Posted: 7/30/2004 8:04:37 PM EDT
| When I bought my DPMS AR15 there were instructions to conduct a barrel break in. Shoot one, run bore snake, shoot once, run bore snake, for ten times. Then shoot 5, run bore snake, shoot 5, run bore snake. Supposedly this was to polish the bore or something. I just bought a new Ruger 10/22. The manual doesn't say anything about it but should I follow the same procedure (or something like it)? |
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There are several schools of thought on this. The reason for barrel break in is to use the bullet-cleaning-bullet procedures to gradually wear down barrel imperfections resulting in easier cleaning and less accumulation of powder and metal fouling. The reason for doing that is to lessen the rate of accuracy loss due to accumulations in the barrel (say, over the length of a match or during a long day taking down Prairie Dogs). By cleaning between bullets, you remove debris that may contribute to nonuniform surfaces on lands and grooves. Some say that this is essential to improve accuracy (but remember, that means accuracy over a shooting session). Some say that this merely accelerates a “polishing” process that will occur over time anyway. Some say that this is actually a cleaning issue and that if your accuracy degrades after 30 rounds, or 40, or 50, just clean the barrel. There is no way to create a controlled experiment to actually study this because every barrel is different. It’s controversial, the kind of issue that sends people into incredible arguments when they could be doing something useful, like painting the house and remodeling the kitchen. My conclusion: if you have the time to do a barrel break in period, then you won’t kick yourself later, thinking, ‘I should have done a barrel break in.’ But, in the great scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter all that much. If you bump into someone at the range, no matter what you do, someone is going to disagree with your approach. The only way to avoid this altogether is to get a barrel that has been hand lapped, a process that does the same job better than any break in will. I won’t even go into the “fire lapping” controversy. |
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I saw a thread on the same subject a few weeks ago. Majority opinion there seemed to be that barrel breakin procedures where a bunch of bunk and only really served let manufacturers sell more barrels. I would think that a manufacturer would be selling a firearm that came equiped with a good barrel out of the box. |
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A .22LR is a lead bullet, i.e. much softer than the FMJ style or any other jacketed bullet. Thus the .22 has virtually no real bearing on barrel smoothness, IMO. Not to mention the speed velocity difference. What I usually do on bbl break-in is clean first before shooting with wet & then dry patches, clean the same way after each shot for about 10rds. Seems to work pretty good for me. You also have to realize that virtually every shooter has their own methods. 
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