barrel break-in, moly bullets and more

That's an intersting read, but I don't agree with some of his comparisons.

An engine piston and a bullet in a bore are not operating on the same principle.
An engine has a chrome ring, under spring pressure, running in a softer cylinder. It better have lubrication, or the ring eats the cylinder.
A soft bullet in a hard bore is not the same situation. At all.

What I will agree on is that you'll end up with pretty much identical results, whether you shoot/clean between the first few rounds, or just shoot and clean when it starts to copper foul.

I think you'll see your accuracy improve faster (on a mass-produced barrel) if you clean between rounds for the first 3 to 5 rounds.

If you're going to skip the bore guide and jam a jointed rod through the bore, rubbing grit and the rod junctions up and down the rifling, you're ruining the barrel.
It's not so much because it's "clean", it's abuse.

Now, a hand-lapped match barrel is a totally different story. It's already "broken in" from the hand lapping process.

He should show some bore scope photos of a new mass-produced button-rifled or broached barrel beside a hand-lapped barrel and you would see a HUGE difference.
If you patch with copper solvent after the first shot and compare, you'll see a HUGE difference, too.

Thanks for the link, it's good to read these articles.
 
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Great barrel makers like Krieger and the good gunsmiths I have known all recommend barrel break-in procedures. It can't hurt and all not doing accomplishes is saving a little time.

I'm goping to do it to all my barrels and not bother talking about it anymore.

Fast Ed
 
I don't agree with some of the "theroy" behind thier cleaning process. While breaking in a barrell...the first shot is going after a bur or rough tooling mark. If the shot dosen't smooth it out, copper is built-up around that spot. If you kept shooting, like they suggest, copper would continue to build-up preventing the next bullet from knocking off or smoothing out the spot. The cleaning between shots removes the copper and allows the next bullet a chance to remove that spot. You can gauge your progress by the amount of copper you are removing from the barrel. As you go, each shot you should be leaving less and less copper in the barrell because you are removing and smoothing out the imperfectactions. I know this won't always work on a factory barrel because they are so tooled up. On a custom Hart barrel, I have seen the cleaning on the first four shots remove a little copper from the barrell. By the time I was cleaning on the fith shot, I was removing only a trace, and I mean a trace of copper. I felt confortable at this point I was done. On a factory barrel, you do the best you can but I have not been able to "smooth out" the barrel to my liking. Just my thoughts... Brent
 
"On a custom Hart barrel, I have seen the cleaning on the first four shots remove a little copper from the barrell. By the time I was cleaning on the fith shot, I was removing only a trace, and I mean a trace of copper."

Exactly what I saw on my Oly SUM barrel from D-Tech, except it quit showing copper after the third shot.
I imagine he shot it a few times at the factory and cleaned it at least once (before shipping).
I then shot 5 rounds, cleaned it (very small trace of copper), and the "break-in" was done. I didn't see any reason to continue that experiment.

The accuracy continued to improve for about 100 rounds (it gets hard to tell at the end if it's improving or not), but I wasn't seeing enough copper fouling to be concerned.
 
Evil, I'm glad we agree...There is a world of difference between a factory barrel and a good custom. Take care, Brent
 
Quote:Evil, I'm glad we agree...

That's just what I saw. I did go about it somewhat scientifically, though.
I'm pretty sure a chrome-plated barrel isn't going to "break-in" at all, waste of time.

We both saw almost identical results, though, and that is very interesting.
 
Read the article before. Frankly I don't think the guy really knows enough or uses a good enough method to reach any meaningfully conclusions about wheather or not breaking in a barrel is of any use or not.
 
Originally Posted By: Evil_LurkerNow, a hand-lapped match barrel is a totally different story. It's already "broken in" from the hand lapping process.


True. My take on non-lapped barrels is to lap them so they equal the custom made match barrels. These non-lapped barrels are what we get on most factory rifles. The whole reason for doing either the break in, or the hand lapping, is to smooth out tool marks, and polish the bore as best you can. My take anyway. YMMV
After the lapping, I just shoot and clean by my normal cleaning regimen. I get good accuracy that way, and I DREAD the "shoot one round, then clean the bore, and repeat the process" operation.
 
all my rifles got 10,000 strokes of jb bore polish on a felt jag take me a week of nights watching tv but ive never had any copper in the groves or lands also now all my bullets are moly coated make clean up a snap, 4-5 patches total
 
I have read all of that stuff before, and agree with most all of it. I've also talked to Mike Rock about it and believe he has it right. Talked to Boots Obermeyer on the phone for damm near an hour the other day. We didn't talk about barrel break-in, but I know he feels the same way. I gave up using moly 5-6 years ago........
 
Originally Posted By: Martyn4802..... My take on non-lapped barrels is to lap them so they equal the custom made match barrels. These non-lapped barrels are what we get on most factory rifles.....

A non-lapped factory barrel will never be the equal of a good quality hand lapped custom barrel. No matter how many strokes of "Barrel Miracle" it gets while watching TV, or no matter how much shoot-and-clean "break-in" it gets...

-BCB
 
Originally Posted By: Bayou City BoyOriginally Posted By: Martyn4802..... My take on non-lapped barrels is to lap them so they equal the custom made match barrels. These non-lapped barrels are what we get on most factory rifles.....

A non-lapped factory barrel will never be the equal of a good quality hand lapped custom barrel. No matter how many strokes of "Barrel Miracle" it gets while watching TV, or no matter how much shoot-and-clean "break-in" it gets...

-BCB

You're right.
When I do my poor man's lapping at home, all I'm trying to do is get it better, smoother, then as received from the mfgr.
 
Two paragraphs of that longwinded discourse was all I could handle.

For years every new rebarrel would get the 1-3-5 breakin. It was a pain in the butt. Usually took a couple hours and about 30-35rds to get no copper after 5 shots. About 15yrs ago I quit doing breakin. Barrels shoot just as well and copperfouling is not a problem. I shoot hot loaded AI cartridges in barrels that received NO breakin......they copper very little or not at all. Breakin with a good custom barrel is pointless. And anyone thinking they can improve a custom barrel by lapping it won't do themselves any good but may just screw it up....the barrelmaker knows more and is way better at doing that stuff than any of us are.
 
Originally Posted By: Ackmanthe barrelmaker knows more and is way better at doing that stuff than any of us are.

Dave.... Ya' think....?

I've seen folks on the internet post that with a tight fitting cleaning patch and a little bit of JB's that they could hand lap a barrel with the best of 'em. And do it all while watching American Idol....

-BCB
 
Quote:A non-lapped factory barrel will never be the equal of a good quality hand lapped custom barrel.

While that's true, nobody needs a hand-lapped custom barrel to shoot coyotes offhand in the field, either. A lot of people are using chrome-lined barrels that aren't ever going to smooth out and piling up fur.
 
Originally Posted By: Bayou City BoyOriginally Posted By: Ackmanthe barrelmaker knows more and is way better at doing that stuff than any of us are.

Dave.... Ya' think....?

I've seen folks on the internet post that with a tight fitting cleaning patch and a little bit of JB's that they could hand lap a barrel with the best of 'em. And do it all while watching American Idol....

-BCB

Just a wild guess.

Yeah, amazing isn't it?.....the goofy stuff you read on forums.
 
Originally Posted By: Evil_Lurker Quote:A non-lapped factory barrel will never be the equal of a good quality hand lapped custom barrel.

While that's true, nobody needs a hand-lapped custom barrel to shoot coyotes offhand in the field, either. A lot of people are using chrome-lined barrels that aren't ever going to smooth out and piling up fur.

Very true.... But not a real revelation to anyone here...

And... I bet some folks would probably be totally amazed at the number of chrome-lined barrels other folks have and shoot regularly...

Even though those same "other folks" might comment that, "A non-lapped factory barrel will never be the equal of a good quality hand lapped custom barrel."

Barrels, like a lot of other things, come in a lot of different flavors... Some do some tasks extremely well, but maybe they can't do other tasks as well as a different flavor might.....

What's your point....?

-BCB
 
Quote:What's your point....?


An intelligent break-in procedure will get you to the point of seeing the best groups your mass-produced non-chrome-lined barrel is going to give you in the least number of shots.

If that's not a concern, you can skip the whole thing, because in the long run, it won't make any difference.


I'm pretty confident in that statement.
 
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