Gunsmithing Objective research on Barrel Break-in procedures

[kmdn_crew]

You guys are cleaning your barrels?

 

[CorgiNinja]

Epic post. I dont have the data to prove but Im pretty sure I buggered up my first LaRue Stealth barrel years ago by going over board on the “break-in”. Since then I’ll fire about 100 rounds of store bought ammo through a new barrel, (for my precision ARs, about 20-30 for bolt gun), clean and then start the hand load/tuning process.

I remember reading Molon’s review of Criterion’s CORE barrels and he also showed how everything smoothed out as initial round count went up. Makes sense.

Thanks for all the hard work to get us that info!!

 

[db2000]

I have used them on a friend’s rifle and we saw an improvement not saying it was fixed but it was an improvement

I just ordered some from Tubbs after I read a few posts of guys recommending them for Shaw custom barrels. They felt it improved their accuracy. For 35 bucks I’m will to give them a shot on a new barrel.

 

[338dude]

I just ordered some from Tubbs after I read a few posts of guys recommending them for Shaw custom barrels. They felt it improved their accuracy. For 35 bucks I’m will to give them a shot on a new barrel.

Definitely report back I’m interested in the results, I guess it will speed up break in for sure.

 

[HaikeWargame]

Thank you for sharing

 

[MikeBotz]

Great read

 

[SpookyD1031]

Great read! Thanks for the research!!

 

[Kyshooter94]

Great thread

 

[db2000]

Definitely report back I’m interested in the results, I guess it will speed up break in for sure.

I used them on a couple cheaper .243’s.
They are 1 moa rifles with hand loads now. 1.25 or so before so decent improvement. I only did the lighter grade 3 bullets on one of the rifles. Did all five on the other.

 

[Bartholomew]

It's probably up here somewhere already, but nevertheless:

If Eric Cortina does not do break in, why the hell should i?
Or is he lying to fool his competitors and does actually break in barrels, even more than anyone?

 

[MGKelly]

Apparently I am over thinking things... This is a good thread for shooters who are not sure if they are doing it right.

 

[AirGunShawn]

I thought we all agreed that barrel break in is actually the SOFT copper or lead fouling that gets into and filling the micro
machine marks and not WEARING down the hard steel be it 4140 or SS. Personally I didn't know who EC was until last week.
Do some people lie to try and keep what they consider to be important wisdom from others? Yes they do.... But I was never
one of them. Shooting or at work, I was always happy to see people succeed and do better. When I go to a match and other
TOP shooters cant make it, winning First place is a HOLLOW victory. Ask yourself what you feel the truth is about barrel break in?
What does your gut tell you? Worn steel or filled machine marks. If it's filled micro machine marks, should you use a liquid that
dissolves the Cu or Pb from your barrel ? Ultimately, it's up to you what you feel is the truth. I know what I believe.
Please.... let's not confuse properly fouled with DIRTY.

 

[Rio Precision Gunworks]

I thought we all agreed that barrel break in is actually the SOFT copper or lead fouling that gets into and filling the micro
machine marks and not WEARING down the hard steel be it 4140 or SS. Personally I didn't know who EC was until last week.
Do some people lie to try and keep what they consider to be important wisdom from others? Yes they do.... But I was never
one of them. Shooting or at work, I was always happy to see people succeed and do better. When I go to a match and other
TOP shooters cant make it, winning First place is a HOLLOW victory. Ask yourself what you feel the truth is about barrel break in?
What does your gut tell you? Worn steel or filled machine marks. If it's filled micro machine marks, should you use a liquid that
dissolves the Cu or Pb from your barrel ? Ultimately, it's up to you what you feel is the truth. I know what I believe.
Please.... let's not confuse properly fouled with DIRTY.

Who is "we"?

I don't know of any current top shooters in any discipline who do anything special to a new barrel except shoot it. There will be an initial velocity increase, and there's several opinions on why. But that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

And except for stuff like PRS and such, they all clean their barrels down to the steel. Some will then use fouling shots and others will actually run liquid graphite into the bore after cleaning.

 

[CNC-Dude]

Watch several of Erik Cortina's podcast with Bartlien Barrels, Kreiger Barrels and Brian Litz where he asks each of them specifically what they do and recommend for barrel break in....Erik has stated numerous times he no longer breaks in barrels, and his guests seem to agree there is nothing wrong with it.....they also stated they have no way of inspecting the barrel to tell if you broke it in or not.....

 

[Rio Precision Gunworks]

Most barrel makers have a "break in procedure" purely because when they didn't, they received call after call asking for a break in procedure and pushback from consumers if they told them there was no need.

So, since it's almost impossible to mess up the barrel without specifically trying, they list a procedure that won't actually do anything, but appeases consumers who want a procedure.

 

[kmdn_crew]

Rio Precision is 100% spot on. Call some of the top barrel makers and that is the general answer. Some people just like to feel like they are doing something lol. A premium barrel is thoroughly lapped and really doesn't require a damn thing.

 

[Smokin7s]

So if a brush can’t move steel because it’s softer as is the patch how can a cleaning rod imprint itself on steel?

 

[epoletna]

So if a brush can’t move steel because it’s softer as is the patch how can a cleaning rod imprint itself on steel?

This idea of "soft" and 'hard" brushes or rods might need some elucidation here. When we want to wear down a hard steel, we don't have to use a harder steel -- we can use a softer medium that is impregnated with something like carborundum or diamond dust or some other very hard abrasive material.

I once bought a reloading die that was cut for the wrong cartridge: a .450-400 instead of a .450 Nitro Express. The .450-400 is a .450 NE with a neck that reduces the bullet diameter to .400. By the time I found this out, I was living in East Africa and unable to send the dies back for replacement. i took a piece of fired brass of the correct caliber (.450 NE), drilled out the primer pocked and threaded a bolt into it, then coated the case with valve grinding compound. Chucking the tool in an electric drill, I honed the die until it was a perfect fit for my .450 NE cases. I reloaded a number of them over the next few years with no problem.

The point is, we can use a softer metal, plus some kind of abrasive, to cut a harder metal. Remember that next time someone tells you soft aluminum cleaning rods can't harm the rifling in your barrel. If it has any abrasive imbedded into it, including pieces of carbon, it can cut your barrel.

 

[JAS-SH]

Who is "we"?

I don't know of any current top shooters in any discipline who do anything special to a new barrel except shoot it. There will be an initial velocity increase, and there's several opinions on why. But that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

And except for stuff like PRS and such, they all clean their barrels down to the steel. Some will then use fouling shots and others will actually run liquid graphite into the bore after cleaning.

Exactly! And PRS is changing too. The top shooters in PRS are cleaning all the time now. All competitive shooters, meaning people that shoot a LOT, and especially shooters with high velocity, small caliber barrels already know that barrels are expendable - they all order barrels in threes or more. For them barrels are actually less expensive to replace than the cost of bullets and reloading.

For casual shooters, say less than 200 rounds a month, using Iosso is perfectly fine every 200-400 rounds depending on calibers, powder and velocity, and only if you know how to properly clean a rifle with abrasives. For hunters that only use their rifles sparingly this is not an issue.

Using Iosso is a lot better than leaving hard carbon in the barrel because that hard carbon retains heat longer than a clean barrel. Think about it, every round fired (exploded) on top of hard carbon is worse than lighting up a charcoal grill to glowing charcoal heat - every few seconds.

I'm one of those casual shooters. I use Iosso every 200 or so rounds, clean every time regardless of session shot count, and finish every cleaning with Lock-Ease graphite.

 

[Smokin7s]

This idea of "soft" and 'hard" brushes or rods might need some elucidation here. When we want to wear down a hard steel, we don't have to use a harder steel -- we can use a softer medium that is impregnated with something like carborundum or diamond dust or some other very hard abrasive material.

I once bought a reloading die that was cut for the wrong cartridge: a .450-400 instead of a .450 Nitro Express. The .450-400 is a .450 NE with a neck that reduces the bullet diameter to .400. By the time I found this out, I was living in East Africa and unable to send the dies back for replacement. i took a piece of fired brass of the correct caliber (.450 NE), drilled out the primer pocked and threaded a bolt into it, then coated the case with valve grinding compound. Chucking the tool in an electric drill, I honed the die until it was a perfect fit for my .450 NE cases. I reloaded a number of them over the next few years with no problem.

The point is, we can use a softer metal, plus some kind of abrasive, to cut a harder metal. Remember that next time someone tells you soft aluminum cleaning rods can't harm the rifling in your barrel. If it has any abrasive imbedded into it, including pieces of carbon, it can cut your barrel.

Yeah I get that I just don’t see aluminum grazing the lands and ruining my barrel

 

[MURL B]

Thank You for this information it confirms what I have thought and done for many years and many rounds down range I have rifles that the barrels have lasted much longer than than the shoot and clean fanatics

 

[Xerum525]

After many email requests I thought I'd repost the research I did on barrel break-in procedures. In addition I also added a short overview on Internal Ballistics 101 to help tie everything together.

This has been posted on many shooting boards over the years and has been modified as I uncover more information. This is a quick synopsis of my finding which has been generalized. I had lots of test results and data I looked through. It’s also not based on the opinions and hearsay. I set out to take an objective look of barrel break-in procedures. I wanted to find out if there was any hard fact evidence to support barrel break-in procedures or was it a waste of time. In the end all of the data I collected supported the fact that barrel break-in procedures are a waist of time and in some cases damages barrels. To research this project I spoke with a few metallurgists, originally three of our top barrel makers (Shilen, Hart and Rock) and have since talked with a handful of others including Bartlein and Broughton. I also talked with a few internal ballistic engineers and some our nation’s best gunsmiths.

A little back ground on myself. I have degrees in Engineering and Business Adminstration. I’m a data network engineer in real life. I’m an avid long range shooter and due to my knees gave up tactical competitions about 6 years ago. One of my hobbies is external ballistics and I enjoy reverse engineering new ballistic programs to see what ballistic models, mathematical calculations, formulas and algorithms the creator used. I have a pretty good knowledge on ballistics and long range shooting. By no means am I an expert, when I'm in doubt I talk with Bryan Litz. I have spent more time than I care to admit to trying to uncover the science behind the scene. With regards to this write up, I feel I've done a fairly good job with my research and conclusions. Though some may disagree with my finding which is fine.

Before blasting away at what I've written, offer insight supported by facts and test data and not hearsay or opinions. This is what I’ve tried to do. It’s ok to disagree as the more information we can get the better informed we are. Also remember my conclusions were the collective data from some of the best minds and subject matter experts in the business.

Back in the 2001/2 time frame I trashed a brand new Shilen stainless steel match barrel in under 400 rounds shooting moly coated bullets. Yes this was during the moly bullet craze and I jumped on the band wagon. Let’s just say I was not a happy camper. I live local to Shilen so after a few hand lapping jobs on the barrel which failed, Doug Shilen cut the throat section to see what was really wrong. The throat area showed the black moly ring of death which was so hard Doug could barely scrape it with the side of a flat head screwdriver. Let’s just say I’ll never shoot another moly coated bullet....ever!

After my new Shilen barrel was installed I set out to on a mission to understand this barrel break-in process and if I really needed it. After all this research my conclusion supported the fact that barrel break-in is a waist of time and effort.

Let’s talk barrel break-in shall we: I believe Kelly McMillan of McMillan rifles said it best, “This barrel break-in processes keeps us in business”. “This shoot and clean, shoot and clean every round or few rounds break-in process only damages your new match barrel and/or significantly decreases the barrel life”. Though I didn’t speak with Kelly on this subject I’ve read what he’s written and it mirrors my own findings.

Some barrel manufactures have now re-clarified their stance saying that a barrel break-in procedures helps to smooth the transition from the newly cut chamber into the throat area of the bore. Now there is some merit to statement except for the fact a cotton patch with bore solvent or bronze brush isn’t going to do squat to help remove any rough areas. Bullets passing down the barrel will help smooth the chamber/throat area. It may take just a couple of shots or it could take a lot, but it depends on how well the chamber/throat was cut and polished. Last I checked stainless steel and chrome moly steel is much harder than a cotton patch or bronze brush.

Speedy Gonzalez (Hall of fame bench rest shooter and one of the nation’s top gunsmiths) was a wealth of information as were the techs at Hart barrels. As Speedy says, “my $3000.00 video-bore scope doesn’t lie”. I've looked through lots of barrels at Speedy's shop while he was working here in North Texas. Looking through his bore scope I learned a lot and saw a lot of good the bad and the ugly when it comes to barrel and barrel maintenance. Speedy's video bore scope never lied. When looking through his video bore scope at the internal surfaces of trashed barrels, one thing we did see a lot of were cleaning rod marks. The cleaning rod marks showed too much cleaning with poor and improper cleaning techniques and equipment. This was also noted by the techs at Hart Barrels with regards to barrels they replaced.

There are probably less than a dozen individuals in the US that understand internal and external ballistic as well as Stan Rivenbark and Mike Rock. Stan is retired ballistic engineer from Raytheon Corporation and Mike Rock of Rock Creek Barrels. They both understood this whole internal ballistic equation more than all the others I talked with. This is because they worked on internal ballistics in their real lives, used state of the art test equipment to perform actual tests and record the actual data. They are true subject matter experts and both of their views points and explanations were very similar. A slight twist here and there and different approach but there test data and conclusion were the same. A lot of folks claim to understand all or part of the internal ballistic equation, but these people had the hard data to back up there statements and claims. I like solid test data and not opinions on what someone believes.

As I stated Stan and Mike Rock gave me some of the most detailed explanations on barrels and internal ballistics. Both were ballistic engineers and both have degrees in metallurgy (Stan has an masters in metallurgy); Mike was a ballistics engineer for the US Army for many years at the Aberdeen Proving grounds. When Mike worked at Aberdeen, the US Army used high speed bore videos with mirrors, thermal imaging and computers to analyze any and everything that happens when the firing pin strikes the primer and the round goes off. While working as a ballistic engineer for Raytheon Stan used similar equipment and processes to view and record internal ballistics though most of his work was focued around the .50 cal.

Before we begin take a step back and be objective. Ask yourself what you are trying to really accomplish by breaking in your barrel. What issues and/or problems inside the barrel need to be corrected or fixed? Now I do recommend cleaning your rifle after you purchase it to clean out all of the junk, oils and grease from the factory before shooting it, but also realize...

• The vast majority (99%) of shooters don’t own or have access to a quality bore scope to view the interior surface of their barrels.
• Without a bore scope to view the interior surface of your barrel what exactly are you trying to fix by a shoot and clean process?
• If there are burrs or machine marks from the machining process are they in the chamber, throat or barrel where are they located?
• Do the machine marks run parallel or perpendicular to the barrel finish?
• If there are high points and low points inside the barrel again where are they located?
• Does shooting and cleaning between rounds correct/fix all barrel imperfections if they exist? If yes how?
• Do you think cleaning between rounds is going to change the molecular structure of the steel or condition it in some fashion? If so, I’m/we’re all ears
• Without a bore scope again you have no idea what the actual condition of the interior barrel surface
• So far if you don’t have honest solid answers to these first few questions and you’ve been performing a barrel break-in process you’re working off a SWAG (scientific wild *** guess)
• Even if you have a bore scope can you truly identify a change in burrs or machine marks from a before or after cleaning. If so please provide detailed photograph’s

Couple more questions while I still have your attention.

• Pushing a cotton patch with solvent or a bronze brush down the barrel will do what to remove a 416 stainless steel or chromemoly metal burr or machine marks?
• Last time I checked, 416 SS or CM is much harder than a cotton patch or bronze brush and is most likely impenetrable by most bore solvents.
• Yes it will remove copper fouling caught by the metal burr, but how will it remove the metal burr?
• How many shots will it take to remove the burr or imperfection and how will you know when the barrel issues have been corrected? Is it always x-amount of shots?

Let's take a few minutes to gain a basic understanding of internal ballistics and what really happens when you pull the trigger. This will also help you to understand why you don't want to clean after every shot.

High level view of Internal Ballistics 101:

When the firing pin strikes the primer, the propellants in the primer ignites. With this initial ignition there may or may not be enough pressure to dislodge the bullet from the case (this depends on neck tension and seating depth as well as a few other variables), if there is enough pressure to dislodge the bullet, it moves forward into the lands where it stops. As the primer ignites the powder, more pressure builds moving the bullet forward where it can stop again. Once there is enough pressure from the round going off, the bullet is moved down and out the barrel. All of this happens in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). Your bullet starts and stops as many as two times before it leaves the barrel. This is fact. Bet you didn’t know that…….neither did I!

Internal Ballistics on the brass case:

As the primer ignites the powder, pressure begins to fill the brass case. As the pressure builds the case expands to completely fill the chamber sealing off the chamber and preventing any gases from leaking around it. The pressure will also cause the brass case to move rearward pushing it flush against the bolt face. In addition the shoulder and neck area of the case will be force forward into the shoulder and neck area of the chamber. All of this pressure will have elongated and lengthen the total size and diameter of the brass case. As the bullet is moved down and out the barrel, the chamber and barrel pressure drops. The brass begins to cool and contract allowing the brass to be extracted from the chamber.

Internal Ballistics on the bullet:

As the bullet is forced from the case, it can only support a small amount of force. The force on the base of the bullet will cause it to expand. As more force is applied the bullet expansion will increase from the base of the bullet towards the bullet nose. Basically the bullet begins to stretch. In addition the bullet enters the lands and grooves of the barrel. The bullet will engrave itself to the lands and grooves as it proceeds through the barrel. The throat of the barrel takes on the majority of stress from the heat and pressure created from the firing of the round. This is why the throat area of the barrel is always the first point of barrel deterioration. Depending on the round being fired the flash point of the round going off can cause instantaneous burst in temperature upwards to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit and create a pressure spike upwards toward 60,000 PSI’s.

Why thorough cleaning between rounds is not good for a barrel:

Think of a car engine for a moment. Why do we use oil in the engine? To prevent any metal-to-metal contact as well as reduce friction between two metal (bearing) surfaces. Your barrel is no different from the engine. If you clean every round or every few rounds during your barrel break-in process or clean your rifle so well after shooting that you take it down to the bare metal, you’ve created a metal-to-metal contact surface for the next time you shoot the gun. So what’s the problem with this you ask? Just like your car engine, metal-to-metal contact will cause friction which can sheer away layers of metal from each surface. So if your bullet is starting and stopping as many as two times before it leaves the barrel, that’s two places for metal-to-metal contact to happen as well as the rest of your bore. Even though copper is a gilding metal it can still sheer away barrel surface in the bore when traveling at high velocities under extreme heat and pressures.

Remember it is these copper jacketed bullets passing down the barrel at high pressure and velocity that will ultimantly be the source of smoothing out those rough marks left by the chambering tool and machining process. The more bullets passing down the barrel will help smooth the barrel not cleaning it between rounds.

Cleaning between rounds especially thorough cleanings can take you back down to bare metal which can actually harm your barrel. In addition all this cleaning, done improperly with cheap bore guides and cleaning rods can scratch and damage the interior surface of your barrel. This was very prevalent in the barrels we looked at through Speed’s video bore scope. To preserve your barrel you need to avoid cleaning down to bare metal. A light wash of copper fouling in the barrel is not always a bad thing, as the copper fills in a lot of the micro groves left by the machining process. You don’t want layers of copper which effect accuracy, but filling in the micro grooves can be a good thing.

So what do we need to really take care of our new rifle and/or barrel?

According to Mike Rock and the other barrel manufactures agreed, all you need to avoid this metal-to-metal contact is a good burnish in the barrel. Some barrel manufactures will void your barrel warranty if you shoot moly bullets. This is not to say that moly is necessarily bad for a barrel, but it can be when applied to bullets. Never shoot moly coated bullets as they are bad juju for the throat of a rifle.

There are numerous ways to achieve a good burnish in your barrel such as just shooting a long string of rounds without cleaning. I like Mike Rock’s method and have been using it on all my match grade and factory barrels.

When Mike re-barreled my tactical rifle with one of his 5R barrels, I talked with him about my new barrel, any barrel break-in process and how to get the best performance out of my new barrel. This is what he had to say. When he makes a new barrel, he hand laps the barrels with a lead lap. Most if not all custom barrel makers hand lap their barrels. Mike takes his barrels a step further to provide a pre-burnished finish. He uses two products from Sentry Solutions. One product is called Smooth Coat, which is an alcohol and moly based product. He applies wet patches of Smooth Coat until the bore is good and saturated and lets it sit until the alcohol evaporates. The barrel now has loose moly in it. Next he uses a second product for Sentry Solutions product called BP-2000, which is a very fine moly powder. Applied to a patch wrapped around a bore brush, he makes a hundred passes through the barrel very rapidly before having to rest. He repeats this process with fresh patches containing the moly powder a few more times. What he is doing is burnishing the barrel surface with moly and filling in any fine micro lines left by the hand lapping. He then uses a couple of clean patches to knock out any remaining moly left in the bore. He also included a bottle of each product when he shipped my rifle back which is what I’ve been using on all my other rifles.

With the barrel burnished with moly, this will prevent any metal-to-metal contact during the barrel break in process. My instructions for barrel break-in were quite simple. Shoot 20 rounds (non-moly bullets) with no cleaning, as this will further burnish the barrel. Done! Now shoot and clean using your regular regiment of cleaning and if you have to use JB’s or flitz type products, go very easy with them as they can clean the interior barrel surface back down to bare metal removing your burnish. Never clean so well you clean back down to bare metal surface.

He said most of the cleaning products do a great job, don’t be afraid to use a brush and go easy on the ammonia-based products for removing copper fouling. Basically don’t let the ammonia-based products remain in the barrel for long lengths of time.

What’s my cleaning regiment you might ask? I’m not one who puts his firearms up without cleaning them; it’s what I was taught growing up. I'm also not one who wants to spend a lot of time and effort cleaning so my process is pretty simple but highly effective. I use only a Lucas bore guide and Dewey cleaning rods, something I learned from Speedy. Most other bore guides will allow your cleaning rod to flex inside the barrel which can scratch the barrel surface...not a Lucas bore guide.

I clean my rifles using WipeOut Accelerator and WipeOut foam. I use a few patches soaked in WipeOut Accelerator just to push the bulk of the gunk out of the barrel and then give it a shot of Wipeout foam. Let sit for 3-hours or so and patch it out. If I know it will be a few weeks before I get to the range or lease I’ll run a single patch of kroil oil down the barrel followed by a couple of dry patches. The process is quick and simple and works well for me. I have one barrel on my sons Win Featherweight where we need use a nylon brush with a little JB’s to get most of the fouling out as it’s a stubborn factory barrel. I’m considering using Tubbs Final Finish on this barrel.

For badly fouling factory rifles, I know of quite a few folks who have used Tubbs Final Finish with very good to outstanding results. TFF are lapping compound impregnated bullets you shoot down your barrel which can really help smooth out and polish a factory barrel.

I’ve used my buddies bore scope quite a few times to see just how clean my process gets my rifles. My Bartlein and Rock barrels hardly ever foul so I rarely if ever see any copper fouling in those barrels. My DPMS and Tikka both show very light and faint traces of fouling here and there after cleaning. I figure that fouling is just filling in some of those micro grooves as well as I know I have a good burnish in the barrel and I don’t give it a second thought as they all shoot lights out!

I hope that helps folks to understand what I’m trying to say.

After many email requests I thought I'd repost the research I did on barrel break-in procedures. In addition I also added a short overview on Internal Ballistics 101 to help tie everything together.

This has been posted on many shooting boards over the years and has been modified as I uncover more information. This is a quick synopsis of my finding which has been generalized. I had lots of test results and data I looked through. It’s also not based on the opinions and hearsay. I set out to take an objective look of barrel break-in procedures. I wanted to find out if there was any hard fact evidence to support barrel break-in procedures or was it a waste of time. In the end all of the data I collected supported the fact that barrel break-in procedures are a waist of time and in some cases damages barrels. To research this project I spoke with a few metallurgists, originally three of our top barrel makers (Shilen, Hart and Rock) and have since talked with a handful of others including Bartlein and Broughton. I also talked with a few internal ballistic engineers and some our nation’s best gunsmiths.

A little back ground on myself. I have degrees in Engineering and Business Adminstration. I’m a data network engineer in real life. I’m an avid long range shooter and due to my knees gave up tactical competitions about 6 years ago. One of my hobbies is external ballistics and I enjoy reverse engineering new ballistic programs to see what ballistic models, mathematical calculations, formulas and algorithms the creator used. I have a pretty good knowledge on ballistics and long range shooting. By no means am I an expert, when I'm in doubt I talk with Bryan Litz. I have spent more time than I care to admit to trying to uncover the science behind the scene. With regards to this write up, I feel I've done a fairly good job with my research and conclusions. Though some may disagree with my finding which is fine.

Before blasting away at what I've written, offer insight supported by facts and test data and not hearsay or opinions. This is what I’ve tried to do. It’s ok to disagree as the more information we can get the better informed we are. Also remember my conclusions were the collective data from some of the best minds and subject matter experts in the business.

Back in the 2001/2 time frame I trashed a brand new Shilen stainless steel match barrel in under 400 rounds shooting moly coated bullets. Yes this was during the moly bullet craze and I jumped on the band wagon. Let’s just say I was not a happy camper. I live local to Shilen so after a few hand lapping jobs on the barrel which failed, Doug Shilen cut the throat section to see what was really wrong. The throat area showed the black moly ring of death which was so hard Doug could barely scrape it with the side of a flat head screwdriver. Let’s just say I’ll never shoot another moly coated bullet....ever!

After my new Shilen barrel was installed I set out to on a mission to understand this barrel break-in process and if I really needed it. After all this research my conclusion supported the fact that barrel break-in is a waist of time and effort.

Let’s talk barrel break-in shall we: I believe Kelly McMillan of McMillan rifles said it best, “This barrel break-in processes keeps us in business”. “This shoot and clean, shoot and clean every round or few rounds break-in process only damages your new match barrel and/or significantly decreases the barrel life”. Though I didn’t speak with Kelly on this subject I’ve read what he’s written and it mirrors my own findings.

Some barrel manufactures have now re-clarified their stance saying that a barrel break-in procedures helps to smooth the transition from the newly cut chamber into the throat area of the bore. Now there is some merit to statement except for the fact a cotton patch with bore solvent or bronze brush isn’t going to do squat to help remove any rough areas. Bullets passing down the barrel will help smooth the chamber/throat area. It may take just a couple of shots or it could take a lot, but it depends on how well the chamber/throat was cut and polished. Last I checked stainless steel and chrome moly steel is much harder than a cotton patch or bronze brush.

Speedy Gonzalez (Hall of fame bench rest shooter and one of the nation’s top gunsmiths) was a wealth of information as were the techs at Hart barrels. As Speedy says, “my $3000.00 video-bore scope doesn’t lie”. I've looked through lots of barrels at Speedy's shop while he was working here in North Texas. Looking through his bore scope I learned a lot and saw a lot of good the bad and the ugly when it comes to barrel and barrel maintenance. Speedy's video bore scope never lied. When looking through his video bore scope at the internal surfaces of trashed barrels, one thing we did see a lot of were cleaning rod marks. The cleaning rod marks showed too much cleaning with poor and improper cleaning techniques and equipment. This was also noted by the techs at Hart Barrels with regards to barrels they replaced.

There are probably less than a dozen individuals in the US that understand internal and external ballistic as well as Stan Rivenbark and Mike Rock. Stan is retired ballistic engineer from Raytheon Corporation and Mike Rock of Rock Creek Barrels. They both understood this whole internal ballistic equation more than all the others I talked with. This is because they worked on internal ballistics in their real lives, used state of the art test equipment to perform actual tests and record the actual data. They are true subject matter experts and both of their views points and explanations were very similar. A slight twist here and there and different approach but there test data and conclusion were the same. A lot of folks claim to understand all or part of the internal ballistic equation, but these people had the hard data to back up there statements and claims. I like solid test data and not opinions on what someone believes.

As I stated Stan and Mike Rock gave me some of the most detailed explanations on barrels and internal ballistics. Both were ballistic engineers and both have degrees in metallurgy (Stan has an masters in metallurgy); Mike was a ballistics engineer for the US Army for many years at the Aberdeen Proving grounds. When Mike worked at Aberdeen, the US Army used high speed bore videos with mirrors, thermal imaging and computers to analyze any and everything that happens when the firing pin strikes the primer and the round goes off. While working as a ballistic engineer for Raytheon Stan used similar equipment and processes to view and record internal ballistics though most of his work was focued around the .50 cal.

Before we begin take a step back and be objective. Ask yourself what you are trying to really accomplish by breaking in your barrel. What issues and/or problems inside the barrel need to be corrected or fixed? Now I do recommend cleaning your rifle after you purchase it to clean out all of the junk, oils and grease from the factory before shooting it, but also realize...

• The vast majority (99%) of shooters don’t own or have access to a quality bore scope to view the interior surface of their barrels.
• Without a bore scope to view the interior surface of your barrel what exactly are you trying to fix by a shoot and clean process?
• If there are burrs or machine marks from the machining process are they in the chamber, throat or barrel where are they located?
• Do the machine marks run parallel or perpendicular to the barrel finish?
• If there are high points and low points inside the barrel again where are they located?
• Does shooting and cleaning between rounds correct/fix all barrel imperfections if they exist? If yes how?
• Do you think cleaning between rounds is going to change the molecular structure of the steel or condition it in some fashion? If so, I’m/we’re all ears
• Without a bore scope again you have no idea what the actual condition of the interior barrel surface
• So far if you don’t have honest solid answers to these first few questions and you’ve been performing a barrel break-in process you’re working off a SWAG (scientific wild *** guess)
• Even if you have a bore scope can you truly identify a change in burrs or machine marks from a before or after cleaning. If so please provide detailed photograph’s

Couple more questions while I still have your attention.

• Pushing a cotton patch with solvent or a bronze brush down the barrel will do what to remove a 416 stainless steel or chromemoly metal burr or machine marks?
• Last time I checked, 416 SS or CM is much harder than a cotton patch or bronze brush and is most likely impenetrable by most bore solvents.
• Yes it will remove copper fouling caught by the metal burr, but how will it remove the metal burr?
• How many shots will it take to remove the burr or imperfection and how will you know when the barrel issues have been corrected? Is it always x-amount of shots?

Let's take a few minutes to gain a basic understanding of internal ballistics and what really happens when you pull the trigger. This will also help you to understand why you don't want to clean after every shot.

High level view of Internal Ballistics 101:

When the firing pin strikes the primer, the propellants in the primer ignites. With this initial ignition there may or may not be enough pressure to dislodge the bullet from the case (this depends on neck tension and seating depth as well as a few other variables), if there is enough pressure to dislodge the bullet, it moves forward into the lands where it stops. As the primer ignites the powder, more pressure builds moving the bullet forward where it can stop again. Once there is enough pressure from the round going off, the bullet is moved down and out the barrel. All of this happens in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). Your bullet starts and stops as many as two times before it leaves the barrel. This is fact. Bet you didn’t know that…….neither did I!

Internal Ballistics on the brass case:

As the primer ignites the powder, pressure begins to fill the brass case. As the pressure builds the case expands to completely fill the chamber sealing off the chamber and preventing any gases from leaking around it. The pressure will also cause the brass case to move rearward pushing it flush against the bolt face. In addition the shoulder and neck area of the case will be force forward into the shoulder and neck area of the chamber. All of this pressure will have elongated and lengthen the total size and diameter of the brass case. As the bullet is moved down and out the barrel, the chamber and barrel pressure drops. The brass begins to cool and contract allowing the brass to be extracted from the chamber.

Internal Ballistics on the bullet:

As the bullet is forced from the case, it can only support a small amount of force. The force on the base of the bullet will cause it to expand. As more force is applied the bullet expansion will increase from the base of the bullet towards the bullet nose. Basically the bullet begins to stretch. In addition the bullet enters the lands and grooves of the barrel. The bullet will engrave itself to the lands and grooves as it proceeds through the barrel. The throat of the barrel takes on the majority of stress from the heat and pressure created from the firing of the round. This is why the throat area of the barrel is always the first point of barrel deterioration. Depending on the round being fired the flash point of the round going off can cause instantaneous burst in temperature upwards to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit and create a pressure spike upwards toward 60,000 PSI’s.

Why thorough cleaning between rounds is not good for a barrel:

Think of a car engine for a moment. Why do we use oil in the engine? To prevent any metal-to-metal contact as well as reduce friction between two metal (bearing) surfaces. Your barrel is no different from the engine. If you clean every round or every few rounds during your barrel break-in process or clean your rifle so well after shooting that you take it down to the bare metal, you’ve created a metal-to-metal contact surface for the next time you shoot the gun. So what’s the problem with this you ask? Just like your car engine, metal-to-metal contact will cause friction which can sheer away layers of metal from each surface. So if your bullet is starting and stopping as many as two times before it leaves the barrel, that’s two places for metal-to-metal contact to happen as well as the rest of your bore. Even though copper is a gilding metal it can still sheer away barrel surface in the bore when traveling at high velocities under extreme heat and pressures.

Remember it is these copper jacketed bullets passing down the barrel at high pressure and velocity that will ultimantly be the source of smoothing out those rough marks left by the chambering tool and machining process. The more bullets passing down the barrel will help smooth the barrel not cleaning it between rounds.

Cleaning between rounds especially thorough cleanings can take you back down to bare metal which can actually harm your barrel. In addition all this cleaning, done improperly with cheap bore guides and cleaning rods can scratch and damage the interior surface of your barrel. This was very prevalent in the barrels we looked at through Speed’s video bore scope. To preserve your barrel you need to avoid cleaning down to bare metal. A light wash of copper fouling in the barrel is not always a bad thing, as the copper fills in a lot of the micro groves left by the machining process. You don’t want layers of copper which effect accuracy, but filling in the micro grooves can be a good thing.

So what do we need to really take care of our new rifle and/or barrel?

According to Mike Rock and the other barrel manufactures agreed, all you need to avoid this metal-to-metal contact is a good burnish in the barrel. Some barrel manufactures will void your barrel warranty if you shoot moly bullets. This is not to say that moly is necessarily bad for a barrel, but it can be when applied to bullets. Never shoot moly coated bullets as they are bad juju for the throat of a rifle.

There are numerous ways to achieve a good burnish in your barrel such as just shooting a long string of rounds without cleaning. I like Mike Rock’s method and have been using it on all my match grade and factory barrels.

When Mike re-barreled my tactical rifle with one of his 5R barrels, I talked with him about my new barrel, any barrel break-in process and how to get the best performance out of my new barrel. This is what he had to say. When he makes a new barrel, he hand laps the barrels with a lead lap. Most if not all custom barrel makers hand lap their barrels. Mike takes his barrels a step further to provide a pre-burnished finish. He uses two products from Sentry Solutions. One product is called Smooth Coat, which is an alcohol and moly based product. He applies wet patches of Smooth Coat until the bore is good and saturated and lets it sit until the alcohol evaporates. The barrel now has loose moly in it. Next he uses a second product for Sentry Solutions product called BP-2000, which is a very fine moly powder. Applied to a patch wrapped around a bore brush, he makes a hundred passes through the barrel very rapidly before having to rest. He repeats this process with fresh patches containing the moly powder a few more times. What he is doing is burnishing the barrel surface with moly and filling in any fine micro lines left by the hand lapping. He then uses a couple of clean patches to knock out any remaining moly left in the bore. He also included a bottle of each product when he shipped my rifle back which is what I’ve been using on all my other rifles.

With the barrel burnished with moly, this will prevent any metal-to-metal contact during the barrel break in process. My instructions for barrel break-in were quite simple. Shoot 20 rounds (non-moly bullets) with no cleaning, as this will further burnish the barrel. Done! Now shoot and clean using your regular regiment of cleaning and if you have to use JB’s or flitz type products, go very easy with them as they can clean the interior barrel surface back down to bare metal removing your burnish. Never clean so well you clean back down to bare metal surface.

He said most of the cleaning products do a great job, don’t be afraid to use a brush and go easy on the ammonia-based products for removing copper fouling. Basically don’t let the ammonia-based products remain in the barrel for long lengths of time.

What’s my cleaning regiment you might ask? I’m not one who puts his firearms up without cleaning them; it’s what I was taught growing up. I'm also not one who wants to spend a lot of time and effort cleaning so my process is pretty simple but highly effective. I use only a Lucas bore guide and Dewey cleaning rods, something I learned from Speedy. Most other bore guides will allow your cleaning rod to flex inside the barrel which can scratch the barrel surface...not a Lucas bore guide.

I clean my rifles using WipeOut Accelerator and WipeOut foam. I use a few patches soaked in WipeOut Accelerator just to push the bulk of the gunk out of the barrel and then give it a shot of Wipeout foam. Let sit for 3-hours or so and patch it out. If I know it will be a few weeks before I get to the range or lease I’ll run a single patch of kroil oil down the barrel followed by a couple of dry patches. The process is quick and simple and works well for me. I have one barrel on my sons Win Featherweight where we need use a nylon brush with a little JB’s to get most of the fouling out as it’s a stubborn factory barrel. I’m considering using Tubbs Final Finish on this barrel.

For badly fouling factory rifles, I know of quite a few folks who have used Tubbs Final Finish with very good to outstanding results. TFF are lapping compound impregnated bullets you shoot down your barrel which can really help smooth out and polish a factory barrel.

I’ve used my buddies bore scope quite a few times to see just how clean my process gets my rifles. My Bartlein and Rock barrels hardly ever foul so I rarely if ever see any copper fouling in those barrels. My DPMS and Tikka both show very light and faint traces of fouling here and there after cleaning. I figure that fouling is just filling in some of those micro grooves as well as I know I have a good burnish in the barrel and I don’t give it a second thought as they all shoot lights out!

I hope that helps folks to understand what I’m trying to say.

I agree with most of what you said but there's a couple of points I have to question. On the one hand you say a brass brush and copper solvent has no effect on SS but on the other hand you say it can destroy a barrel. I don't think people clean their barrels to "smooth out imperfections" from what I understand a new barrel rips so much copper from the bullet jacket that it creates immense pressure for follow up shots. The bullet does the smoothing but in order for that to happen you need to remove the massive amount of copper that a new barrel has retained. As far as creating conditions where there is no metal to metal contact, I don't think that can be achieved, and as far as the bullet stopping twice in the barrel I don't believe that at all. You may say it's only for a millisecond and to that I would add if it's unperceivable does it ever really stop then?

 

[JAS-SH]

I agree with most of what you said but there's a couple of points I have to question. On the one hand you say a brass brush and copper solvent has no effect on SS but on the other hand you say it can destroy a barrel. I don't think people clean their barrels to "smooth out imperfections" from what I understand a new barrel rips so much copper from the bullet jacket that it creates immense pressure for follow up shots. The bullet does the smoothing but in order for that to happen you need to remove the massive amount of copper that a new barrel has retained. As far as creating conditions where there is no metal to metal contact, I don't think that can be achieved, and as far as the bullet stopping twice in the barrel I don't believe that at all. You may say it's only for a millisecond and to that I would add if it's unperceivable does it ever really stop then?

I'm a recent convert to breaking in a barrel. About 3-4 months ago I saw signs of lack of accuracy on my .22 magnum trainer. This was after ~13,000 shots over a 3.5-4 year period, shooting 2200 fps 30 grain copper jacket VMAX rounds.

While ordering a new match barrel (Lilja) I got a lot of insight on why breaking in a barrel is important. I tried their recommendations and the bottom line is that breaking in a barrel works. I tried and was surprised how good it works.

Here's why:

With some rare exceptions, no matter how good your barrel is delivered to you it is not fired to break it in. So what does that mean?

The first few rounds change the barrel, and it really is just a few rounds depending on how good the barrel is pre-finished, sometimes drastically depending on how good the barrel is because some barrels are so poorly finished they will take a LOT of breaking in shots.

In the case of my Lilja barrel it only took about 8 rounds. Nowadays barrel cleaning is like a dream. Minimal copper or hard powder fouling.

Lilja makes winning .22 Olympic barrels and their bores out of the box look mirror finished. Your mileage will vary.

During the breaking in bullets are "burnishing" the new barrel, making it perfectly smooth. The problem is that this burnishing comes with a price - lots of copper and hard carbon deposited on the barrel while catching and depositing on the barrel imperfections. Cleaning during those first few shots makes a huge difference in the burnished finish.

If you don't remove the copper and carbon at all in the first few rounds the barrel never gets burnished just the copper and carbon on the surface. Mostly it is the copper deposits that results in no burnishing and less accuracy throughout the life of the barrel.

Caveat, if you don't clean barrels or break them in this wont matter. They will never shoot nor clean better.

Lilja's Break in process for centerfire rifles is in the link below below and applies to my .22 mag because the rounds I use have a copper jacket like centerfire rounds.

"Break-in Procedure:

For an effective break-in the barrel should be cleaned after every shot for the first 10-12 rounds or until copper fouling stops. Our procedure is to push a cotton patch that is wet with solvent through the barrel. This will remove much of the powder fouling and wet the inside of the barrel with solvent. Next, wet a bronze brush (not a nylon brush) with solvent and stroke the barrel 5-10 times. Follow this by another wet patch and then one dry patch. Now soak the barrel with a strong copper removing solvent until all of the blue mess is removed from the barrel. The copper fouling will be heavy for a few rounds and then taper off quickly in just one or two shots. Once it has stopped or diminished significantly it is time to start shooting 5 shot groups, cleaning after each one. After 25-30 rounds clean at a normal interval of 10-25 rounds. Your barrel is now broken-in."

 

[Xerum525]

I'm a recent convert to breaking in a barrel. About 3-4 months ago I saw signs of lack of accuracy on my .22 magnum trainer. This was after ~13,000 shots over a 3.5-4 year period, shooting 2200 fps 30 grain copper jacket VMAX rounds.

While ordering a new match barrel (Lilja) I got a lot of insight on why breaking in a barrel is important. I tried their recommendations and the bottom line is that breaking in a barrel works. I tried and was surprised how good it works.

Here's why:

With some rare exceptions, no matter how good your barrel is delivered to you it is not fired to break it in. So what does that mean?

The first few rounds change the barrel, and it really is just a few rounds depending on how good the barrel is pre-finished, sometimes drastically depending on how good the barrel is because some barrels are so poorly finished they will take a LOT of breaking in shots.

In the case of my Lilja barrel it only took about 8 rounds. Nowadays barrel cleaning is like a dream. Minimal copper or hard powder fouling.

Lilja makes winning .22 Olympic barrels and their bores out of the box look mirror finished. Your mileage will vary.

During the breaking in bullets are "burnishing" the new barrel, making it perfectly smooth. The problem is that this burnishing comes with a price - lots of copper and hard carbon deposited on the barrel while catching and depositing on the barrel imperfections. Cleaning during those first few shots makes a huge difference in the burnished finish.

If you don't remove the copper and carbon at all in the first few rounds the barrel never gets burnished just the copper and carbon on the surface. Mostly it is the copper deposits that results in no burnishing and less accuracy throughout the life of the barrel.

Caveat, if you don't clean barrels or break them in this wont matter. They will never shoot nor clean better.

Lilja's Break in process for centerfire rifles is in the link below below and applies to my .22 mag because the rounds I use have a copper jacket like centerfire rounds.

"Break-in Procedure:

For an effective break-in the barrel should be cleaned after every shot for the first 10-12 rounds or until copper fouling stops. Our procedure is to push a cotton patch that is wet with solvent through the barrel. This will remove much of the powder fouling and wet the inside of the barrel with solvent. Next, wet a bronze brush (not a nylon brush) with solvent and stroke the barrel 5-10 times. Follow this by another wet patch and then one dry patch. Now soak the barrel with a strong copper removing solvent until all of the blue mess is removed from the barrel. The copper fouling will be heavy for a few rounds and then taper off quickly in just one or two shots. Once it has stopped or diminished significantly it is time to start shooting 5 shot groups, cleaning after each one. After 25-30 rounds clean at a normal interval of 10-25 rounds. Your barrel is now broken-in."

Great choice with the Lilja barrel. I just got a barrel from them for a NSW Recce clone. I can see where excessively cleaning your barrel might be detrimental but a short and sweet break in procedure, I don't see where it hurts it. To each his own.

 

[Maggot]

Too much BS on breakin. This is how to do it.