Range Report #1 (14 Oct 18)
FINALLY got to take this thing out and get some barrel break in/initial groupings with it. Main goal for the day was to smooth the throat out from chambering, so I didn't shoot a bunch of groups with it, BUT... if the first 20 rds out of it are any indication of how this rifles gonna shoot, this is gonna be a wicked stick. Perfect day for shooting, mid 70's, no wind, no idiots at the range, just the 100yd target and a new rig.
Here's my 2 cents with barrel break ins... In my eyes, the only reason to "break" a barrel in, is to smooth the throat area from chambering. There's a lot of guys that have a different mentality, and that's fine, I just don't necessarily agree with all the snake oil and charming some people think is involved. There's a reason you pay for a match barrel.... It's the guy that sits there for hours hand lapping the bore after cut rifling. I understand lapping doesn't necessarily get all of the imperfections out, and there's always gonna be micro grooves still along the actual rifling, but those get filled a hell of a lot faster than the average shooter thinks. Essentially 1-2 rounds down a bore will generally leave enough copper in those micro grooves to smooth those areas out. I've personally threaded and chambered a barrel, looked at the grooves with a bore scope, shot 1 round through it, removed the barrel after getting the powder residue out, and looked again with the bore scope..... Granted this is MY experience with a Hawk Hill barrel, but the rifling in that particular barrel was just as smooth as it could be after 1 round down it with the copper set in place. That's where I'm getting my opinion from, and why I hardly take any time breaking in a barrel.
For this rifle, here was my process:
- Do an initial clean with Hoppes #9 bore solvent just to make sure no debris from chambering was still left in it, along with using a chamber mop for the same reason.
- Shoot one round, remove bolt, install bore guide, and push one WET patch of Hoppes through the bore with a jag. After letting the Hoppes sit for roughly 5 min, I came in behind the wet patch with a 30 cal nylon bore brush. I run the brush through the bore roughly 3 times just to break up the powder residue, then I focus on the throat area with a few quick strokes.
- Follow the brush with 3 patches straight through the bore, then come behind it with 2 more clean patches focusing on the throat area.
- I clean my jag and rod off of solvents, then I soak a patch in Sweet 7.62 Bore Solvent.... ****(This is some NASTY stuff. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH IT. If not used properly you can damage the rifling and throat.)**** I push that wet patch through the bore and let it set for roughly 6-8 min. This allows the solvent to do it's thing and start break down the copper. I use the Hoppes for powder residue, and the Sweets for copper.
- After waiting, I will generally take my nylon brush and run a single pass through the entire bore and remove the brush before pulling it back through. I don't wanna get the solvent out just yet, just make sure its evenly throughout the barrel.
- Behind the brush, Ill reinstall the jag and stroke the bore roughly 12-15 times making sure I'm not coming out of the bore completely on either end. This ensures the copper is being scrubbed and not scrapped out of the bore yet.
- I follow up the Jag with the brush again, focusing on complete bore strokes at first, then the throat area by itself. I'll do this maybe 10 strokes, then short ones in the throat.
- After the brush, Ill push clean dry patches until no blue is found on them. The Sweets is good about telling you whether or not you've still got fouling in it. I use a brass Jag, so sometimes I get false readings on the patches, but after using it a couple times, you'll figure out it's from the jag itself and not the actual bore.
After that, I go back and shoot another single round followed by the same procedure. I'll do this for 3 single shots, cleaning in between each round, then follow up with a 3 round group, clean, then a 5 round group, clean, and then I'm off to the races and generally wont clean that barrel again for a long period of time. I'm not a benchrest guy... I don't need to clean between strings. Hell, I'm pretty sure I've got 2 rifles in the case that haven't seen a cleaning other than a quick pass of Hoppes, in over 1000 rds. Usually during a match season, I'll fully clean a rifle once (probably 3-4 matches in) and immediately follow it with a copper fouling trip to the range.
Here's how it shot with one group being the first 3 rounds out of the rifle (keep in mind this was during my "break in" process, so that's one shot, clean, one shot, clean, one shot, clean)… Pretty impressive if you asked me.
After adjusting the scope and shooting my initial 3 shots, here's what she did with her first 3 shot group.... YES MAAM. I'll take that all day long.
Oh... and did I meantion these groups were FACTORY 175gr FGMM... Yeah. So there's that too. Now if I'm in a bind, I can just go snag a bunch of it and shoot. That's nice to have in my back pocket.
