• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

Sako A7 RoughTech Break In Help

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

Hunter27

Member
Dear all Sako owners. I am new to rifle break ins and just purchased a new Sako A7 RoughTech Stainless in a 7mm rem mag for hunting.

I searched on several different sites on top rated cleaning solvents and break in procedures. I ended up performing the below and wanted you Sako owners opinions to make sure this was safe and a good standard to use for future cleanings. I ended up buying MPRO7 and KG Coating products. Used KG for break in.

-shoot 1 round and clean per below steps after each shot for the first 5 rounds.
-shoot 5 rounds and then clean per the below steps.
-this was a total of 20 rounds

Step 1 KG-1 Carbon:
1. Saturate patch, run 2 wet patches through bore.
2. Run 2 to 3 dry patches until clean.
3. Repeat above steps if needed.
4. Spray a dry patch with Browning Step 3 solvent/degreaser “Was told this is the same as KG3”
5. Run 1 to 2 dry patches until clean white.

Step 2 KG-12 Copper:
1. Saturate patch, run 1 wet patch through bore.
2. Run nylon brush through bore until poking out of barrel, saturate with KG-12.
3. Brush bore back and forth 24 times.
4. Run 2 dry patches through bore.
5. Spray a dry patch with Browning Step 3 solvent/degreaser “was told this is the same as KG3”
6. Run 1 to 2 dry patches until clean white.

Step 3 KG-4 Oil:
1. Apply several drops “6” of oil on patch.
2. Run oiled patch through bore.
3. Follow with 1 dry patch for next shot or storage.

Now that I shot one box of ammo. I am going to try shooting for accuracy for a good hunting round. I plan on shooting 10 rounds and then clean per above for now and the future.

Please share your thoughts and let me know if I did this correctly and safely. If you feel I should be doing something else please share.

Hunting rounds I plan on trying to find what shoots best are: Nosler Trophy Grade 160 grain accubond and Federal Premium 150 grain Trophy copper.

Look forward to feedback and thank you for your support.
 
Articles as long as encyclopedias have been written about barrel "break-in". You can find as many opinions as you can precision shooters. But the bottom line among experienced shooters is that a smooth bore needs little or no break-in. Sako barrels are hammer forged, which tends to leave a rather smooth bore, so I've never given a second thought to breaking in.

With only one or two exceptions, all of my Sakos were purchased used. That means I have no idea of how the barrels were initially treated -- except that most people just sight them in then go hunt. It never crosses my mind to wonder how the barrel was "broken-in". With very few exceptions, I've found all of these used Sakos to shoot the way you would hope they would.

My only caution, whether it is a new or a used barrel, is never to shoot so rapidly that you get it too hot. Excessive heat is the bane of barrel life and accuracy. Most especially with a caliber like 7mm Magnum you should take it slow and easy between shots.
 
Thank you stone creek!

The process steps I mentioned above, do you think this is a good cleaning procedure thats safe?

I was told rather than shooting 10 rounds and then clean. Shoot the rifle until the group starts the scatter. Then you know it’s time to clean. With that being said, what do you typically do when you go out and shoot say 8 rounds and don’t do a fun clean and put it back in the gun safe for the next time? Do you just simply run a patch of gun oil down the bore? Then of course for long term storage, over several months do a full clean with oil?
 
For my background, I took up target shooting 6 years ago or so. Its recreational, never going to be good enough or afford to be good enough to do competition though I may play at it if I manage to retire.

I think I have picked up a lot that makes common sense as opposed to the Urban Legends of the shooting business.

If I have an opinion, its stated as suchy (or a feeling or its just how I like to do things because it suits me, not because I have decided that what suits me is the end to all things

For barrel break in, Shilen (one of the top aftermarket button rifle custom barrels) had the most honest answer that makes sense to me, "it makes no difference". People keep bugging us so here is the wisdom.

I have done 3 custom barrels (all stainless) , it did 't make any difference how I did it, the best shooting one (Shilen) I just shot and cleaned a couple times during 50-100 rounds of shooting.

So, shoot it 10 or 15 rounds and clean it, repeat. That barrel shoot as good the first shot as the rest. The others like a fouling shot or two.

No one has setup up a real scientific study and proved anything. So its really supposition unless someone does (not likely, they know how to make good barrels and doing a definite study would cost a lot)

As for copper, I have not run into it, I don't shoot any of the calibers that go over 2800 fps so I am not into that arena.

As for cleaning, this article was by far the best, he went about it right, used a boroscope to confirm (I have a Lyman now, his was the better Hawkeye)

http://www.slip2000.com/blog/precision-shooting-magazine/

What I found agrees fully with his findings, the Carbon Killer 2000 works better than anything on carbon. The Bore Tech Eliminator
does copper the best I have seen (and he does not say but it has a decent carbon component as well). I do get older guns with some copper in them so I have tested it.

Both are non haz, non toxic (my wife was having issues with Hoppes in the shop leaking into the house). They use focused chemistry rather than brute force dissolving to do the job from my view.

Without a boroscope, the bore may look shiny, but the boro scope tells you what is down in the groves and you can see the CK2k or BTE working.

I have developed my own variation on how I got about it, partly as I hate to clean at home as I need to get to the range ealry to get a bench and I run late and don't get them cleaned, so I clean after I shoot X rounds (usually 25-50)

This is for the CK2K as I don't have copper. I shoot when the barrel is warm, that helps the process and about 3 cycles and the barrel is clean. If I can time it I run the CK2K through and soak the barrel as a cease fire is called, then it soaks while people go down range and I resume cleaning when the line is hot again.

I use a nylon brush, I have an eye dropper bottle, I drizzle the CK2K on the nylon brush which holds it pretty good, run it through the barrel, drizzle it again on the other end, then 3 to 5 strokes, the nylon brush is out the barrel on the last one, I drizzle again, pull it out and run a dry patch through.

I repeat that about 3 times and its clean. No black and a light color stain on the last patch. I run a final patch through to get the last chemical out of the bore.

You can do the same at home, takes a bit more.

We had a family 270 (Finnbear) that the best I could get to shoot with handloads was 1.5 inches.

Once I put the gun through the regimen its shoots 7/8 at 100.

It had been cleaned after each shooting with Hoppes, it just never got it all out. With the boro scope I could see the 50 years of carbon that had never quite got cleaned out build up. That one took some time as I wet the barrel with CK2K and then let it sit. There was no copper to speak of in it and what there was came out with the BTE.

The Lyman runs $170 or so on sale, worth it if you have a lot of guns and need to see what you are doing.
 
I too am a great fan of "bore tech eliminator" however a word of caution, do not allow it to get it on the stock as it will mar the finish. As for removing copper fouling I have found nothing better. As Stone stated "excessive heat is the bane of barrel life and accuracy". Easy does it.
 
I will add that the barrel break in is my opinion.

And Jim is right on heat, also powder charges add to that, the more powder the worse the throat erosion (where most of the issues come). 7mm in the target trade is known as a barrel eater. Lot of powder pushing a small pill out the bore. Great hunting rifle, but a lot of target shooting and its going to be gone in 1500-2500 rounds. Slow shooting and cool off and lower powder charges for target help.

What I think has happened with barrels is what I call the Maiden into the Volcano.

You sacrifice the maiden, it quiets down, ahah, no maiden is safe, we just need to chuck one into the volcano when its restless and that morphs into, well, as a precaution, lets chuck one regularly .

The fear of not doing the right thing for a barrel has grown the same way in my opinion. It doesn't hurt, but it does nothing as well.

No one has done a detailed study to prove it one way or the other.

As Jim noted, hammer forged are smooth. A Savage barrel is button rifled, pretty rugged to look at in a boro scope as they do not lap. I have an X-caliber barrel that is about half way in between the Savage and Shilen. Savage is hardest to clean, the Shilen easiest as its the smoothest. I am not impressed with X-caliber barrels and would not buy another one.

Also of note, I have not had either product CK2K or BTE damage a Finnish (pun). Its a good caution as they are not all the same.

My 30-06 had no copper, the 270 did a bit and I had no problems with it. I don't leave any on any stock either.
 
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