A lot of gun-makers these days are recommending barrel break-in procedures.

On Nosler's website they recommend you shoot one shot, clean the barrel, shoot a second, clean, third, clean, and so on up to ten rounds; then clean every third shot for fifteen rounds; then shoot five rounds, clean, and then ready to shoot.

Doing the above is supposed to make the rifle more accurate and easier to clean--but it probably takes a whole day at the range. Do you think there's something to this, or is it hocus pocus marketing malarky?

Jim

Probably something to it, and I know guys that follow those recommendations, but I never have and my guns shoot as good as I can.

What is the recommended cleaning procedure between shots? If it is simply a bore snake it will not slow you down much at all.

They're just wanting you to shoot more bullets so you can buy more.

It does make a difference if you’re trying to hit dimes at 200 yards. If you’re not looking for extreme long range accuracy then it doesn’t make enough of a difference to matter

My understanding is that it was a smart thing to do for many years. The machining of bores is much better now and many barrel makers say that break in isn't necessary anymore.

I would still do it because it can't hurt and a few hours at the bench ever hurt anyone. Plus....You only have one chance to do it.

Pete

I followed that procedure with my Remington Long Range in 300 wm. It shoots into 5/8 inch at 200 yards. I've done it with a couple other rifles with comparable results. Other than time consuming I feel it makes load development easier.

Do it if you like,I wouldnt bother for hunting.Maybe for target shooting.

I think its a very slick marketing idea.

Its a great way for you to get to know and bond with your gun and consequently the brand.

I'm a believer in it when I picked up my rebarreled rifle from the gunsmith he gave me a bottle of some hard core snake oil to use and the procedure to fallow for breaking it in with reduced loads .
His way of thinking is if your going to spend that much money do it right the first time kind of a buy it once cry once deal ha ha
It's been a extremely good shooting rifle and I'm glad I followed his suggestions .
Allan

Im gonna shoot a new gun at least 50 times between zeroing the scope, checking my loads for accuracy and so on. Might as well do a barrel break in IF that particular rifle has the capability to shoot sub moa. Such things as my 458 socom just got shot like it was borrowed.

There is much less break in for modern rifles but regardless the first 100 rounds or so you may be some changes while the barrel breaks in. The shoot, clean, repeat processes is to remove the copper fowling as you go. If you just shoot 100 rounds you'll accomplish the same process but you'll have a lot of copper to scrub out. Do it however you like. If it's a hunting rifle don't even bother, you'll get there eventually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d0-FOEpAuw

The barrel break in process is to knock out any burrs in the barrel and improve consistency. It also helps when you are trying out a new load. After so many rounds, your velocity will increase quite a lot. It depends on the caliber for how many rounds it takes. I have done it both ways and it is good to do if you are trying to shoot competitions or hunting at long range. If you dont plan on shooting sub MOA groups at long range it really wont make a huge difference. It is a little more complicated that just running a bore snake though if you are going to do it and get the most benefit out of it. You should run several patches though with a good copper solvent do remove any copper that may build up. By doing this you will make sure that copper wont build up and create little pockets in the barrel. I have done it in about 20 rounds, but it depends on the barrel and what caliber. I broke in the PRS 6mm creedmore, but it took about 100 rounds for my velocity jump. My velocity jump was between 150 and 200 fps which really makes a difference at beyond 500 yard. The jump happened over the course of 10 or 20 rounds though, this happened to be in the middle of a competition and I didnt bring a chronograph to check so it messed me up for the rest of the day because I was shooting high. Sorry for the long paragraph, and this is just my two cents on the matter. It is really personal choice as well as the intended purpose of the gun. -IdahoCoyotes

P.S-What gun are you shooting?

It depends on the barrel. If your barrel is rough to start with it will help, a hand lapped competition type not so much. See how much copper a single round deposits , that will tell you what shape your bore is in. A few single shots with cleaning in between won’t hurt anything and might make you feel like you’ve done something. I change my competition rifles barrels every year, hand lapped premium cut rifling and do very little break in, button rifled might benefit from it more. If it’s a hunting rifle I wouldn’t spend a lot of time doing it, certainly not a day.

When the barrel is hot, the oil gets absorbed into the steel. I also will rub a light coat of oil on the outside when the barrel is hot to waterproof. I break in all new guns and on occasion older guns as described. On cold barrels, I use Ballistol https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014636330

I just clean after I'm done shooting. With a 22 rimfire that may be a couple hundred rounds. Usually though maybe 30. After about 50 I get serious about finding the load it likes. All the rest of it is just marketing IMO. A semi auto runs a lot better many times after a couple hundred rounds. They all shoot better after a hundred rounds or so. Some significantly better and some not so much. The ones that have sorry accuracy out of the box usually show the best improvement but they are never tack drivers.

It's a lot more than a Bore Snake, I'm afraid:

"Following is the necessarily barrel break-in procedure to ensure reliable and consistent accuracy from your new rifle:

Shoot one round and then clean
Do this for the first ten rounds.

Shoot three rounds and then clean
Do this for the next fifteen rounds.

Shoot five rounds and then clean
then shoot a fouler round
and then shoot three rounds for accuracy.

NOTE: Allow barrel to cool to ambient temperature before shooting each series of break-in rounds to avoid unnecessary throat erosion. Do not shoot your rifle in succession until the barrel is too hot to touch with a bare hand.
When cleaning, use these simple instructions:

DO:

Use a quality one-piece cleaning rod.
Use a bore guide.
Clean from chamber end only.

Clean powder residue from bore using a solvent like Shooter’s Choice™ or Butch’s Bore Shine™ following instructions on bottle.

Follow with a copper remover like Montana X-Treme™ Copper Killer to remove copper fouling. Instructions on bottle work the best.

Follow with a second group of patches coated in Shooter’s Choice™, Butch’s Bore Shine™, or similar solvent, then finish with dry patches until all solvent is removed from the bore.

Finish with a patch lightly coated with gun oil such as Tetra Gun Oil™ or Montana X-Treme Bore Conditioner Accuracy Gun Oil™. Shooting a dry bore will greatly promote copper fouling."

https://www.nosler.com/m48-mountain-carbon-rifle

As hard as it is right now to find ammo, bullets, powder and primers, I am not going to go shoot just to be shooting.

mine too!

you can feel the tightness from copper build up in a barrel

to me the barrel break in procedure they are specifying does 3 things , it uses the fewest rounds , it gives the user a specific order of operations and it makes cleaning the copper as easy as possible.

- some of the modern cartridges are barrel burner s 1800-2000 rounds life before accuracy goes south they are counting every round and the cost
-if people are left to make up their own who knows what they will invent
-if scrubbing is hard they are more likely to stop half way


would shooting more rounds then cleaning work ,it does it take longer to get the copper out after 50 rounds.


I wasn't worried about the least number of rounds , I don't run barrel burner cartridges

once you clean copper the first time you can shoot hundreds of rounds and not get that kind of copper build up again in most standard pressure rifle cartridges with projectiles under 3300fps