Barrel Break-in: Necessary or Not?

[5280sakonut]

I don't know of any reference in a Sako owner's manual to a barrel break-in procedure. Maybe you know otherwise. The custom rifle makers like Lilja and Krieger strongly recommend a break-in process be followed to minimize barrel fouling and maximize accuracy. Do you perform a barrel break-in on your new Sakos? Maybe the 5 test shots fired at the factory are considered adequate although it would be necessary to clean thoroughly between shots for this to help and I would be surprised if the factory shooters take the time to do such. Sako lore says the factory test shooters are 2 former Finnish Olympic Gold Medal winners in the biathalon.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

sakonut:
All new barrels should go thru some form of break in firing procedure. This will vary depending on the barrel & personal opinion. In otherwords, it's not an exact science. Every gunsmith I have had install custom barrels has had a slightly different recommended procedure. The purpose is to "slick" up the barrel. All barrels have slight imperfections in the surface of the bore & rifling. These imperfections "catch" copper fouling. The idea is to allow this natural process to take place to create a smooth & slick bore that future bullets will not be effected by. I'm not talking about cooper fouling that builds up excessively in the rifling that can ruin accuracy, but minute amounts that fill the tiny imperfections & pores of the steel. The method I have settled on after 40 years of trial & error is to first buy the highest quality barrel from whatever barrel maker you choose or buy a Sako. Then get an oil that is made to withstand high temperatures & pressures without loosing it's intended properties. I then fire a 10 shot string & run a patch thru the bore with a liberal dose of the oil between each shot. I use Butch's Oil, but Brownells makes an excellent oil too. Then I clean the bore using James Calhoon's GT 40 bore cleaner as per his recommendations. I then shoot 5 shot strings & clean thoroughly between each string for the next 50 shots & apply the Butch's. You should "feel" the bore get easier to clean & slick up quicker as you go through this procedure. Do not use a bore brush during this procedure as you will only prolong the "filling" of the imperfections. This should give you a good start to a slick & smooth bore that will give you the accuracy the barrel is capable of. After that I use JB's bore cleaner after every 100 or 200 rounds, depending an the barrel, to keep that slickness you will end up feeling when you clean the bore. My experience is that a barrel will not show it's real accuracy potential until after several hundred rounds. Remember, clean, clean, clean and try to get that feeling for the slickness a clean and accurate bore will have. This is just one of many, I'm sure, methods to break in a barrel. Whichever method you choose the basic principles are the same. Fill the imperfections and get it smooth & slick, slick, slick. This will make it easier to clean, also.

 

[wookie316]

If the barrel is a custom hand lapped barrel, then I don't believe in a break in procedure other than a patch after the first round. This is just to confirm anything that may have been left in the throat area after the barrel was throated with the reamer. Then shoot it how you are going to shoot it. That's what the hand lapping was for.
I have always been a firm believer a barrel will either shoot or not right out of the gate.
Factory barrels, there are so many opinions I don't know what to say. I have always shot a few rounds, cleaned & shot a few more & cleaned. I think it is more of a feel good thing than anything IMO. Same goes here, it is either going to shoot on not.
Just my 2 cents

 

[sakotex]

Check with JB at Accuflite. He has a breakin process that's specific to Sakos and their particular barrel steel.

 

[5280sakonut]

Interesting comments. Thanks for weighing in paulson, wookie and sakotex.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

I agree with wookie that hand lapping a barrel will give you the best a barrel has to offer. Factory barrels, especially from U.S. makers are a hit & miss proposition. Most of the high end barrels from the good makers are indexed for straightness and fall within a minimum requirement. I have seen factory barrels so far out of being straight that you would think they were made to shoot around a corner. You will never get a barrel like that to shoot well. The last barrel I had installed was a Shilen Select Match in 221 Fireball on a L46 action. My smith said it was so straight that when he put it in the lathe centers to thread it that he hardly needed to index it at all. The end result was a .75" group with factory ammo during the break in process. Can't wait to see what it does with a good handload. I really think that Sako's reputation for accuracy comes more from the stiffness, smoothness, & straightness of their barrels than from their actions or fit & finish. The best shooting rifle I was ever around was an old ugly 112V Savage Varmint model in 22-250. I witnessed a guy put 20 consecutive 22 caliber rounds through the face area of George Washington on a dollar bill @ 150 yards on a bet with a guy with a Sako. I was the guy with the Sako & I lost the bet. Accurate rifles can come in all shapes & sizes. It's that with a Sako your odds are much better.
You can get your dollar bill out now & check the size of old George's face.

 

[5280sakonut]

paulson: great story. Well, I did not do any break-in on my first few Sakos and they were all eventually sub-MOA guns with handloads. Then, in recent years I have done a break-in for each new gun and what I have noticed is that they reach their accuracy potential more quickly versus the non break-in guns. The final result in pretty much the same, but I get there quicker with the break-in. And, of course there is the added benefit of feeling better because I am doing everything possible to treat my rifles with the TLC they deserve.

 

[cmjr]

Marc, any pics of the L46 in 221FB?

 

[paulsonconstruction]

cmrj: I'll get the camera out this weekend & posts some pics of the L46 Fireball. It turned out great. Weighs 8.5 lbs with scope, but it's balance & feel make it feel much lighter when you carry it. Still working on loads but it seems to like AA1680 the best, so far. Would like to try some 2200 that Stonecreek said they were making again but can't find any locally or mail order yet. If Stonecreek said it was good then I must try it. Going to try to sneak in a PD shoot in Thunder Basin this fall to give the Fireball an initiation.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

5280sakonut: You can't give a bore enough TLC, especially a Sako bore. Do you find that the barrels you broke in clean up a little easier? Of all the factory barrels I have the Sakos seem to get that slicked up feeling quicker when I clean them than the others. Do you get the same impression? There have been some recent post where people were complaining about their groups opening up to 1.5" after 35 to 40 rounds with 30 Cal factory ammo & threatening to send the gun back. I wish they would send it to me so I could clean that bore up right and have a nice shooting Sako for free.

 

[5280sakonut]

paulson: Absolutely, yes, and amen! My properly broken in barrels clean up much quicker than the others and there is no comparison between the Sakos and Remington, Winchester, CZ and others that I owned before my first Sako and all of which have been sold. The only rifles I've kept that are non-Sakos are a Anschutz .22 LR that will put 10 shots into 1 ragged hole at 50 yds and a custom by Gene Simillion that I waited 2 years for and is absolutely stunning. That man is a master and a helluva nice guy. By the way, that rifle cost me what 10 Sakos would and my Sakos shoot darn near just as good and are darn near as smooth. I also agree that the root of many evils are a dirty bore and it is amazing how many hunters and shooters are ignorant to this.

 

[cmjr]

Marc, if you work with any of the Reloader powders try RL7 and a 40gr Vmax. My accuracy load in my Sako L46 221FB is 21.5grs, chronies at 3500fps out of a 24" barrel. Ya just gotta love the sound of a PD stepping in front of a 40gr Vmax at speed.

As for barrel break-in my experience mirrors most of what has been said. Factory barrels need more attention and the good ones will usually "shoot in", the bad ones usually improve with work, but they don't hang around here for long. Sako makes a good factory barrel, but it ain't no Krieger. Pay extra attention to good cleaning technique and don't scrimp on the equipment, ie bore guide, rods, tips, and brushes. More good barrels are ruined by improper cleaning than anything else.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

cmjr: I am trying Lil' Gun, AA1680, IMR4198, & RL7 with a 40 gr. Nosler BT. Still working up to max while checking velocity & accuracy. The wind & rain have slowed my progress, but after Saturday it looks like I'll get a window of opportunity. My manuals do not give a charge for RL7 for 40's, but do for 45's (which is 19.5gr) so I set that as my initial max for testing. I'm at 18 so far with not very good results. My experience is that the small case cartridges tend to work best when loaded closer to max. What is your experience?
Is your load of 21.5 grains listed @ or near max in your manual & do you think it would be safe to slowly work up to that in my rifle. My barrel is 21.25" from front of action to muzzle so I am hoping to get a load that will dive tacks @ around 3300 fps. Accuracy has always been more important to me than a few fps that a PD can't detect anyway. It's just that the 200 yard trajectory @ 3200 to 3400 for that bullet is ideal with a 50 yard zero. Dead on @ 50, .6" high @ 100 & 1.8" low @ 200. Works like a 200 yard laser. If I remember right it's only 8" to 10" low @ 300. Although I will play with this gun on PD's, my purpose for building it was for the coyote & fox hunting here on my farm & ridding my place of the vermin skunks that have invaded. The only sound better is a skunk stepping in front of a 40 gr Nosler!

 

[stonecreek]

Accurate Arms has reintroduced AA 2200 to the market. It is all I use in my .221 FB. The "maximum" load listed with a 40 grain bullet is 21 grains. I use 21.5 grains under a 40 grain Ballistic Tip and the velocity runs between 3350 and 3400 fps (22" bbl) depending on which primer you set it off with. Although I have purchased a new 8-pounder of AA2200, the lot I am using is still from the original batch, so I can't say in what way, if any, the new might differ from the old. I'd suggest starting with about 20 grains and going from there.

BTW, this load does a commendable job of vivisectioning a prairie dog.

 

[cmjr]

My experience mirrors yours, closer to max it seems the ES is lower and groups tighten. In my rifle which has a minumum spec chamber 21.5 is a max load, I can load a little higher but velocity flatlines. I gave up on Lilgun, I was getting 1-200fps spreads. I know some guys that swear by it, I swear at it. I do use a Rem 7 1/2 primer, it seemed to take off about 15fps from my ES.

 

[stonecreek]

I gave up on Lilgun, I was getting 1

Lil Gun enthusiasts like to brag on high velocities. It is true that this powder does produce some extraordinarily high velocities -- about every third shot

. Other shots run, as you say, up to 200 fps slower.

Lil Gun does seem to be a good powder in large magnum handgun cartridges.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

cmjr: Thanks for the info. I'll keep loading up the RL7 and approach your max load & see what happens. I use Rem 7 1/2's also. Had some problems with pierced primers with loads well under max with the thinner cup walls of the Wins & others. Got on line & discovered that there is some strange phenomenon that causes it and the recommendation was to go with the thicker cup walls of the Rem's. No problems since!

 

[paulsonconstruction]

cmjr: Here's the pics of my newest most favorite rifle. L46 action, Shilen Select Match #5 contour, 21.25" long from front of action to muzzle, & a custom stock that fits me like a glove. Scope is a 3-10 x 40 Bushnell 3200 Elite that I had laying around, but am thinking of upgrading to a Leupold 4-14 VXlll. Had to put Leupold Super High mounts on it because of the comb height. The best part is it's chambered for the neatest small capacity case made, the 221 Rem. Fireball.

 

[tucsonmike]

Paulsoncon...Rifle is gorgeous--flies are in big trouble out to 250+ yards!!! Tell us about that stock! very nice!!!

 

[5280sakonut]

paulson: she is a real beauty. Bet it will shoot tiny groups. The Shilen barrels are outstanding. If you are looking for the next scope, I would suggest that you take a look at the Leupold VX3 4.5-14 Long Distance model with the side focus. This scope is a great value and the side focus is very handy. I am able to focus clearly from 50 to 1000 yds. Side by side with my $1500 Swarovski Z5 it is hard to tell the difference.