Number of Factory Loads when Breaking In New Rifle?

[Milf Dots]

For shooters without reloading machines: How many different factory loads do you INITIALLY try when breaking in and zeroing a brand new rifle, and how many rounds of each do you initially buy?

It's tempting to buy ammo in bulk for the pricing, but there's always the chance the rifle might not like it.

At least 3-4 different factory loads, perhaps total of 40 rounds each, seems smart, but I'm a newb to precision rifle.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mareshow]

Break in is around 200 rnds, So id say at least that. My gun builder has told me to clean once at 40 rnds then clean again around 200 rnds, then carbon the barrel and do load development. He was right. I saw an additional 50 fps after 200 rnds

 

[XLR308]

Your not so much breaking in the rifle as you are breaking in the throat of the barrel by smoothing out tooling marks from the chambering process.
And yes as stated many barrels speed up at a certain round count and then should stabilize and become more consistent.

 

[Tokay444]

Depends.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

For Service Rifle, I shoot 10 to 20 rounds to get a zero, clean the barrel, then clean after each match for a few matches. After that I go a couple hundred rounds between cleanings.

ETA: just noticed I am in the bolt action forum. Similar for bolt action but less rounds per match. I probably clean the bolt action every 100 rounds or so.

 

[AllenOne1]

What caliber?
What is the intended purpose for the gun? (Hunting, target practice, etc.)
What ammo have you considered or are considering purchasing?

 

[Milf Dots]

Thanks for the replies so far...

New Tikka T3x, 24" barrel in 6.5cm.

I'm new to the long range precision rifle game.

Rifle will be used for formal paid learning, self training, target practice on paper and steel, and some local competitions mixed of PRS style, Steel Challenge, and Rifle Fu.

Perhaps I should just initially buy 200 rnds of the least expensive but decent, new brass & boxer primed ammo, between 130-143 grains- for the barrel break in...

 

[Tokay444]

Go and shoot. Put the words break-in out of your mind.

 

[AllenOne1]

I would buy Hornady Black 140 gr and Hornady ELD-M 140 gr match ammo. As much as you can afford! The Black ammo uses the Hornady BTHP Match bullets. That gives you two different bullets and both should shoot well for you. Then just go shoot it, don't really worry about a break-in period. Clean it every 30-60 rounds. You'll be good to go.

 

[b6graham]

I 'break in' barrels at local matches. yeah they speed up a little doing it this way. just be prepared for it and it's fine.

you're new. buy a boatload of berger ammo and just shoot

 

[CK1.0]

There's nothing to break-in, but it will speed up until it settles in speed-wise after somewhere between 100-200rds downrange.

Just pick something decent and buy a bunch of the same stuff in bulk, ideally from the same lot, that way you can start getting your dope together from the start. By the time it's done speeding up, you should have your dope together and you'll be able to concentrate on shooting skills instead of wasting time and money trying to figure out where your rounds are going.

I agree with @AllenOne1, the Hornady Black and/or ELD-M stuff shoots great and is decent price-wise, I wouldn't pony up for the Berger stuff unless you'll want the Lapua brass for reloading down the road (then it's not a bad idea).

 

[vh20]

Buy a case of Hornady 140 ELD-M from the cheapest (legit) place that offers free shipping with a full case purchase. I see Outdoor Limited has it for 349.90 with free shipping. AE Ammo is a little less, but I have not purchased from them.

Then shoot the crap out of it at every distance and in every condition you can, recording dope as you go.

I have 3 - 6.5CM barrels and this ammo has consistently shot well in all of them. After you have 100-150 down the bore it should be settled in and you can test a few other options that might be better (i.e. Berger 140, 144, etc), albeit more expensive.

The recommendation from @AllenOne1 about the Hornady Black might be just as well for the initial 100-150, IF it is available at lower cost than the 140s, and especially if you aren't shooting 1000 yds or more all the time. The Berger stuff really isn't much advantage until you start pushing it to the limit of distance, but as long as your rifle likes it, it will typically allow you to push out to a little farther than the Hornady.

 

[sparky702]

I will say this . Before I ever fire a round I swab the barrel just to make sure all the gunk is cleaned out and nothing is obstructing the barrel . I bought a new rifle and pulled the bolt out to take a look and found a 4 inch piece of a range flag jammed in the barrel ,, I don't know if it would of caused an issue or not but I sure don't want to be the test dummy to see what happens . So I always swab and clean the barrel then I fire for effect , I don't do any bizarre break in ritual .

 

[CK1.0]

I will say this . Before I ever fire a round I swab the barrel just to make sure all the gunk is cleaned out and nothing is obstructing the barrel . I bought a new rifle and pulled the bolt out to take a look and found a 4 inch piece of a range flag jammed in the barrel ,, I don't know if it would of caused an issue or not but I sure don't want to be the test dummy to see what happens . So I always swab and clean the barrel then I fire for effect , I don't do any bizarre break in ritual .

Yeah, running a dry patch or two down a new barrel probably isn't a bad idea...

I do that too, and that concludes my barrel break-in ritual lol.

 

[xphunter]

Thanks for the replies so far...

New Tikka T3x, 24" barrel in 6.5cm.

I'm new to the long range precision rifle game.

Rifle will be used for formal paid learning, self training, target practice on paper and steel, and some local competitions mixed of PRS style, Steel Challenge, and Rifle Fu.

Perhaps I should just initially buy 200 rnds of the least expensive but decent, new brass & boxer primed ammo, between 130-143 grains- for the barrel break in...

Just go shoot.
Try some of the Berger ammunition (130 and 140) and the Hornady match ammo (140 ELD-M and the 147 ELD-M).
Get a box of each, and see which one your barrel like, THEN, go buy bulk

 

[xphunter]

I will say this . Before I ever fire a round I swab the barrel just to make sure all the gunk is cleaned out and nothing is obstructing the barrel . I bought a new rifle and pulled the bolt out to take a look and found a 4 inch piece of a range flag jammed in the barrel ,, I don't know if it would of caused an issue or not but I sure don't want to be the test dummy to see what happens . So I always swab and clean the barrel then I fire for effect , I don't do any bizarre break in ritual .

YES!
I would use Patch Out or Wipe Out a couple of times, then some dry patches.
It will leave a light film...Which IS a Good Thing!

 

[Milf Dots]

It's been so long since I fired a bolt gun that I consider myself a newb, and it's a new rifle, so I figure I'll shoot the less expensive S&B factory FMJ for the first 200 rounds. But I also have some Win open tip and Federal GMM coming. All ammo around 140 grs.

I'm going to order some lighter grain match ammo, too.

 

[xphunter]

I would shoot the ammo you want, when you want

 

[b6graham]

shooting crap ammo is a giant waste of money

why shoot 2moa ammo for 200 rounds and have crap brass versus shoot 1/2" ammo from the start and have nice shiny lapua brass to reload/sell

 

[TicTacTex]

I’ve heard this stuff hits above it’s price point. Haven’t tried it, personally.

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You also can’t go wrong with Berger ammo, and then making almost half your money back when you sell the Lapua brass.

 

[Johnerz]

I bought 100 of the S&B 140 gr (not the hunting stuff) to run in my tikka 6.5 Creedmoor barrel. Then started to reload.
The equi you need can be affordable or expensive an anywhere in between.

I run Berger 130 gr vld match, Hornady cases and Vihtavuori N555 42.4gr. Shoots sub moa at 200 and well out to 984 yards. ymmv.
Mine is a medium load, I’m not interested in a barrel burner.

The powder and bullets can be hard to find and primers harder.

You may decide to buy a couple of hundred rounds of factory fmj or match whilst you run in and get used to the rifle.
6.5 has a nice mild recoil with 140gr factory ammunition and my home loads.

 

[FredHammer]

It is actually relieving when my options for a gun, like a slug gun, are limited to factory options. I don’t over analyze myself into analysis paralysis and instead just roll with what works best!

I use FGMM as a gold standard for a rig. (308 Win)Typically, if it don’t shoot FGMM good, I start to worry about the potential of the thing in regards to hand loading. Figuring out what makes it tic, I find FGMM ammo to have shoulder length variance of .0005-.001 and never loaded hot. 2625-2650 20” MV. 75F. CBTO vary by .015 ish, which I find shocking considering the bullet seating debate.

If I didn’t hand load I’d save a couple rounds of the best performing loads and look for ammo showing same characteristics. (Seating, MV, etc)

 

[Milf Dots]

Thanks again guys.

 

[diggler1833]

My exact loads for my Krieger and Brux barreled 6.5x47s shoot the same at 300 rounds as they did during initial load development at around 75 rounds...with one exception, and that is I had to add .2gr to my 130gr Norma and H4350 in the one rifle.

I sped up only ~15-25 FPS in each barrel between when I was initially doing load development, and these last strings. How much seemed to be dependent on which powder I was using.

Typically I'll shoot 20-50 rounds of factory ammo in a barrel to get it going...mostly just as a benchmark for my handloading.

My Brux shot rounds 3-6 into a .4, and rounds 8-11 (after a fouling shot) into a .5 of factory 120gr Scenar-L. My best handloads with that bullet hover around the .4, within occasional .3 or .5 in that same barrel. I'm a believer that a quality barrel is capable of diving into load development quickly. One just has to remember that at some point in the first couple hundred rounds you might have to make a small tweak somewhere.

 

[FredHammer]

No such thing as breaking in a barrel. Copper jacket material and lead do not wear down steel. The only thing that wears on a barrel is powder, heat and pressure erosion! This is why the throat and the last 2 inches of muzzle area are the main area's of wear. Also bad cleaning technique.

Most of my rifles hold the best accuracy between 350 to 500 rounds before groups open which is when I clean them well. Do not get me wrong when I am down at the range I will spray some sover down the bore and pass a patch or two and some oil. I am talking about the bore. Clearly bolt guns and semi-auto's have different parts that might need more cleaning.

For instance when I was using a 308 Win for Silhouette my average was about 475 rounds before cleaning. My groups would get tighter from 0 to about 300 rounds and would hold steady to about 475 and then start to open so I would clean thoroughly just ahead of that opening.

Anyone that tells you a barrel breaks in is full of it. I am almost 50 and have been competing in shooting sports since about 1982 and seriously since about 1986. In fact this is so common and known so well that the French make each end of the barrel tight and the middle a bit loser. They purposefully taper the bore tight-lose-tight along the bore especially on their Sniper rifles.

It is time consuming and more expensive and opens one up to more lose when building a barrel this way so almost no one does that. I think decades ago a company bought LW SS barrels and electronically tapered them under the name of BlackStar I think it was and people absolutely love those barrels and swore by them. Back when tank barrels and a lot of artillery where riffled this was also down with them.

I have not stayed current with any of this but it has been well documented in old technical papers in the industry relating to large heavy barrels. These documents though are even more elusive than SAE White papers that only require an expensive annually subscription or purchasing papers ala carte. Normally you need to purchase volumes that where limited in total volume and only offered to industry insiders. They are out their though. Just like research on screws for boats and ships not published outside of very limited industry specific sources normally. Just the like the mathematics used to design the first stealth fighters was not found in Popular Science or SAE White Papers it was a bit more obscure than that!

On of the problems with our sport and hobby is that everyone try's to keep their "secrets" so little is published in common source material and so the best info and the why behind what works is always being lost and forgotten and has to be re-discovered over and over again! TO make matters worse the best and brightest are not really devoting themselves to something a mundane as center fire rifles. Our sport and hobby is not the hot bed it once was for innovation!

To give you an idea of how long it takes for break in wear to settle take a look at transmissions and differentials in car's. It takes about 10,000 miles for the accelerated wear that we call break-in to occur. On the other hand with the surface finish we have today on engines if you look at something like a Toyota I4,V6 or V8 you see almost no break in wear which is accelerated wear in and would show up in used oil analysis as large spikes in wear metals the first 10,000 miles even if people run the factory fill for that entire 10,000 miles you will usually see single digit wear metals. On the other hand if you look at a GM engine the wear metals the first 3000 miles will be double to triple digit. This is telling in that it demonstrates the difference in materials and surface finish. So the better the materials and the better the surface finish the less there is to "break-in". Even the idea of hand lapping is a sign of poor machining precision since hand lapping is a band aid fix for poor quality control and poor precision during the manufacturing process. Lapping is basically accelerate wear to make two poor machine surfaces more uniform.

Lapping is not at all the same as honing to size between processes. If you need to hand lapp that means you failed to machine something properly during the manufacturing process. This is 2023 not 1973 what was once acceptable and needed is not so today.

Show me one modern engineering text book or machinist text book that lists hand lapping as a modern precision manufacturing method. I often use hand lapping becasue I do not have access to modern CNC machinery that can give me the desired precision and surface finish I need!

On the number of loads to shoot if it is a hunting rifle you try different loads until you find one that produces the accuracy and repeatability you desire. If it is a competition rifle there is no limit to how many loads you might try.

Wow. One of the best posts ever.

 

[spife7980]

I’d call it one of the worst. We learned nothing but got told things that are wrong. Good job.

Hey @Frank Green, did y’all know your hand lapping is only done because you did it wrong?

 

[Tokay444]

Wow. One of the best posts ever.

I completely TL;DR’d that post.

 

[b6graham]

I completely TL;DR’d that post.

you didn't miss anything...but you already knew that

 

[waveslayer]

If you're buying ammo for your rifle why are you worried about breaking in the barrel, which is a waste, if you're sticking to the same ammo?... all it will do is speed up. So adjust your DOPE to accommodate the increase in velocity.

Otherwise you're wasting your time and money. Just shoot it!
If you were reloading you would just adjust your powder charge as needed.