Running in a new barrel -

Erik Hamburger

Well-Known Member
I am taking delivery of a new .308w this week and would like some advice on 'running in' a new barrel - it is really necessary with modern precision made barrels, or is this laborious process of '1 shot, clean; 1 shot, clean, 1 shot, clean' etc etc a conspiracy by the suppliers of barrel-cleaning materials?
Btw the rifle will be used for stalking, not for target shooting.
I would appreciate some views but only if they are backed up by facts (i.e. some evidence of tests/benchmarking) not just opinions based on thin air. Has anybody actually tested two brand new identical barrels, one run in using the above described process, one just used straight out of the box, and was there a noticeable (= measurable!) difference in accuracy?
Thank you.
 
I am taking delivery of a new .308w this week and would like some advice on 'running in' a new barrel - it is really necessary with modern precision made barrels, or is this laborious process of '1 shot, clean; 1 shot, clean, 1 shot, clean' etc etc a conspiracy by the suppliers of barrel-cleaning materials?
Btw the rifle will be used for stalking, not for target shooting.
I would appreciate some views but only if they are backed up by facts (i.e. some evidence of tests/benchmarking) not just opinions based on thin air. Has anybody actually tested two brand new identical barrels, one run in using the above described process, one just used straight out of the box, and was there a noticeable (= measurable!) difference in accuracy?
Thank you.

been done before, a few times

Breaking in new barrel ???
 
Proof house run mine in. My latest rifle, reasonable quality kit, had 2 rounds at proof, then a clean, then quick zero and shot a comp with it, was cleaned after comp when it had done 150 ish rounds, with a pretty hot load, some 10 shot strings. I shot 5 bullets yesterday with it in the same hole at 120m.

you are the weakest link, not the barrel or the way you shot it in.

Interested you state precision barrel, have you had a custom rifle built? What make barrel?
 
Proof house run mine in. My latest rifle, reasonable quality kit, had 2 rounds at proof, then a clean, then quick zero and shot a comp with it, was cleaned after comp when it had done 150 ish rounds, with a pretty hot load, some 10 shot strings. I shot 5 bullets yesterday with it in the same hole at 120m.

you are the weakest link, not the barrel or the way you shot it in.

Interested you state precision barrel, have you had a custom rifle built? What make barrel?

No it is a factory Steyr Mannlicher barrel - I would like to think it is a 'precision' bit of engineering nevertheless.
 
"1 shot, 1 clean", is not the way to break in a barrel.
Barrels on the Steyr and Blaser are so hard and polished from the hammer forging that they are as slick as many hand lapped custom barrels.

Do clean it right out of the box, gently as if you had just shot it, with a nylon brush and solvent, then dry patch, then oil, then dry patch. Use a bore guide and don't let the brush or patch come out of the muzzle and beat up the crown with the cleaning rod, of course.

The Steyr manual says nothing about break in.
But it cannot hurt shoot a box of 20 rounds and clean at 2, 5, 9, 14 and 20 when done. That is what I would do with Ruger, Winchester, etc.
That is what I did with my slightly used .308 Pro Hunter, although it looked spotless in the bore.

I have a new Steyr PH in 7x64, and will probably do that as I sight it in and see how it likes a factory load. The worst thing most people do is shoot a box through a new rifle, too fast, and heat the barrel too much. Heat and improper cleaning destroy a lot more barrels than shooting does.

I find it good to give a light cleaning if I am testing loads and change powders.

For experience with someone trying different techniques on identical rifles, you will need more than 2 rifles. You need answers from someone at a factory, or custom house, or army armorer, who has worked with hundreds of the same weapon.
 
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It's a hammer forged barrel. No need whatever to 'break in' as it will not have any rough machine marks left within the bore, it will be as smooth as a baby's bum. Just go shoot it and enjoy it.

-JMS
 
Interesting bit about the brush leaving the bore as I have a Norma booklet here and it covers cleaning and it says the brush must leave the muzzle to clean properly. Of course Norma would know nothing about proper barrel care would they :rolleyes:.

Wonder how many folks realise that Norma had a gunsmithing department?
 
I've just bought a weihrauch hw 60 j in .22 hornet and was surprised to see the manuel said to use felt wads or cleaning rods with cords but not wire brushes or steel tipped cleaning rods. Says nothing of shooting the barrel in just clean after each use.
 
I recall an article in the Varmint Hunter journal back in thelate 90’s that described, in no little detail, the process of barrel break-in/fire lapping that that frankly left me both dizzy and convinced that at the moment of completing the regime it would be time for new barrel!

I do now clean my Hornet after each outing but only with patches and never a brush as all the powders for it burn very ‘dirty’ and the resulting crud has a nasty habit of capturing moister like a sponge so pushing half adozen felt wads through would be no bad thing in my book. I also use a so-called bore conditioner before returning rifle to cabinet and plug the chamber with a cloth wrapped jag so the lube doesn’t all migrate into the action.

K
 
Worst new barrel i ever had was a prohunter in .243, picked up copper like nothing else, had it borescoped, 3" of copper fused to the edge of the rifling. Took 300 rounds to sort it out. Hammer forged barrels have issues too.

is this going to be your woodland, sub 80y, red dot scoped offhand shooting stalking gun? Im sure it will
be fine however you shoot it in.
 
Worst new barrel i ever had was a prohunter in .243, picked up copper like nothing else, had it borescoped, 3" of copper fused to the edge of the rifling. Took 300 rounds to sort it out. Hammer forged barrels have issues too.

is this going to be your woodland, sub 80y, red dot scoped offhand shooting stalking gun? Im sure it will
be fine however you shoot it in.

ANY barrel never mind how it's made can have manufacturing issues. Wear upon tooling is the probable cause I am thinking.

The barrel on my BSA CF2 Stutzen is tight and so fouls more that the barrel on another BSA in the same calibre which is not tight. The CF2 also shows pressure signs quicker as obviously being tight pressures rise more quickly as it take more pressure to propel the bullet through the tighter bore.
 
I have 2 no 6.5x47l's, my stalking rifle has a lw barrel, my new rifle has a benchmark which is 0.00002 tighter, this manifests itself as more velocity and higher pressure with less powder, it does not pick up any copper. Shoots pretty good to, got a video of it in the lathe with pin gauges at each end exhibiting zero runout on the bore. The runout on the rear of the chamber is 0.00015".
Both of them were shot in proper like and shoot very very well. I think if you put the gauges on a steyer barrel, the results would be very different, then theres the tupperware stock on the steyr..

my point being a steyr is good enough for shooting deer in the ribs in the woods, no matter how you shoot it in
 
With any barrel I have, clean very well when I receive the barrel including a very fine polish without overdoing it. This will show any obviously bad or tight spots in the bore. Then zero, fire a group. If fine I hunt with it, after about 10-20 shot I clean again, mainly to see how dirty she is or how much copper she picked up. Then just shoot and try find a good ammo combination.
edi
 
I don't know how much tighter the CF2 Stutzens bore is in actual measurement but it certainly is felt with a brush or patch and a load that was fine in the other rifle blew a primer pocket in the Stutzen. It also coppers fouls quicker which is not due to roughness of the bore. The Stutzen is a very late production rifle so I wonder if the mandrel former used was worn hence the tighter bore????????????? It shoots OK :).
 
Offroad Gary: Yes, it is the set-up I decided on after my first few years of stalking and learning - A Scout in .308W; red dot sight, short reflex moderator, and ching-sling. Particularly interesting because so many traditionalists find it most inappropriate! ;)
Having kept a record of typical distances of culls I realised that on my Cotswold land it was almost always very close in (40-50 yards); with many other opportunities missed because of the time it takes to set a rifle on the sticks and find the deer through the scope. So the 'brief' was a light-weight synthetic stock short rifle with an over-the-barrel moderator to keep it all as short and pointable as possible. So this set-up feels and handles almost like a shotgun, both eyes open shooting which gives great situational awareness because of the very wide field of view, and therefore adds to safety as well.
I am now quite relaxed about the cleaning regime- I hardly ever clean my .243W -admittingly it has a stainless steel barrel- and its shoots fine.
 
Erik. Photos please. Thanks JCS

For the moment you'll have to make do with Google images of 'Steyr Scout' , 'Aimpoint Hunter H34S' , 'Lawrence Nexus Moderator', and 'ching sling'.
However, I will be pleased to put up images of delicious spicy venison sausages, Moroccan style venison Burgers or Venison Shank Goulash, which is my starting point and final objective, and what I hunt for.
 
Over the years I have found barrels to clean easier and foul less if a short regime is undertaken to "run in the barrel". For the most part this has been with 308 rifles and I am fortnate to have been given a few thousand rounds of linked Dutch MG ammo that I use for the purpose. With a new gun/barrel I use a copper solvent to remove anything left from proof firing. I then fire one round, clean and repeat for 10. This usually with no scope mounted. Then I fire 5 round groups to 50 total cleaning between groups. This is not really a problem because I am going to shoot many more rounds from a gun before I take it hunting, 40 rounds is not that much for something you are going to use to harvest animals. After the 50 I try to clean every 20rds qnd can usually get a barrel really clean with three patches and solvent (one soaked in solvent followed by two dry ones), no brush required.

Mike Rock once recommended; 1-10, clean between shots; 11-50, clean after every third round; 50-100, clean after each ten rounds. I used to use that recommendation and I had some fine shooting barrels from him but have now gone to my aforementioned condensed practice

SS
 
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