Rifle Break In Proceedures – revisited

I was revisiting a post from Whittsend back in 2011, about break in procedures and thought this was neat to look at again – 6 years later. So for guys looking at new rifles, here is my experience with break in procedures and results from the last 15 years.

For anyone who shoots on a regular basis, we all want longevity, consistency, tight groups,…..and so on. I took a look at many of the rifles I have bought since 2002-2003ish along with a few of my friends, and put5 some conservative numbers to how many rounds have been sent down the tubes. Holy crap, I understand why we had a powder shortage and I’m partially to blame In all seriousness, I specifically looked at 2002 because that was the year I bought my first HOWA and used their break-in procedure. Ever since, I have used this same method without hesitation.

I’ve excluded my Short Mags, just for the fact that they run so dang fast and hot. Historically, they don’t get the life of a “conventional” round. But looking at my every day plinkers for hunting and shooting steel at my farm, I’ve got a growing list of rifles that have seen quite the career so far. (these are all since 2002). In some cases its not really a lot and others is like beating the hell out of them. I keep a log on my reloading so I can see how many times I’ve reloaded each brass specific for each gun. All of these are still SUB MOA!!!
Browning A-Bolt 270 WIN – 10,000 + rounds
Browning A-Bolt 270 WIN – 6 to 7K rounds
Remington 7600 270 WIN – 5 to 6K rounds
Howa M1500 – 22-250 – 11,000 + rounds
Howa M1500 – 22-250 – 8K + rounds
Howa M1500 – 30-06 – 3K rounds ** Sold in 2008 – Buddy has it and no clue as to how many now
Tikka – T3 – 243 6K+ rounds
Tikka – T3 – 223 7 to 9K rounds

Break In Procedure used:
“BREAK-IN PROCEDURE FOR GUN BARRELS USING JACKETED BULLETS
For the first ten shots we recommend using jacketed bullets with a nitro powder load (Most Factory Ammo).
Clean the oil out of the barrel before each shot using a simple window cleaner (like Windex®) which will soak
the oil out of the pores. After firing each cartridge, use a good copper cleaner (one with ammonia) to remove
the copper fouling from the barrel. We do not recommend anything with an abrasive in it since you are
trying to seal the barrel, not keep it agitated.
After cleaning with bore cleaner, clean again with window cleaner after each shot. Use window cleaner
because many bore cleaners use a petroleum base which you want to remove before firing the next shot.
This will keep the carbon from building up in the barrel (oil left in the pores, when burned, turns to carbon).
To keep the temperature cool in the barrel, wait at least 5 minutes between break-in shots. The barrel must
remain cool during the break-in procedure. If the barrel is allowed to heat up during the break-in, it will
destroy the steel’s ability to develop a home registration point, or memory. It will have a tendency to make
the barrel “walk” when it heats up in the future. We have all seen barrels that, as they heat up, start to shoot
high and then “walk” to the right. This was caused by improperly breaking in the barrel (generally by sitting
at a bench rest and shooting 20 rounds in 5 minutes or so). If you take a little time in the beginning and do it
right, you will be much more pleased with the barrel in the future.
Look into the end of the barrel after firing a shot, and you will see a light copper-colored wash in the barrel.
Remove this before firing the next shot. Somewhere during the procedure, around shot 6 or 7, it will be
obvious that the copper color is no longer appearing in the barrel. Continue the window cleaner and bore
cleaner applications through shot 10.
Following the initial ten shots, you then may shoot 2 rounds, cleaning between each pair of shots, for the
next 10 intervals. This is simply insuring that the burnishing process has been completed.
In theory, you are closing the pores of the barrel metal that have been opened and exposed through the
cutting and hand lapping procedures.
For the final step, you then may shoot 4 rounds, cleaning between each group of 4 shots for a total of 5 groups. The barrel will become much warmer after the fourth round. Be sure to allow the barrel to COMPLETELY cool down before handling. Inspect the barrel for any copper residue after each group. A properly sealed and tempered barrel will retain minimal copper fouling and provide a consistent home registration point.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I was revisiting a post from Whittsend back in 2011, about break in procedures and thought this was neat to look at again – 6 years later. So for guys looking at new rifles, here is my experience with break in procedures and results from the last 15 years.

For anyone who shoots on a regular basis, we all want longevity, consistency, tight groups,…..and so on. I took a look at many of the rifles I have bought since 2002-2003ish along with a few of my friends, and put5 some conservative numbers to how many rounds have been sent down the tubes. Holy crap, I understand why we had a powder shortage and I’m partially to blame In all seriousness, I specifically looked at 2002 because that was the year I bought my first HOWA and used their break-in procedure. Ever since, I have used this same method without hesitation.

I’ve excluded my Short Mags, just for the fact that they run so dang fast and hot. Historically, they don’t get the life of a “conventional” round. But looking at my every day plinkers for hunting and shooting steel at my farm, I’ve got a growing list of rifles that have seen quite the career so far. (these are all since 2002). In some cases its not really a lot and others is like beating the hell out of them. I keep a log on my reloading so I can see how many times I’ve reloaded each brass specific for each gun. All of these are still SUB MOA!!!
Browning A-Bolt 270 WIN – 10,000 + rounds
Browning A-Bolt 270 WIN – 6 to 7K rounds
Remington 7600 270 WIN – 5 to 6K rounds
Howa M1500 – 22-250 – 11,000 + rounds
Howa M1500 – 22-250 – 8K + rounds
Howa M1500 – 30-06 – 3K rounds ** Sold in 2008 – Buddy has it and no clue as to how many now
Tikka – T3 – 243 6K+ rounds
Tikka – T3 – 223 7 to 9K rounds

Break In Procedure used:
“BREAK-IN PROCEDURE FOR GUN BARRELS USING JACKETED BULLETS
For the first ten shots we recommend using jacketed bullets with a nitro powder load (Most Factory Ammo).
Clean the oil out of the barrel before each shot using a simple window cleaner (like Windex®) which will soak
the oil out of the pores. After firing each cartridge, use a good copper cleaner (one with ammonia) to remove
the copper fouling from the barrel. We do not recommend anything with an abrasive in it since you are
trying to seal the barrel, not keep it agitated.
After cleaning with bore cleaner, clean again with window cleaner after each shot. Use window cleaner
because many bore cleaners use a petroleum base which you want to remove before firing the next shot.
This will keep the carbon from building up in the barrel (oil left in the pores, when burned, turns to carbon).
To keep the temperature cool in the barrel, wait at least 5 minutes between break-in shots. The barrel must
remain cool during the break-in procedure. If the barrel is allowed to heat up during the break-in, it will
destroy the steel’s ability to develop a home registration point, or memory. It will have a tendency to make
the barrel “walk” when it heats up in the future. We have all seen barrels that, as they heat up, start to shoot
high and then “walk” to the right. This was caused by improperly breaking in the barrel (generally by sitting
at a bench rest and shooting 20 rounds in 5 minutes or so). If you take a little time in the beginning and do it
right, you will be much more pleased with the barrel in the future.
Look into the end of the barrel after firing a shot, and you will see a light copper-colored wash in the barrel.
Remove this before firing the next shot. Somewhere during the procedure, around shot 6 or 7, it will be
obvious that the copper color is no longer appearing in the barrel. Continue the window cleaner and bore
cleaner applications through shot 10.
Following the initial ten shots, you then may shoot 2 rounds, cleaning between each pair of shots, for the
next 10 intervals. This is simply insuring that the burnishing process has been completed.
In theory, you are closing the pores of the barrel metal that have been opened and exposed through the
cutting and hand lapping procedures.
For the final step, you then may shoot 4 rounds, cleaning between each group of 4 shots for a total of 5 groups. The barrel will become much warmer after the fourth round. Be sure to allow the barrel to COMPLETELY cool down before handling. Inspect the barrel for any copper residue after each group. A properly sealed and tempered barrel will retain minimal copper fouling and provide a consistent home registration point.

Good read Randy!

Not sure I’d want too shoot or hunt after all of that. I still do the proper break in for the barrel and guns I grew up with. Shoot lots of rounds and clean, shoot lots again and clean. It works for me.

Great post Randy.

Can a properly cleaned, used barrel barrel be re-broken in? Like many of us here, I assume, I have acquired a few older, used(some are ‘over’ used) rifles over time that I am sure were never properly broken in.

T

more barrels, chambers, and throats are damaged or excessively worn from cleaning. Just shoot your rifle and be happy. Most dont shoot enough or at long enough distances for it to matter. (myself included)

Randy,

Thanks for the information. You wrote that allowing the barrel to heat up during the break-in period will destroy the steel’s ability to develop a home registration point which will cause it to “walk” as it heats up in the future.

Just a couple of questions:
1.) I assume the barrel will only walk when it heats up. Will the initial shot from a cold barrel still be true? For example, sitting on stand all morning during a 25 F degree day, will the first shot at a deer would still be true?
2.) After the proper break-in period, does heating the barrel up by firing multiple shots in rapid succession cause any problems?
3.) Can’t the manufactures heat treat the barrels to eliminate this problem?
4.) Do stainless steel barrels behave any differently than standard steel barrels?

Thanks again for another informative post.

Boone

Timmy, to the best of my knowledge, there is no way to “re” break in a barrel. Definitely a risk when buying used.

1. Yes, cold bore or home is your true shot. All metal is subject to move when hot. As an example, when I’m shooting prairie rats with my 250s I see my poi change as the barrel gets hot. I let them cool after ever 10 or so shots.
2. Try to avoid over heating. A proper break in helps minimize issues.
3.ive never talked to a barrel manufacture about heat treating. Sorry, don’t know.
4. Stainless cools faster from what was taught to me. Bull barrels take longer to heat and longer to cool. I have a 270wsm in both stainless and blued. At 400 meters, the 4th shot in each moves. The stainless is about 2oclock, and the blued is 10oclock compared to the prior 3 shots. In both, the barrels are hot. Those wsm create a lot of heat!

My $.02 worth.

There are two purposes that riflemen often attempt to accomplish with these breaking in processes. These purposes are often muddied and unclear to many shooters because they are included in the same procedure and this causes a lot of confusion.

To separate out the intent behind these “break in procedures” we can lump them into two groups:

1. Processes intended to reduce copper fouling

2. Processes intended to influence accuracy and shooting characteristics of the barrel, including longevity.

Let me just cut to the chase. I believe that #1 can be accomplished. Some of the steps in these breaking in processes do prolong the period of time before which copper fouling will occur to the extent that it will become problematic and require attention.

However! The vast majority of hunters and shooters out there will never, in their lifetimes, shoot enough rounds to experience significant accuracy declines due to copper fouling. So for the vast majority out there, these procedures are a complete waste of time and money.

Now moving on to #2, procedures that purport to alter the shooting characteristics of a barrel and/or to extend its longevity. Frankly, I believe they’re all snake oil and I have that opinion because many barrel makers and others with significant barrel-making and gunsmithing expertise have told me so.

Gale McMillan was quoted as saying that he started including a “break in procedure” with his barrels simply because he got tired of customers insisting that there HAD to be one. Scheelin does the same. Customers simply wouldn’t take “no” for an answer and when McMillan didn’t supply one, they made up their own and in the process ruined his barrels. So most barrel makers supply one beacause they can’t not do it.

McMillan told the same story in numerous articles about customers that returned barrels that “weren’t shooting” only to discover that the customer had ruined the barrel himself by using abrasive lapping compounds as part of very ill-conceived “breaking in” processes.

First, you have to understand that barrels undergo elaborate heat treating processes at the factory. NO amount of shooting heats a barrel up to anything near the temperatures that are encountered when the barrel is first made and treated. So the idea that by shooting a barrel “hot” and cooling it, you are altering its metallurgic characteristics, is simply not true. Once it leaves the factory, a barrel is what it is from a metalurgic prospective.

There is also the myth that these “breaking in proceedures” remove tooling and machining marks, flaws, and basically “rough edges”. Again, this is bunk. Look at any modern rifle through a borescope. There ARE none of these flaws. Modern machining and tooling is SO good, that there is simply nothing to “correct”.

The bottom line is that from the first shot, a barrel is wearing out, not breaking in. It’s characteristics may change over time, but this is not the result of the customer changing the barrel itself, it’s a result of depositing copper, lead, and powder residue over time. Clean all that away and the barrel is what it is again.

The problem with “success stories” is that there is never a control group to prove or disprove the claims of success. Nobody buys 10 rifles and “breaks in” 5 of them while leaving 5 of them alone and then shooting tens of thousands of rounds through each and every one to determine the efficacy of the “breaking in procedure”. And even if you did, is the variation caused by the breaking in process? Or is it caused by the variation inherent in materials and manufacturing processes?

I think the reason so many people believe their rifle shoots better after “breaking in” is simply that they are comparing a modern rifle with those that came decades or even a century before. Modern rifles are made with tremendously tight tolerances and with metallurgy and modern manufacturing tolerances that were unheard of even 30 years ago.

The reason rifles today shoot better and do so longer is because they ARE better. Better built and with better and more consistent materials. Not because of anything that we do after the rifle left the factory.

Grouse

Interesting concept Grouse. So riddle me this. Why did these earlier rifles I owned * rem in 270win and a Browning in 22-250 that were taken out of the box, cleaned, and shot with no regards to frequency between rounds, or how hot the barrel was getting not last anywhere near ones that followed a recommended procedure? Manufacturers didn’t change much between 1999 and 2002. I bought that Browning 250 in either 99 or 2000. After just a few pdog trips, which is probably 2500 to 3000 rounds, it started to spread out. Gradual process, but still it failed. Same with the rem 270 I look back at. When I asked about a break in, was told “put ammo in it and pull the trigger”. So I did. Probably shot over 200 rounds that first day. That was a memorable one because of how hot we got that barrel just sighting in.

Perfect machining??? Don’t know what world you live in, but I want to visit it. We just ran a camera down a brand new savage axis. Tiny imperfections. Emphasis on tiny, but they are there. Also looked at a 300bo barrel my nephew had a buy make. Compared to the axis, it was beautiful. But still had very, VERY minor flaws.
Additionally, why is it many mid range rifles group better after they have 40 to 60 rounds down the pipe? I’m not thinking much at 100meters, because that’s so dang close. But shooting 4 or 5 hundred meters will show that group minimize pretty clearly.

Does it matter to all hunters/sport shooters- NO. Do all shooters only shoot their deer rifle 3 or 4 rounds once a year – No. Do all hunters live and hunt in the dense jungle of MN- NO.

Many manufacturers don’t publish a break in procedure for 2 reasons. It gives a legal hook for someone to make a warranty claim if their not satisfied. Or, they know the average guy won’t shoot that much and it will be years down the road before they will see any type of deterioration.

^ What grouse said. I was trying to be short and sweet ha

I’ve discovered that a great shooting rifle shoots great right from the begining. And a poor shooting rifle will never shoot good. My remedy is to buy new Tikkas and shoot hole in hole at 100 yards with my 6.5×55 and sub moa with my 7mm rem mag. No break in, no abrasives.

ajw wrote:

^ What grouse said. I was trying to be short and sweet ha

Appreciated the short answer. For those guys getting just a hunting rifle and won’t shoot much- ever, won’t matter because they’ll be in the ground before the effects are shown.

Did you know when you have a custom rifle built, the “break in” is done for you and before they dial in the final load data to send to you?

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2017/12/21/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-barrel-break-in-process