Cleaning a New Barrel

[mountainview]

Was cleaning the barrel on my new Savage 12FV .223 before heading out to the range.  I noticed a number of metal shavings on several of the patches as I was cleaning the barrel out. Anyone know how the metal shavings get in the barrel? My guess is that the lands in the barrel are cut and the shavings are leftover from the manufacturing process but am hoping to get some additional info.

Thanks.

[stv]

There are several metal working operations made on a barrel.  The stuff you saw was likely from chambering.  A chamber is cut by running a shaped tool( called a reamer) into the bore as a step near the end of the process and cuts the shape to hold the cartridge.  It is always wise to clean a barrel thoroughly before firing any thing.  other eeratins are threading the shank, extractor cuts on certain styles, drilling for sights are examples.

[mountainview]

stv,

Thanks for feedback, it helped me clear up that little mystery. The chips I found on the patch had me puzzled as I always thought that rifling was generated by pushing a button though the bore or swaging over a mandrel (both are cold forming which are chipless rather than cutting which generates many small chip fragments).