make a quality product and should never have the need of such an aggressive product. Unless you dont ever clean your barrel and allow a severy fouling build up. Even then, the smoothness of a quality barrel will resist fouling FAR better then a bore such as many H&R's possess.

CW