Barrel break-in - needed or myth

Enslow

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Cleaning a barrel takes like 15 minutes . If you use wipe out and let it sit overnight it takes less than 10 minutes. Just sayin.
 


Enslow

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i guess if it makes you feel good who am I to judge.

What does that even mean? You clean a barrel so that it’s clean and not fouled with carbon and copper. A clean barrel will shoot better than a barrel with 500 rounds through it without a cleaning. Plus there are so many good products for easily cleaning up your equipment available. I remember your build of that 12 lb 6.5 creedmoor from FBO. You sounded mighty proud of that gun but then don’t clean it? What did your 6.5 do to you to deserve that kind of treatment?
 

PrairieGhost

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i have had over 500 rounds on my bartlien with no drop in accuracy. I cleaned it but that was just to make me feel good. Unless its wet or starts shooting like shit (have not found that point yet)i dont mess with it. More damage is done to chambers and bbls from people over cleaning than damage to bbls or chambers from under cleaning.

I use Wipe Out and let my rifles set overnight. The first patch out of my Savages come out in the morning with a wad on the end of the patch like blue bubble gum. My rifles with Bartlien barrels may have a slight blue ting if I have 100 rounds through it. Needless to say none of my Savages have Savage barrels anymore.
I did send in one Savage (blue heavy fluted 6.5 Creedmoor) to the manufacture because it was so rough subsonics dropped from 1000fps to 500fps in five shots. The milling marks on the lands looked like a railroad track. They shipped it back with the best Savage barrel I have ever looked down, but it still picked up so much copper it had to be cleaned after 50 rounds. At 100 rounds it was replaced with a Centurion. It was accurate Ill give them that. It would put five shots in .2 to .25 inch. Now it sits in the corner of my safe with factory 308 and 300 Win mag.
 
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Kurtr

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What does that even mean? You clean a barrel so that it’s clean and not fouled with carbon and copper. A clean barrel will shoot better than a barrel with 500 rounds through it without a cleaning. Plus there are so many good products for easily cleaning up your equipment available. I remember your build of that 12 lb 6.5 creedmoor from FBO. You sounded mighty proud of that gun but then don’t clean it? What did your 6.5 do to you to deserve that kind of treatment?

clean it if it’s wet out . Wipe it down if it’s muddy. It’s 12.5 pounds and still shoots under an inch. People who shoot a hell of a lot more than me and better clean when groups open up or moisture. I guess that’s the philosophy I follow.
 

Jiffy

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What does that even mean? You clean a barrel so that it’s clean and not fouled with carbon and copper. A clean barrel will shoot better than a barrel with 500 rounds through it without a cleaning. Plus there are so many good products for easily cleaning up your equipment available. I remember your build of that 12 lb 6.5 creedmoor from FBO. You sounded mighty proud of that gun but then don’t clean it? What did your 6.5 do to you to deserve that kind of treatment?

Ask Clay how much he cleans "Snowball"....
 

Enslow

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I actually don’t shoot enough to have the need to clean a barrel all that often. I do about one cleaning a year on my rifles. But when I get a new rifle I do like to clean every few rounds and follow the directions that come with the gun. Wipeout really helps with a bore guide for annual cleaning as well. That’s all I got to say about that.
 

SupressYourself

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One step that's often overlooked is ending the cleaning cycle with some kind of rust inhibitor, especially if the gun is not going to be shot for a while. Even stainless can pit over time. I finish with one patch sprayed with Hornady OneShot.
 


1lessdog

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A few years ago I was fire forming some 6MM AI brass. I was using 12 gr of Red Dot and filled the rest of the case with cream of wheat. I would stick the neck into a bar of soap. And then shoot it to make the Ackley Improved case. One thing that i did find out was how clean the barrel got. I had a old 243 that had a real dirty barrel. So I loaded up 10 rds of Red Dot 10 gr and Cream of wheat and shot them. Just as I figured the barrel looked like a new barrel without cleaning.

Im not saying everyone should try this, although it did work great on my barrel. You have nothing to lose to try it.
 

SDMF

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Ask Clay how much he cleans "Snowball"....

A little rust on the rings, and bolt, and front face of the action, and bolt handle never hurt anything.......
 

Enslow

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I don’t mind a bit of rust on my 88 yota, but rust on a gun that I can’t have lol.
 

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