So I broke in a new barrel today. I'm very happy with the way it shoots. But I observed some things during the process that I don't understand. I was breaking in a 30" Bartlein in 308 with 5R rifling.
Ok, so the first 21 rounds it was steadily cleaning easier (5th patch clean) but it shot for crap. At 100 yards it was about 3 moa at best. Then on round 22 the shot went about 2 moa down and 2 left. Round 23-25 went an addtional 1 down and 1 left in a very tight group. It just very suddenly dialed in. So I adjusted my scope zero amd for the next 40 rounds the groups were dead on, about .5 - .75 moa and I really felt like the barrel was less than .5 moa if I did my part. Oh, and I shot one and cleaned for 5, shot 5 and cleaned for 35, shot 10 and cleaned for 20. After it "got happy" it was harder to clean too. 10 patches each time.
So now for the question. I've broken in a few barrels now but I've never seen the accuracy improve on one that dramatically in just a couple of shots. Can someone explain why it would work that way?
Ok, so the first 21 rounds it was steadily cleaning easier (5th patch clean) but it shot for crap. At 100 yards it was about 3 moa at best. Then on round 22 the shot went about 2 moa down and 2 left. Round 23-25 went an addtional 1 down and 1 left in a very tight group. It just very suddenly dialed in. So I adjusted my scope zero amd for the next 40 rounds the groups were dead on, about .5 - .75 moa and I really felt like the barrel was less than .5 moa if I did my part. Oh, and I shot one and cleaned for 5, shot 5 and cleaned for 35, shot 10 and cleaned for 20. After it "got happy" it was harder to clean too. 10 patches each time.
So now for the question. I've broken in a few barrels now but I've never seen the accuracy improve on one that dramatically in just a couple of shots. Can someone explain why it would work that way?