[NATE42ND]

What are you old timers' thoughts on breaking in a spankin' new S&W M&P 15-A (or any other brand) AR? I have heard guys talk about 1 shot and clean for up to 30-50 shots!

Others say shoot and clean for the 1st 5-10 shots and call it good. What has worked for you?

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[G McBride]

I have always heard to shoot ten and clean for the first 100 rounds and then you are good to go. Not talking a big scrub down just a barrel brush once. I usually just pull a bore snake thru mine with some oil on it.

 

[faawrenchbndr]

You have a chrome bore and barrel. No need for the shooting/cleaning routine. It is generally reserved for stainless steel match barrels.
Use a good quality ammo, keep the bcg well lubed, run it for about 300 rounds. Mine have always smoothed out in 300-500 rounds.

 

[rob_s]

Shoot the hell out of it. Clean it once every 1k rounds or so.

Same as any other gun.

 

[NATE42ND]

So chrome is much different than stainless steel in the break in routine. Okay....thanks guys. I did not know that.

 

[faawrenchbndr]

It's hard to explain, but,.......

The rifling in a standard steel and a stainless steel barrel both have very small burrs from the rifling process. By shooting a few rounds and then cleaning, shooting more rounds and cleaning,..... it allows the small burrs to be smoothed and will keep the barrel from building up copper fouling as quickly.

With the chrome barrel, during the manufacturing process the barrel is chrome plated. This is a smoother, harder, and more corrosion resistant barrel. So the above shoot-clean routine is completely un-needed.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[darkvibe]

So chrome is much different than stainless steel in the break in routine. Okay....thanks guys. I did not know that.

For chrome I shoot about 200 rounds and then clean it. Bushmaster recommends that method too.

For stainless steel I shoot 1, clean, shoot 3 and clean (2 times), shoot 5 and clean (3 times). That will knock down any burr created from chamber cutting. If you don't it's possible to build copper up on that burr.

 

[PackerfanXD]

I don't break in chrome-lined barrels.

 

[NATE42ND]

This helps greatly.....thanks. If anyone has a different take, please let me know.

 

[croftonaviation]

I spoke with a friend of mine the other day who used to be in charge of testing at saber defense. He said exactly what others have said here. chrome lined barrels are ready out of the box. chrome molly shoot once clean it, then something like 3 shots clean it 3 more times then go for it. I just got back from the range doing this with my new dpms I bought before everything went nuts. as a side note, I just put 120 rounds through it from 5 different manufactures (federal, golden bear, winchester, umc, wolf) and they all fed and extracted great. Not one single problem, period. Now to find an optic

 

[NATE42ND]

I have got to get to an indoor range and shoot my new M&P 15. I am wondering why they're not morn popular. I guess it's just a competitive market and there are a lot of good brands out there. From everything i've read, it seems like nobody had any complaints with them. I really need to shoot it just to make sure everything works.

 

[gsx1138]

Damn, didn't know that about Chrome lined barrels. I shot 2 and cleaned for 60 rounds. Talk about tedious. Oh well, it still shoots.

 

[HB of CJ]

Yeah, the same answer with a slight difference. If you have a chrome lined barrel, just shoot the gun and clean it when it gets dirty. No big deal. Don't overheat, which is unlikely with an AR15.

However, as far as the rest of the gun goes, try this old trick lost in the mists of time and space. First of all, lock up ALL of your ammo in some safe place. You don't want a discharge doing this.

After being very sure the gun is unloaded, place the muzzle on a carpeted floor and grab the pistol grip. Squeeze the trigger to dry fire the gun. You will not hurt it doing this, sooss don't worry.

Keeping the trigger down, quickly rack the action using the charging handle. After charging (empty gun please) release the trigger, then squeeze the trigger again and hold down.

Dry fire again and again. Do this about 100 times as fast as you can. Be sure to lube up everything real heavy first. You will smell a strange odor like hot metal being lapped, which is what you are doing.

After 100 cycles, pull the gun down and clean and relube. Now try just casual dry firing again. You WILL feel a distinct improvement in the action and trigger. You have just lapped in your gun.

However, it is optional for you to do this. You have a $high-end$ high quality AR15. We did this years ago building AR15s and rehabbing old M16s to give them new life. Enjoy. HB of CJ

 

[darkvibe]

Do this about 100 times

Holy crap that's a lot of work. Just put some jewelers rouge on the hammer and trigger contact points and dry fire it a few times.

 

[vafish]

Run it like you stole it.

If there were any burrs in your barrel after a bullet going 3,000 FPS being propelled by 55,000 PSI hot gasses has screamed past about 100 times, What makes you think your cleaning rod with a bronze brush is going to remove the burr?

Shooting and cleaning isn't going to do anything to the bore. You can use some various grades of abrasives and lap the bore to a high polish. But that shoot/clean regime is a waste of time and no one has proved otherwise.

 

[darkvibe]

Run it like you stole it.

If there were any burrs in your barrel after a bullet going 3,000 FPS being propelled by 55,000 PSI hot gasses has screamed past about 100 times, What makes you think your cleaning rod with a bronze brush is going to remove the burr?

Shooting and cleaning isn't going to do anything to the bore. You can use some various grades of abrasives and lap the bore to a high polish. But that shoot/clean regime is a waste of time and no one has proved otherwise.

You don't clean the burr off. The bullet does that. You just clean any copper off it.

 

[NATE42ND]

You have a chrome bore and barrel. No need for the shooting/cleaning routine. It is generally reserved for stainless steel match barrels.
Use a good quality ammo, keep the bcg well lubed, run it for about 300 rounds. Mine have always smoothed out in 300-500 rounds.

Is anyone SURE I have a chrome lined barrel? It says on the S&W site it's a chromed BARREL BORE, GAS KEY, and BOLT CARRIER.

Does barrel bore mean the inside of the barrel?

 

[NATE42ND]

That was a dumb question, I guess I'm tired. Bore is what you look at with a bore scope. DUH! Strike my last question.

 

[Cuda66]

Does barrel bore mean the inside of the barrel?

Yes.

 

[Mercmar]

Per the late Gale McMillan, who probably knew more about barrels than anybody on Earth, barrel break-in, even on match, stainless barrels, is a joke. Do a search for "the widom of Gale McMillan" on The Firing Line.