I just got my lr-308.  The manual say to do a specific break in on the barrel by cleaning after every one of the first 25 shots and then after every 10 up to a hundred shots.  Is this really necessary and if so what does it do.  I think this is a little excessive because that's upwards of $100 in ammo before it's even "broken in."  Thanks for any help.

Lots of people will say that the break-in procedure is a waste of time. DPMS apparently thinks different. It's your rifle- do what you want with it. Personally, I think it might help and I'm pretty sure that following the procedure can't hurt anything.

As far as it being a waste of ammo, just consider it as normal shooting with frequent cleaning. It's as good a time as any to zero and shoot groups while you're breaking it in.

Shooting should not be drudgery of clean, clean, clean, clean...clean, clean. Enjoy your day of normal shooting and clean your rifle once at the end of the day.

The rifle comes test fired from the factory so it is dirty.
Clean it well and go shoot it.  
I wouldn't worry about doing a break-in procedure at all.
Just keep in mind it may not shoot the greatest until it gets shot-in a little.

B-Man

I did the break in on mine, well sort of anyway. I got a boresnake and pulled it through the barrel after each shot for the first twenty five and then after each ten. Don't know for sure that it helped or not but it wasn't a big deal and the gun will shhot more accurate than I can.

I didn't got that far today but I did clean after every shot for 10 shots then after every 5 for 10 shots.  Basically what your doing is polishing the lands with out leaving debri in there while the bullet knocks them down.  Is it absolutely necessary, no but why not?  Like another poster said, sight it in while your at it.  Shoot it for groups, do what ever you where going to do with out cleaning it.  Its not like you have to scrub after every shot, just run a dry patch down it and shoot the next one.

I do the break in on most of my guns. i dont know for sure if it helps or not.  but if you bought the gun because you want to shoot little groups, is $100 (that you would have spent anyway) and a little bit of time cleaning realy that bad of a trade for maybe shaving 1/10th to 1/8th off your groups?
my break in,
clean after every round for first 20, after every 2 rounds for 10, then after every 5 rounds for 20, then every 20 rounds for the next 60
dosnt take long to get to shooting 5 shot  groups, and you want the bbl nice and cold for the next group anyway right?

It's called "seasoning" the barrel which should be done on anything none chrome lined or at least lapped.

Necessary? No,, Good practice, yes.

Barrel break in was a scam created by a barrel maker to sell more barrels by having customers wear theirs out faster.  The info is posted on this site.  Basically all you are doing is wasting ammo and wearing out the barrel faster.

If I recall correctly I believe the guy involved was named MacMillan if you want to research it.

I suggest avoiding heavy cleaning with abrasives during break in.  You're more likely to do more harm than good.  I stick to using patches and if they don't clean up then I try a few passes with a synthetic brush.

All I've ever done is run an oily patch through the bore after shooting and drop the bolt and carrier assembly in the ultrasonic cleaner.  6000 rds later it still shoots like new.

Well, there you go. Not only is break in not needed, but carbon and copper removal isn't required either. I wonder if the benchrest people have heard of this method.

As I said earlier in this thread, I don't see how you can go wrong following the manufacturer"s recommendations. It's not a waste of ammo and it will not significantly decrease barrel life. Yes, McMillan wrote that break in is a waste of time, however other custom barrel makers offer different advice.  With a lapped match barrel from a custom barrel maker, it might be true that break in will be of little value. However, your run of the mill standard barrel is a far cry from a lapped match barrel. Standard production barrels benefit most from break-in. If you feel it's a waste of time, just shoot the hell out of it and hope for the best.

Yep, this.

I followed the DPMS break in procedure on mine and when I was working up loads I was getting 5 shot groups in the .600" range and I'm not done experimenting.

Did the break in procedure help? I don't know but I don't see where it can hurt.

It can hurt by wearing out your barrel faster, it's a scam guys., read up on it.

Just playing Devil's Advocate here, but i'm just curious how the "Break-in" would be considered a waste, if a smart individual were to utilize these shots to sight in the rifle?  I beleive that then all a person would be out, would be time, as you would be making every shot count towards sighting in your rifle, it would just add time to your process by allowing for the cooling and cleaning between shots.  Then a person could better guage at what point the "break-in" is no longer needed.  I follow myusual sight-in procedures when "breaking-in"  I use surplus/cheap ammo for the first few shots at 50 and 100 yards, just to get on paper, and start grouping close to the X-ring, then once confortable on paper @ 100 yards, i start to use quality ammo, reloads/match.  That way i don't waste good ammo on sighters, and i am still slowly breaking in the barrel, and by the time i am sighted in and ready, i have ran through enough rounds, that i am at the point where i am firing 5 rounds between cleaning, which is fine at first, as i realize that i am smoothing out the bore of any fine machine marks, and cleaning out the crud is good.  After the first range visit, all is normal, and i have heat cycled the barrel, and i feel it is "broken-in" and sighted, ready to go.

Copper plasma from tooling marks on new barrel.

Much less copper deposited after tooling marks are worn down.

Easier to clean, with marginally better accuracy due to steel being evenly eroded once copper stops being heavily deposited during break-in period.



Simple, really.  Break your rifle in per instructions.

Just ordered a pair of RRA LAR-8s yesterday from Legal Transfers in NH. Also called RRA about recommended barrel break-in procedures. I was told, "just shoot it and run a few patches thru it when you're done." I guess they are fans of the no break in required approach.