Barrel break-in necessary?

[Lou Mallia]

I'm about to begin shooting my new Remington 700VSSF
in .220 swift. My question is simple. Is it *really* necessary
to follow a barrel break-in procedure?

I've seen and read about shooting one shot, cleaning, shooting
two and cleaning, etc. until you've reached around 10 shots.
I've also heard about barrel lapping, understand it's good for
shooting cast bullets and minimizing leading. I have no plans
to shoot cast bullets in this rifle.

Please let me know any first hand experiences you've had in this
area. I guess I'd particularly like to hear about any break-in
procedures that might be recommended by any respected barrel makers.

Thanks for any info and experiences. I can only do this once in
the life of the barrel, so I'd like to do it right. However, I
don't really want to waste valuable range time unless I stand a
chance of really getting some benefit.

Lou

[ki...@delta.com]

Lou Mallia wrote:
#
# I'm about to begin shooting my new Remington 700VSSF
# in .220 swift. My question is simple. Is it *really* necessary
# to follow a barrel break-in procedure?
#
[snip]

# Lou

No, it is not *really* necessary. Just shoot it. That, of course, is
my opinion. (And watch me get whacked for saying so.)

Lee

[Mike Sumner]

Lou Mallia wrote:
#
# I'm about to begin shooting my new Remington 700VSSF
# in .220 swift. My question is simple. Is it *really* necessary
# to follow a barrel break-in procedure?
#

# I've seen and read about shooting one shot, cleaning, shooting
# two and cleaning, etc. until you've reached around 10 shots.
# I've also heard about barrel lapping, understand it's good for
# shooting cast bullets and minimizing leading. I have no plans
# to shoot cast bullets in this rifle.
#
# Please let me know any first hand experiences you've had in this
# area. I guess I'd particularly like to hear about any break-in
# procedures that might be recommended by any respected barrel makers.
#
# Thanks for any info and experiences. I can only do this once in
# the life of the barrel, so I'd like to do it right. However, I
# don't really want to waste valuable range time unless I stand a
# chance of really getting some benefit.
#
# Lou

Depends on how accurate you want it. If its just a plinker, who cares.
But I assume that for what you paid for that thing, you expect sub-MOA
accuracy out of it, therefore breaking in the barrel properly is
important. It took me 3 hours to shoot 20 rounds through my PSS to
break it in. Pain in the ass, but if your gun shoots like crap if you
neglect this step, what are you to do? Rebarrel the gun? Sounds like
more hassel than doing it right the first time! Shoot one round,
clean. One round, clean. Repeat for the first 20 rounds. VERRRRRRRY
tedious, but do it. Then 5 rounds, clean. Repeat for the next few
boxes of ammo. Around 100 rounds it should be broken in. Use a copper
solvent like Shooters Choice or something. Like I said, Major pain in
the arse, but better than a life time of dissapointment with that rifle.

Just my 2 cents...
Mike

[Gale McMillan]

Mike Sumner wrote:
> ...

As a barrel maker I have looked in thousands of new and used barrels
with a bore scope and I will tell you that if every one followed the
prescribed break in method A very large number would do more harm than
help. The reason you hear of the help in accuracy is because if you
chamber barrel with a reamer that has a dull throater instead of cutting
clean sharp rifling it smears a burr up on the down wind side of the
rifling. It takes from 1 to 2 hundred rounds to burn this bur out and
the rifle to settle down and shoot its best. Any one who chambers rifle
barrels has tolerances on how dull to let the reamer get and factories
let them go longer than any competent smithe would. Another tidbit to
consider, Take a 300Win Mag. that has a life expectancy of 1000 rounds.
Use 10% of it up with your break in procedure for ever 10 barrels the
barrel maker makes he has to make one more just to take care of the
break in. no wonder barrel makers like to see this. Now when you flame
me on this please include what you think is happening to the inside of
your barrel during the break in that is helping you.
Gale McMillan
NBSRA IBS,FCSAand NRA Life Member

[HL. Sherwood]

.
# But I assume that for what you paid for that thing, you expect sub-MOA
# accuracy out of it, therefore breaking in the barrel properly is
# important.

I've done this for three factory guns and I think it's a waste of time.
Part of the reason for breaking it in is the theory that you are smoothing
the barrel without copper deposit to prevent future fouling. Well they
foul anyway (Rem 700's and a Mod 7) I tried fire lapping and this helped
moderately. This is a kit sold by NECO.

I am just starting to experiment with Moly coating (also a NECO product)
and this has created a dramatic difference in fouling. It supposedly
increases barrel life. The NECO kit sells for $130 however the components
moly and carnauba wax and steel BB's can be found for <$60.