Barrel break in

I just ordered a Ruger Compact rifle in 7mm-08 for my grandson. I'll have it in a day or so and plan to put Leupold VXII 3x9-40 scope on it. The rifle weighs in at about 6 lbs. without the scope and has an 18" barrel.

This rifle will be used solely for deer hunting in middle/east Georgia. I don't imagine shots will ever exceed 150 yards, if that.

I'm gonna use reduced velocity hand loads. I'm looking at 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter spitzer flat based bullet or the Hornady V-Max 120 grain flat base bullet ahead of around 22-23 grains of Hodgdon H4895 powder.

I was just gonna give it a good cleaning out of the box, bore sight it, then take it to the range and sight it in.

But I have been doing some reading here about new barrel break in and opinions and processes are all over the spectrum.

All I want to do is be able to get it to consistently hit about 1-2" high at 100 yards and have a group of 1-2". I figure that's plenty accurate for hunting.

Still I'm at a loss as to what is a common-sense way to go about breaking in the barrel to get to the accuracy I want.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Just make sure barrel is good and clean then shoot it!

I would say do it. It is a little time consuming and I wouldn't use my handloaded ammo in the process but I would do it. Buy some inexpensive ammo pick a nice day and do it. Certainly won't hurt and a good chance it will help.

I wouldn't worry about trying to "break in" the barrel when it will be used for relatively short distance shots, That rifle should group around an inch with good ammo with no problem. I've only taken the time to do the break in thing with one rifle, a heavy barreled Rem700 in .308 I bought new back in the early 90's, I did the whole gamut to it, including manually swabbing the barrel a hundred times or so with a cloth swab full of polishing compound. The rifle has always shot great, but I've always used it for distance shots, out to about 500yds or so.

I think the newer guns have better steel than they did a decade or to back and breaking in isn't as necessary as it used to be. I had a Winchester mod 70 coyote w/26 in hvy bbl that i bought about 15 years ago that i did the whole
break in thing with it and i never did shoot better than
1 1/2 inch even with hand loads. I sold it.

^^^ This^^^

I believe that you either get a good barrel or not.
Tinker with floating the barrel, bedding the action, torquing the action screws, and fiddling with scopes to improve the inherent accuracy of the rifle.

I bought a Ruger American Compact in .243 for oldest Granddaughter a few years back. I gave a cursory cleaning to the barrel and bolt and went to the range with assorted leftover ammo and sighted it in. It shot very well, but if I said sub MOA I might be lying because I honestly don't recall.

Her first time shooting it (and first CF rifle ever) she rang the 100 yard 8" gong 5 for 5. I treat all my new rifles the exact same way, simply cleaning, bringing assorted loads, and shooting being careful to not heat the barrel excessively.

In the last 3 yrs, that's worked to the tune of MOA or better in 7 of 9 new rifles, 4 M70s, an X-Bolt Medallion and two Vanguards. The other two, Rem M750 and Browning AB3 both shot right at 1.5" or so. I do not follow any type of break-in procedure except as already mentioned. There's certainly nothing wrong with using one of that's what a person feels better doing, but I see no need for it myself.

Search is your friend

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=879074&highlight=weatherby

From what I can discern from all I've read is that the "break in" is more about making the rifle easier to clean down the road. While that obviously affects accuracy, I get the impression that ease of cleaning is the primary goal.

Am I incorrect?

Thanks.

SWAMPFOX said:

From what I can discern from all I've read is that the "break in" is more about making the rifle easier to clean down the road. While that obviously affects accuracy, I get the impression that ease of cleaning is the primary goal.

Am I incorrect?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I believe its a little of both, for my purposes its about accuracy, removing any minute burrs or roughness from inside of the barrel will cut down on friction, in theory adding to velocity, and accuracy, a side effect is the barrel is easier to clean. Like I said I only did it on one of my rifles, that I bought new and with the intention of it being as accurate as possible. A lot of my other rifles I was not the original owner, but did do the polishing compound and manual swabbing on a couple of them, just to try and help accuracy.

All that being said, my most recent "new" rifle is a .300blkout AR with a Bear Creek arsenal barrel, I never tried to break it in, and it shoots sub moa easily. I think the quality of the barrel makes a difference in how important break in might be.

I've broke barrels in every way imaginable. My latest ruger Hawkeye predator in 204 has 17 rds down the barrel so far. i started out with a 3 shot group at 100 yards that measured about 1.5 inches. Adjusted scope and shot second group. It was just over quarter inch. Moved out to 200 yards and group was right under 1 inch. Adjusted scope dead on at 200 and broke 3 clays between 250 and 300 yards. Last few shots were crows in the field at 200 to 300 yards. As long as it's minute of crow at that range in not going to clean it. I've about decided to leave them alone until accuracy starts to leave which is usually between 30 to 100 rounds depending on the rifle. Been down that shot and clean between each round road before and that's A lot of work that I don't really think benefits enough to do it. Last ruger compact in 7 08 i had was a tack driver. All the rugers i have messed with like a floated barrel.

According to the Ruger site, the Ruger Compact has a floated barrel.

"Patent-pending Power Bedding®, integral bedding block system positively locates the receiver and free-floats the barrel for outstanding accuracy."

It depends on the rifle really. Higher end stuff that has been lapped doesn't seem to foul as quickly. Might be a good idea to hand lap most factory barrels prior to shooting it. If you run a wet patch through it prior to firing on an undersized jag and you feel catches it may need some kind of attention. Fire lapping is also an option. I have done 1 shot clean, 1 shot clean, then 3 shots clean many a time. I don't find it that necessary on a good custom hand lapped barrel.

Good Luck with your new rifle.

Pretty sure 22-23 grains is below the 60% rule for h4895....so be careful especially with your grandson behind the gun. . I believe hodgdon recommends at least 35.6gr for reduced hunting loads in the 708. I loaded up some and out of a model 7 youth with 120nbt, hardly any recoil.

I only clean between range sessions when developing loads, after that, I clean after about every 20 rounds down the pipe.

This article is a good one

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2017/3/30/how-to-break-in-a-rifle-barrel/

I do not agree that rifles built today have better steel than rifles of old.

s&r

killerv said:

Pretty sure 22-23 grains is below the 60% rule for h4895....so be careful especially with your grandson behind the gun. . I believe hodgdon recommends at least 35.6gr for reduced hunting loads in the 708. I loaded up some and out of a model 7 youth with 120nbt, hardly any recoil.

I only clean between range sessions when developing loads, after that, I clean after about every 20 rounds down the pipe.

Click to expand...

I believe that 60% is correct...here is their link to reduced recoil info.

43.7 would be the max load. Multiply that by 60% and the starting load should be 26.2 roughly.