Advice for a newbie!

[Frithy]

Just picked up my first rifle this afternoon! A new Tikka T3X in .308.

Is there anything I need to be doing before putting some rounds though it? Anything I should be doing during the first ‘x’ amount of rounds or anything afterwards? I’ve seen people mention breaking in a barrel and others saying that breaking in isn’t required.

Any bits of cleaning/maintenance equipment I should be picking?

All advice welcome, thanks!

 

[Ranger6555]

The debate about breaking in a barrel will go on forever. I have always done it with every new barrel. Fired 1 round and cleaned the barrel and so on for 10 rounds.. In my opinion it helps speed up the barrel cleaning process

 

[VSS]

Zero it. That'll do for "breaking in".
Then shoot some deer.
Dry it if it gets wet.
Give it a wipe over with an oily rag from time to time.
All good. Enjoy.

 

[Overlay]

Get a few of different ammunition if you can and run it 3 shots so as not to cook it and using ranger 6555 advice that way you will find the round it groups best with very easy and likes, give it a check over zero and away you go all done

 

[Tim.243]

Just picked up my first rifle this afternoon! A new Tikka T3X in .308.

Is there anything I need to be doing before putting some rounds though it? Anything I should be doing during the first ‘x’ amount of rounds or anything afterwards? I’ve seen people mention breaking in a barrel and others saying that breaking in isn’t required.

Any bits of cleaning/maintenance equipment I should be picking?

All advice welcome, thanks!

Use it, give it a clean through. not much you can do about a something going down the barrel at + Mach 2.30 or faster lol

 

[HonestJohn]

Use it, upgrade, then spend the rest of your life trying different calibres and scopes wondering why you ever sold the t3 .308

 

[8x57]

Don't forget to clean any oil out of the barrel before you shoot it.

 

[trickie]

Look on the tube of you, the vid on the tour of the Sako/Tikka factory shows and says they are hammer forged. That there is NO need to run in to condition the rifle.

Sake/Tikka should know. My opinion is that all your doing is wasting ammo, calibre dependant you are also shortening the life of the barrel (308 it’s not an issue).

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Clean the barrel before you shoot it!
Dont need to break in the barrel. That came from guns where rifling was cut into the barrel and you needed to essentially, de burr the barrel with bullets. Tikkas rifling is hammer forged, same as sakos. no need for the 50rnd break in

 

[Stalker-of-the-deer]

Personally I'd give it a good clean to get rid of any rubbish in the barrel.

Get a few boxes of different ammo, bore sight and rough zero at 25 then pop it out to 100m.

Try your different brands see what groups best and take your time doing it. Every rifle has a preference.

Give it a pull through with a bore snake after each outing to remove any gunk and condensation. Takes 10 seconds and keeps the bore clean of gunk and pulls and condensation out before storage.

Enjoy!

No need to "break the barrel in" it's a waste of ammo and time in a hammer forged barrel.

 

[paulbshooting]

As you can see, lots of advice and opinion. Personally I always break in a new rifle barrel. No data on if it makes any difference but its what I do and feeds my confidence with a new rifle. It's the same with cleaning regimes, do what works for you.

 

[trickie]

Confidence, as real a requirement as decent data

 

[User00044]

Had a friend who swore by barrel break in , I bought an identical rifle and didn't bother . He shot mine with the same factory ammo and declared it the better of the 2 . When told , that I hadn't done barrel break-in , his reply was , his would last longer .
What ever makes you feel better.

 

[finnbear270]

Don't forget to clean any oil out of the barrel before you shoot it.

This, ^

 

[Bowland blades]

clean it ! Break in cannot be proved , however we know a chambered barrel will have a degree of burr left after the chamber is cut . We also know you cannot go backwards in time , you have to get the thing on paper so why not shoot one clean one , shoot one clean one etc etc ?
Ask those known for building the best rifles , i bet they practically all say yeah to break in but i also guess each has their own take on how
Gosh what are we talking an hour an a half on the range rather than an hour ?

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

clean it ! Break in cannot be proved , however we know a chambered barrel will have a degree of burr left after the chamber is cut . We also know you cannot go backwards in time , you have to get the thing on paper so why not shoot one clean one , shoot one clean one etc etc ?
Ask those known for building the best rifles , i bet they practically all say yeah to break in but i also guess each has their own take on how
Gosh what are we talking an hour an a half on the range rather than an hour ?

Its literally in the factory tour video from Sako. The guide states in the video, you do not need to break in Sako and Tikka barrels

 

[Bowland blades]

Its literally in the factory tour video from Sako. The guide states in the video, you do not need to break in Sako and Tikka barrels

Need to and better off doing is the open question . Need means you cannot do it otherwise not " you can and you might get better accuracy and a longer barrel life and easier cleaning if you do " . Ask those who build custom rifles and i bet you they practically all will give you their recommended procedure
You cannot go back after you decide , make your choice !

 

[8x57]

Its literally in the factory tour video from Sako. The guide states in the video, you do not need to break in Sako and Tikka barrels

I'm not advocating either in favour of or against, just simply commenting.

Tikka in the past would include in the box of a new rifle instructions on breaking in a new rifle. I thought that I may have a copy of that knocking around but I don't.
What I do have is the instruction manual from a Sako rifle and there is no mention of conditioning barrels, nor is there any mention in the Mauser manual that I also have to hand.

Perhaps the Sako/Tikka thinking has changed over the years?

As you say Bowland "make your own choice".
Personally I'm a half and half sort of guy. I will shoot 5 or 10 rounds and give it a bit of a clean then I will just get on and use it. I always clean my rifles after use but once again that's a personal choice as many won't bother.