breaking in a barrell???

[buckslayer]

i'm getting a new handi :-D rifle in .280. how do i break it in. I"M DESPERATE
later buckslayer

[Mitch in MI]

I think everybody can agree on cleaning the barrel thoroughly before ever firing the gun. The grease the factory put in there was to prevent rust, not to make it shoot better. Any dust, grit, cardboard fibers, etc that stuck to the grease should be removed. It may take a while before clean patches start coming out, so take your time.

The actual shooting is more debateable. Some like to clean after every shot at first, then clean every five shots, etc. Some shooters might just take it to the range and shoot a box or two of ammo.

Mitch.

[marv]

My 2 centvos, don't shoot to fast and get barrel hot, give time between shots to let it kool. Just MHO. Marv,

[ajj]

Barrel break in is controversial. I'm in the camp that thinks it's a waste of time, effort and money. But even if I'm wrong will someone please explain this?: If you weren't in a hurry, wouldn't you get the same results eventually by simply cleaning after each range session? That is, do some people claim that failure to do a break-in actually hurts something?

[Mac11700]

Each rifle is different,and will behave completely different using both techniques. I personally have used both ways...shoot 5 rounds cleaning good with hoppes #9 and a bronze brush...then a light coat of rem oil in the barrel then several patches thru it till completely dry...then shooting another 5 rounds and repeating the procedure till I've shot at least a box of factory loads thru it.This also allows time for it to cool down well between groups.... with our Handi's you really need to completely clean the gun..prior to shooting it...and checkiing the extractor and trigger good as well...you don't want any burrs or crude left in it at all.nor do you want any oil or grease in the chamber area. I used this method on my bull barrel 308 and it shoots great( 1/2" groups) with factory match ammo...and not to shabby with factory hunting ammo too(3/4" -- 1"- 1 1/2" groups)

This is an abbreviated way of breaking it in that my dear old dad showed me over 40 years ago...so it has always worked for me.....the main thing he showed me was you can clean too much and cause more harm than good...namely since most folks don't use bore guides and can damage the crown by careless cleanig habits. You don't need to strip it down to bare metal with a heavy duty bore cleaner to break it in.Leaving a small amount of carbon in the pores of the barrel isn't going to hurt...but probably will help.What your wanting to do is to help smooth out any burrs with your cleaning...so go easy on it if you do clean and watch your group size between cleaning sessions

You have to decide if it works for you or not by actually trying it with a new barrel....that's the only way you will know for sure...some people like myself have seen a substantial decrease in groups size....others haven't seen any changes at all.....like I said earlier...each rifle is different...and will behave differently...


Mac