Breaking in a new barrel HELP!!

[mrjbloomington]

I've got a brand spankin new 15 incher 7-08 barrel on its way home in the big brown truck. Can't hardly wait! I was wondering if any of you guys (or gals) have some good recipes on how to break in the barrel?

[Keith L]

Clean it and shoot it.

[Bullseye]

Shoot it.

[Dezynco]

Shoot it a bajillion times, clean it before you store it.

[Grumulkin]

Shoot it.

Clean it well at reasonable intervals (during the first 100 rounds or so, every 10 to 20 rounds).

Never use a steel brush in it.

Never shoot it with any amount of oil in the bore.

[Qualitymilk]

Why not on the brush?  I always thought the brass brush wrapped with a gun patch was what most manufacturers recommend for proper cleaning.

[mrjbloomington]

I think he's talking about not using a STEEL brush, but I think a Brass brush would be ok.

[Swampman]

Make sure the barrel isn't obstructed and shoot it.  Clean it perhaps once a year.

[Grumulkin]

Yes, I was talking about a steel brush; a brass brush is OK.

That said, it's possible to get a barrel meticulously clean using only solvents and patches and that's the way I do it.  I also clean my barrels after every 15 to 20 rounds usually.  Of course, if I've shot a CMP match, the round count before cleaning will be more like 80 which is no big deal.  When done properly, cleaning will not hurt a barrel.

[Swampman]

Compulsive barrel cleaning is a practice left over from the blackpowder & corrosive primer era.  It's unnecessary and it wears your barrel.  You'll have to shoot 4-5 rounds to get the clean barrel to settle down again.  That gets expensive.  Once a year is plenty.

[Grumulkin]

My good man, if you think running patches and solvents wears a barrel significantly, think again.  It's nowhere near as hard on a barrel as forcing hunks of copper or lead down it at 2,000 or more fps.  In addition, if the right products are used that leave a protective coating on the barrel, I'd wager that wear would be actually decreased.  In addition, powders and primers, even if not corrosive, leave abrasive material in the barrel that will contribute to wear more than running some patches down a barrel.

As for having to get a barrel to "settle down again" is concerned, if you don't leave a coating of oil in the barrel that you have to shoot out (which is bad for the barrel by the way), your barrel will stay settled down unless it's not so good and you need junk in it to make it tight again.  After a cleaning, the last thing left in my barrels is Prolix which doesn't need any settling down.

[Swampman]

Modern ammo doesn't hurt a thing.  Running $7.00 to $10.00 worth of ammo down the barrel to get it to shoot right again is expensive.

[bobg]

   All of the barrels i bought from Virgin Valley for my Contender came with the proper way to break them in. I bought a Savage rifle in 204 Ruger I did use the break in deal with that. Not sure if it helped or not. Most of my rifles were bought before this break in junk started. I have a 25 year old Ruger 22-250 that i just cleaned when i bought it and started shooting it. It will still shoot five shot groups off the bench that i can cover with a penny. I guess what i am trying to say is forget the break in crap.
               bobg