Range Report and Barrel Break In

[EricCartmann]

I had fun with a lot of you guys today. I also got my work done early today so gonna head out to the range now. Will report back with pics and discuss barrel break in (my first time ever).

[PackerfanXD]

I saw the process you posted. I'm wondering how long it took you?

[scalce]

I got fed up with doing the shoot one round and clean for the first 30 or whatever number it was.

I think I did 20 that way, then shot 3 rounds and cleaned for a few cycles, and then shot 5 rounds and cleaned for a few cycles.

It gets old real quick.

[ARin]

i had fun with you too....

have a good time at the range and be safe.

[EricCartmann]

Here are some pictures of today.

Not a sighting in day, just a break in the barrel day. Probably won't site in for another month or so, that's when my scope comes in from backorder.


Here are the metal gong targets, most of them were human sillouettes. They look further in the pic than they really are.
- The Red circles are 200 yards away,
- blue is 300.
- maroon 400
- green 500 yards
I was amazed I did not even have to make adjustments to my irons and I was consistently able hit the 200 yard target in rapid fire mode, talking about 17 out of 20 here. I was even able to make hits at 500 yards. At 500 the metal gong is actually a sheep and at that distance the front iron site totally obscured the target so I was only about 2 out of 10, but also it was really windy, about 30 mph cross winds so I had to adjust not just for elevation but also windage. I have no doubt I will be able to make consitant hit at 500 yards when my scope comes in. At 200 yards you can tell you made a hit because you will actually hear a "clunk" sound when it hit the gong, and you see no dirt fly up from the backstop. At 500 yards you can't hear the clunk but you can easily see the dirt fly up when you miss. I am happy to say the set up of my iron sites good enough for me.




I had to break open the action 40 times to clean! Painful.




The XCR gotta see action too. My own sanity check... shoot 100 rounds of Wolf as fast as I could! It passed with flying colors, not a single hiccup.

[EricCartmann]

Barrel Break In
Some say it is necessary and like breaking in an Engine. Others will tell you it is not needed.

This is the majoriy view that I have found:
1) Breaking in a chrome lined barrel is not really necessary, but it can't hurt it.
2) Stainless Steel barrels need to be properly broken in. It has to properly cleaned and go through a certain amount of heat cycles for optimization. By taking the time to clean your barrel, you are also allowing it time to properly cool down.

Armalites and Knesek Arms Break-in-procedure (110 rounds):
1) Clean barrel every round for the first 10 rounds
2) For the next 20 rounds clean barrel every 2 rounds.
3) For the next 30 rounds clean barrel every 3 rounds.
4) For the next 50 rounds clean barrel every 5 rounds.

When they say "clean", I assumed they probably meant "clean", so each cleaning I used 1 wet patch and 3-4 dry patches to follow... If you add it up that's 200 patches before it was all said and done!

As you can see the Knesek Arms break in method is really intense and time consuming. It took me 3 hours, but also the guy next to me did not help either, he was not shooting and was there for half of the time and talked my ear off (This is guy C below)... but it was cool, while I was breaking in we would share reload data and talk about guns in general so he helped passed time quickly.

My new AR-10 SASS barrel is stainless steel so I figured I might as well play it safe. Also since this is a SASS weapon and probably will be shot from a prone bipod supported position most of the time, so I figured I might as well do the Knesek break in method to guarantee one shot kills But this method was very painful! Only time will tell if this method really helped and if the time, patches, and hoppes #9 spent was worth it. We will see.

Copper bore brushes:
I come from the school of no copper brushes. I don't see the point of jamming copper bristles to clean. Yeah I know they are soft and will bend but if you were to use these same brushes on a hard metal surface, you will actually some slight wear marks on the surface. You have to figure it is doing the same to your barrel.

I heard from a lot of match shooters to stay away from copper brushes for Stainless barrels as these barrels don't like them. Chrome lined barrels are another story though, and most likely they will not be an issue. But for me I rarely use copper brushes, even if the barrel is chome lined... probaby every 1000 rounds or so. In between those 1000 I feel that Hoppes' #9 and a lot of patches are enough. I also might use bore foam every once in while if I feel Hoppes is not getting the job done.

I prefer a solid one peice cleaning rod. I stay away from the multi piece rods as I have this phobia that the jagged edges of the joints might some how gouge the barrel... so I use the one piece rod more for my own peice of mind. When I don't bring along a rod, I carry a bore snake as they are very convenient and easy to carry and work great for quick cleaning.

Run it wet:
I always run my guns wet, but for the first 300 rounds or so, I run them extra wet. I take out the BCG and put 4 drops of lube in every hole, libereally coat the top and bottom of the Charging handle, and liberally coat the entire outer surface of the BCG. Synthetic Motor Oil is my favorite lube because it is available everywhere, it is cheap, and it does not dry up easily. Even during break in, my guns run flawless when they are wet.

These are the break in methods I have heard, none are official in any way or form but they all seem to work:

Method from guy A (the one I follow because I am lazy): Clean barrel every 5 rounds for the first 20 rounds, and thats it. My chrome line Noveske was broken in this way and gets sub-moa when I use FGMM ammo. I follow the school of "no break in necessary for chrome lined barrels" because 1) it is a combat weapon that will be shot off hand most of the time anyway and 2) chrome lining is very hard and I can't see how it would be deformed by not cleaning the gunk from the barrel during break in.

Method from guy B: My Stainless Steel M1A was bought used from a guy who claimed to have broken it in this way: clean the barrel after every round for the first 3 rounds, then every 5 rounds for the next 15 rounds. That was it... and I can't really dispute this as my M1A is sub a MOA gun.

Method from guy C: This is for a Stainless Steel barrel bolt gun: After every round for the first 5 rounds, then every 5 rounds for the next 25 rounds. This guy is match shooter and pretty good so I can't dispute this method either.

Bottom line:
Is break in really necessary? Who knows but one thing I do know is this is the last time I am going to do the 110 round break in method. Gonna go back to my old way

[twodoghill]

suggest you read this post.

Barrel Break-In

this guy's a real expert because he makes and examines barrels that have been used and he thinks break in is bunk

[PackerfanXD]

That looks like an amazing range! Do you live in Az by any chance?

[Reno82]

I have never broke in a bbl. Clean before the first shot.... clean it after each shooting. If you have to break in a bbl I think something is wrong. If you take care of your weapon on a regular bases then every thing will be fine.

[scalce]

Originally Posted by Reno82

If you take care of your weapon on a regular bases then every thing will be fine.

Would that be first, second, or third?