Re: Did I mess up my new Remington SPS Tactical?
<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">"Shilen, Inc. introduced a break-in procedure mostly because customers seemed to think that we should have one. By and large, we don't think breaking-in a new barrel is a big deal."</span></span>
From Shilen's own web site.
http://www.shilen.com/faq.html#question10
Basically, if it is hand lapped - you are wasting your time. If it is factory and not lapped, you can hand lap it yourself often for less time and effort than it takes to 'break it in' with some of the methods I have seen posted on the internet.
The idea of barrel break in is to remove burrs. Regardless of how you shoot, or how many rounds you use and clean your barrel, those burrs are going to be gone relatively soon. Some BR makers I know have argued that shooting without lapping and cleaning your barrel first is likely to break in the barrel worse as the bullet drags the particles down the entire length of the barrel with a lot more pressure than lapping will. And thus, shooting a barrel to break it in is not only a myth, but detrimental to accuracy.
All said and done, most rifles with factory, non hand-lapped barrels won't likely see a bit of difference if you shoot to break in or not.
