Barrel Maintenance

[Hendo]

Hey maestros,

I have been casually browsing this forum for quite some time, becoming more interested in pushing rifle shooting to another level. I've been shooting for awhile, plus had a little training from Uncle Sam, and have finally stepped into a dedicated stick for my money launching pursuit of making that bullet land somewhere in the viscinity of where I want at an extended range.

The rifle is a stock Rem 700 Tac 308, with one piece coated rod, .30 cal jag and brass brush, as well as a boresnake. With my other firearms, I'd do the thing, and then drag a boresnake through until no more residue or powder would come through.

So my question is, in your experience, what is the prefered way of new barrel break-in and shooting maintenance for a dedicated precision rifle?

 

[Hendo]

Well damn,
I had a guess that this topic would be taboo.. But holy shit! Im going to guess that the barrel is an individually opinionated deal..

Im hoping to have some glass this weekend to start on my endeavor, but for starts, I ran a few patches down the bore with gun oil. Then hit it with the brush a few times, and still pulled dirty ass patches. Ran some shooters choice bore through it, and scrubbed a second time with the brush. Dry patched again, then oil, then dry. If nothing else it gave a sense of clean.

 

[MrSunday]

So my question is, in your experience, what is the preferred way of new barrel break-in and shooting maintenance for a dedicated precision rifle?

Here is a link to a sticky on barrel break in and may have some of the info you seek

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...jective-research-barrel-break-procedures.html

 

[Thump_rrr]

Well damn,
I had a guess that this topic would be taboo.. But holy shit! Im going to guess that the barrel is an individually opinionated deal..

Im hoping to have some glass this weekend to start on my endeavor, but for starts, I ran a few patches down the bore with gun oil. Then hit it with the brush a few times, and still pulled dirty ass patches. Ran some shooters choice bore through it, and scrubbed a second time with the brush. Dry patched again, then oil, then dry. If nothing else it gave a sense of clean.

I personally do go through a barrel break in.
For some people it is a waste of time and it may very well be but I have not seen any adverse effects so I will continue on doing it.
Here is the link from Savage arms.
Savage Arms
One thing I did not see you mention is the use of a bore guide.
A good quality bore guide will prevent solvents from making their way into areas of your rifle you wouldn't want them to get into.
It will also keep the cleaning rod centered preventing it from damaging the rifling.
Do a search on bore guide and you will find a lot of good information.

 

[308Gunner]

+1 on the bore guide I use a universal that cost 6.50

 

[Nishgriff]

I have read a lot of the stuff on here about barrel break-in. And I see that many people like LL are not cleaning very much if at all. So my question is this: What would be a good standard regular barrel maintanance? Really nothing? Not even a patch with CLP down the bore? Not pulling a bore snake after every range trip or something? Really nothing? I can see the downside of heavy cleaning using a brush, rod etc and damaging the barrel. But if I pull a boresnake through I get a puff of carbon out the end... Does that not matter? I guess accuracy is the real answer. I'm not accurate enough as a marksman to be able to tell if it's me or the rifle sometimes. But I DO know that my rifle sure felt like it grouped tighter at first than it does now after about 1000 rounds and regular cleaning. I shot moly bullets, maybe 100 or so of them, and I just FEEL like that did something to it... Any advice welcomed.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Politics and religion are taboo here, all else is fair game. A lot of folks roll their eyes when oft asked questions come up, but I don't feel that way. While I support the policy of search first, ask after, I don't believe it's a requisite. Questions should solicit answers, and not ridicule.

Precision aftermarket barrels are lapped prior to sale, and seldom require break-in. If you doubt this, try it; I think you'll find that fouling is so slight that it makes the effort pointless.

Most factory produced original barrels lack the final interior finishing steps that negate the need for a break-in, which is not the norm with the precision aftermarket barrels. For the most part, firing with reasonably average loads will accomplish the needed part, which I believe is centered mainly in the leade part of the bore, where the rifling entry is machined to provide a lead-in from the chamber's freebore. This area tends to have sharp edges that accumulate fouling at a high initial rate, but hot gasses from the chamber will ablate them to an acceptable level before long. The rest of the bore will also exhibit initial sharp edges, but these will erode soon as well. Some feel that a specific regimen of initial firing and cleaning will reduce the time and number of shots this natural process takes, and they may have a point, but it will happen anyway in the early course of a barrel's natural lifetime. I consider this a matter of choice; if it gives you confidence to do it, then do it.

I have reluctantly but finally resigned from the corps of anal bore cleaners. I clean at the end of the shooting season, or when the rifle will be laid up for more than a month, or has been laid up for more than a month. Mostly, I do it to prevent bore pitting, which is a process where atmospheric oxygen, moisture, and fouling compounds slowly etch the bore. Long accumulations of fouling are also blamed for accuracy degradation. I just cleaned my .30BR match rifle after about 6 months of competition because I was planning to start load development with a new bullet, and could not get it to produce any, repeat any, fouling on the patches. I'm still shaking my head over that part.

I use a rod guide, a one-piece stainless rod, Outer's Gunslick Bore Cleaner Foam, and patches. That's it. If I use a brush, it's with a liquid bore solvent, and it's sole purpose is to spread the liquid more deeply into the rifling prior to soaking. I don't think a brush is effective for any other purpose, and consider a nylon brush to be at least as effective as bronze for such purposes, as well as being less susceptible to damage from copper solvent. It is the solvent that does the work, and the best implement to apply to it is time.

Greg

 

[Hendo]

Thanks for the insight. I think I understand for the most part now, what break-in is used to accomplish.

I saw the new rifle break-in thread over in the Bolt Action section.. Good information over there also!