Seasoning a new barrel and cleaning

[bigrich]

It depends who you ask. Some will say "just go and shoot it" others have a specific run-in procedure. I'd look at high end barrel manufacturers for guidance but, for what it is worth, I've followed a run-in routine with all my new rifles.
Shoot, clean after each round for 5 rounds.
Shoot 5 rounds, clean for a total of 25 rounds.
After that, clean after every outing whether you shoot 1 or lots more.

That's just me as guided by what others suggest. I have no evidence it does anything to make a barrel better but I have no evidence it hurts either. Many say it is no use at all and some say it is harmful to a barrel.
If you research this topic it has been covered many times. You just need to pick a side and go with it. I don't think there is any right or wrong. I just err on the side of caution.
JIm

I’ve had new barrels fitted by Allan swan and from memory this was the run in procedure he advised. Rifles are manufactured metal products. A car is more complicated, but would you get a new car, cane the crap out of it, overheating bearings and seals, and still expect it to last a long time ? I’d rather take the time to run in a rifle I’ve paid good money for to make sure I get a lot of good accurate use. Cheers

I don’t reckon they baby drag car engines much

when they build a drag engine in street based cars, they at least run the cam in for 20 minutes on the dyno with assembly lube all over the cam and lifters, then the oil is dumped. moly piston rings are run in by this , old style cast rings take a couple of thousand kays to bed to the cylinder walls. standard "street" performance engines run about 3 thou in the bottom end bearings for a long engine life. track only motors run about 5 thou clearance in the bottom end so they have oil clearance and don't need to be run in except for the cam and they spin faster. metal expands as it heats up, a rifle barrel is no different.combined with fouling, a bore expanding with heat may also compress the bore.old millitary barrels are stepped and have very deep rifling to combat this. that's my theory anyway. you can shoot a old swede mauser until ya cant see through the scope for the heat mirage. but point of impact doesn't move much. when i first got my 6.5x55 with madco barrel, i shot a 10 shot group , not fast, but not slow either. the first couple of shots were under a inch , then the group started to open up , getting larger, but doing a reverse spiral in point of impact. never forgot that

[duncan61]

my Ruger .222 was very accurate from new and one day at my LGS a salesman told me to only clean after 50 shots.Did not work for me after 2 nights of shooting Kangaroos and about 35-40 rds the 3rd night it was way out and I had to set a metre by metre square and be at 25 metres to get all shots on paper,I had no cleaning kit with me so a costly failure.Now I clean after every session

[Sergeant Hartman]

So you saying mauser make more consistent barrels 100 years ago than maddco

[marksman]

So you saying mauser make more consistent barrels 100 years ago than maddco

maddco are the guys who started the barrel run in apparently
I myself stopped using maddco barrels after receiving one that fouled very badly and I gave up on it after 400 shots
to be fair the barrel shot very well but was not hand lapped and I cant stand having to clean a barrel for a week my bad really
maddco will hand lap but you have to ask for it and it costs a bit more
IMHO they should be doing it as part of just selling a premium barrel as well as air gauge, I know if it were me I would
it was a long time ago and maybe they have pulled there fingers out and do it now, maybe, I dont know
they cost as much as a hand lapped krieger or shilen that you can have here in around 2 weeks

[bigrich]

So you saying mauser make more consistent barrels 100 years ago than maddco

Well, I never did the same 10 shot test on the 1941 husqvana swede. But the madco on my model 70 did react as described. The madco barrel has a tapered profile, the Swede military barrel is stepped and has a much heavier profile and the rifling lands are much deeper to compensate for fouling buildup. Military barrels are designed to cope with battlefield abuse, realistically a sporting rifle only fires a few times before game has run off . Get a good Swede Mauser and they will surprise you ziad. I probably shoulda kept mine, but having a scope on a classic rifle defeats the purpose. My eyes can’t deal with open sights anymore, if I’m going to shoot with a scope it might as well be a modern rifle I can run hotter loads in . That’s my perspective anyway. Cheers

[bigrich]

So you saying mauser make more consistent barrels 100 years ago than maddco

maddco are the guys who started the barrel run in apparently
I myself stopped using maddco barrels after receiving one that fouled very badly and I gave up on it after 400 shots
to be fair the barrel shot very well but was not hand lapped and I cant stand having to clean a barrel for a week my bad really
maddco will hand lap but you have to ask for it and it costs a bit more
IMHO they should be doing it as part of just selling a premium barrel as well as air gauge, I know if it were me I would
it was a long time ago and maybe they have pulled there fingers out and do it now, maybe, I dont know
they cost as much as a hand lapped krieger or shilen that you can have here in around 2 weeks

I must’ve got a real good one. From clean and cold this rifle shoots to the same point of aim as after it has had a dozen shots through it. It’s my favourite rifle and I’ll never part with it

[marksman]

heaps of smiths and accuracy shooters swear by them

[bigrich]

with any manufactered product there's always the possibility of a "brumby" sneaking through. no complaints about my madco barrel but. biggest PITA is finding a good smith who doesn't have a long waiting time at the moment. i got my model 70 222 in at allan swans getting rebarreled, it's gunna be a wait

[TassieTiger]

Well - not sure if I seasoned correctly or not, but put an old scope on this evening whilst waiting for Leo to turn up, just to try grouping a couple from the new gun.

3 warm ups then benched the rifle and pit in some fusions 180gn. Ranged at 146 yards and aimed at orange dot.

369E6B52-CA47-434E-8639-025990DB2DAC.jpeg (1.57 MiB) Viewed 3647 times

[Stix]

with any manufactered product there's always the possibility of a "brumby" sneaking through. no complaints about my madco barrel but. biggest PITA is finding a good smith who doesn't have a long waiting time at the moment. i got my model 70 222 in at allan swans getting rebarreled, it's gunna be a wait

Gees bigrich...;last i remember that 222 was knocking eyelashes off of fleas...what happened...?

[bigrich]

with any manufactered product there's always the possibility of a "brumby" sneaking through. no complaints about my madco barrel but. biggest PITA is finding a good smith who doesn't have a long waiting time at the moment. i got my model 70 222 in at allan swans getting rebarreled, it's gunna be a wait

Gees bigrich...;last i remember that 222 was knocking eyelashes off of fleas...what happened...?

yup when i first got it, it was shooting one hole with 40 vmax. i stuffed it by cleaning. pulled the copper out and ended up with pitting in front of the chamber and a loose spot 6 inches from the end of the barrel. i could still get consistant 1 inch groups at 100 with 50 gn, but i know a 222 can do better. i think i remember you relating a tale about cleaning a old 22-250 that shot great and then went to crap after cleaning. ya win some , ya lose some.i've given the stock a birthday with some tru-oil. it came up not too bad

[Stix]

Ah good memory rich...
Yup...did that to my ol' favourite...it used to pop heads off of foxes like the old "reach" toothbrush advert...

Then i decided to clean it...

WWAAAAHHH...!!
I cried for months...!!!

Im still in denial about it--pull it out every now & then & the bitch fuks with my mind...!!

It puts a few shots into an inch or so...flirts with me enuf for me to think it misses my love as much as i miss carressing her....then i start making plans for our living happily ever after & take her on another date... & when i get her on the dance floor, thats when she starts throwing holes in trees at a 45 degree angle to our tango line...

We go thru the old usual abuse...i threaten to give her away...things settle down & six months later i let her tear my heart out again...

I looked down her gullet with someones borescope & it was like looking at a 350 year old salty crock skin...!!...fire cracking that made the grand canyon look like a hairline crack in the block of an old HR with an over-revved & over-heated 186ci red.

Ah...sorry for my flashbacks...still have a big soft spot for her...its just cheaper to pimp out a new howa than pay for boob job & good dose of lipo suction if ya get my drift.
Neither of ehich i csn afford right now...

How long you have to wait for new barrel...?

[bigrich]

Yeah well, bin told 6 to 8 weeks , hopefully because it’s just a barrel job that might be correct. The waiting times for some smiths cause they’re so busy can be ridiculous. I rang another local smith and was told to ring back in 6 months to see if they had any openings for more work. I think I got into the wrong trade. Cheers

[brinny]

This has been a hotly debated subject on a number of forums that i am in....and has led to some VERY nasty comments, and created a huge firestorm due to differences of opinion.....
My method draws critisism from the die hard barrel cleaners etc....so i very seldom ever comment on posts like this...
But i never run a barrel in....its just straight to work.....nor do i ever clean my barrels....cant remember the last time i pulled a rod through any of my rifles....and i have a few.....
Now, im not saying for one minute that thats what i suggest you do....all im saying is it works for me and my rifles all still tackhole and they have had literally thousands of shots through them......
The best advice to give is do what you feel comfortable with....make no mistake, if you go down the path of running your barrel in....it will not do your barrel any harm whatso ever....and you have piece of mind....but nearly everyone has their own method of doing it....but which one is right.....

[marksman]

This has been a hotly debated subject on a number of forums that i am in....and has led to some VERY nasty comments, and created a huge firestorm due to differences of opinion.....
My method draws critisism from the die hard barrel cleaners etc....so i very seldom ever comment on posts like this...
But i never run a barrel in....its just straight to work.....nor do i ever clean my barrels....cant remember the last time i pulled a rod through any of my rifles....and i have a few.....
Now, im not saying for one minute that thats what i suggest you do....all im saying is it works for me and my rifles all still tackhole and they have had literally thousands of shots through them......
The best advice to give is do what you feel comfortable with....make no mistake, if you go down the path of running your barrel in....it will not do your barrel any harm whatso ever....and you have piece of mind....but nearly everyone has their own method of doing it....but which one is right.....

your right brinny
and I recon the right way is what you think it is
but if you ask me what I do I will tell you