Breaking in a 'new' gun

[MikeS]

Hi All.

I recently traded with a fellow member of this forum and got a Ruger Mini-30 as my end of the trade. While the rifle was made in 1995 it has sat in a safe for all that time, and I'm pretty sire it's unfired. I also got several hundred rounds of Chinese milsurp ammo with it that has the steel jacketed bullets on them. I plan on shooting lead thru this rifle, and have even pulled some of the bullets from some of the ammo I got, so I could reload them with cast boolits. Is it a good idea to start a fresh bore with cast lead boolits right away, or should I shoot some of the steel jacketed rounds thru the bore to sort of break it in before switching to lead boolits?

While the chinese cases (and the 20 Russian cases) I have are steel cases, and berdan primed, I'm planning on reloading them once I secure a supply of the proper sized berdan primers. I believe the only reason folks think they non-reloadable is because of the berdan priming, and that really doesn't make them non-reloadable, it just makes it more interesting to reload, as they have to be decapped in a different method. I would think that steel cases should tend to last longer than brass, as long as I can get the proper berdan primers, I should be ok. But again, should I shoot some of the steel jacketed bullets to break in the bore, or just go directly to shooting lead? Thanks!

[Wayne Smith]

Mike, I can't answer your question because it totally relies on the quality of the bore at this time. If it is rough, then yes, it is a good idea. If not, maybe not necessary. I can warn you, though, to become anal about cleaning your steel cases before they get near a sizing die. Anything hard between steel and steel will scratch one or both.

[FN in MT]

I'm not trying to be a wise *** with this reply but from experience ACCURACY from a mini 30 is going to be mediocre to poor anyway. I couldn't even imagine wasting the time loading for one.

I had one so did a buddy. It was very difficult even at 50 yds to discerne any difference between our PATTERNS with chinese/russian FMJ or Federal SP's.

Then again I have read claims of reasonable accuracy from the newer mini 30's. So you may get lucky.

FN in MT

[garym1a2]

I would just shoot the steel case and core ammo off and than clean the gun very good for all copper residure. Than go find a good source of brass cases with the standard primers.

Life is too short for me to struggle with poor component when reloading.
The Mini-14s and min 30s are ment to be shot a lot and can be super reliable. With good mags a mini14 is much more reliable than the AR's and AK's in my book. Accuracy is defintly less than the AR's and better than the AK;s.

They make a great truck gun.

[Shiloh]

I'm not trying to be a wise *** with this reply but from experience ACCURACY from a mini 30 is going to be mediocre to poor anyway. I couldn't even imagine wasting the time loading for one. FN in MT

Not with the price and availability of 7.62x39 ammo. Berdan primed to boot. What a hassle, but it is your time. I could see loading berdan primed brass if you had brass for some obscure European caliber, but 7.62x39??

Shiloh

[303Guy]

Depends on what kind of shooting you want to do. I used a mini-14 as my primary varmint rifle for years. It was deadly. It did take some tweeking to get it accurate and it wasn't a tack driver but its usable range it was fine.

I would avoid resizing the cases if it were me but that would make boolit size more critical so as seat them without expanding the neck too much. Do-able but this is a semi-auto so they can't be too loose either. Paper patching would do it. How does a 200gr boolit at 1800 to 1900 fps sound? Not sure what plain case would be capable of.

[mpmarty]

Savage has a pdf on breaking in a new barrel. It is a very complex process and time consuming. I did this with my 308 savage and have had great results and no leading. It has never had a Jword fired through it.

[Shiloh]

I Shoot mine. Clean as usual and shoot it another day. Never really bought into the shot one round, then five, then a string, cleaning in between ect.

See what Gale McMillan has to say about barrel break in. This is for jacketed bullets mind you.
He thinks it is a way to sell barrels.
http://www.6mmbr.com/GailMcMbreakin.html

Shiloh

[303Guy]

OK, here's an idea. Use something like Autosol Metal Polish as a lapping compound and smear it on the boolits that fit the throat snugly and shoot 'em. That will polish the tool marks in the bore. It doesn't matter if some gets into the chamber - it just polishes the brass (these would be quite light loads). I'm not sure if that would also polish the chamber - probably not. I gave mine quite a liberal smear with some over the ogive, the idea being that on firing that excess would slip back applying a supply of polish down the bore.

[Gtek]

Ruger Mini's have a 308"-309" bore if I recall. Years ago there was chatter about shooting Com-Bloc at 311" or so causing rapid throat erosion. Most are treated as Zombie defense training, fast and hot. IMO that weapon is a suburban area fire suppression unit, the barn door at 50, the barn at a 100. I would not expect better than 5" at 100 on a good one. Good Luck. Gtek

[garym1a2]

He has good advice, back in my high power days I damaged a good M1A barrellel by cleaning to much. The Rod would rub on the end of the barrel till the crown was ruined, than accuracy went downhill. Luckly they could recrown it. Nowdays i am of the shoot till dirty and than clean it. Lead barrels should last a long time. Rifle barrels shooting jackets don't need clean that often.

With a new rifle I think Jacket bullets break in the barrel the first few hundred rounds. With my latest 9mm glock lead barrel I just shot lead from the biginning and have not noticed any issues.
I Shoot mine. Clean as usual and shoot it another day. Never really bought into the shot one round, then five, then a string, cleaning in between ect.

See what Gale McMillan has to say about barrel break in. This is for jacketed bullets mind you.
He thinks it is a way to sell barrels.
http://www.6mmbr.com/GailMcMbreakin.html

Shiloh

[pdawg_shooter]

When I was a dealer I sold 20+ mini 14s. The best any ever shot was 3 to 3 1/2" Most were in the 5 to 6" range. A few were in the 8 to 9" range. Made me NOT wont one real bad.

[Shiloh]

have owned several in the past. 3 1/2" - 4" groups tops with match Sierra's or Hornady's and carefully loaded rounds. When the barrel got hot, add an inch and a half. THhs was with the .223 version

Shiloh

[MikeS]

Thanks for all the info, and links. I think I'm going to pull all the steel jacketed bullets I have here, and replace them with lead boolits. I've been doing some reading, and it seems from what I've been reading that adding a muzzle brake, and possibly an accustrut as well will help with accuracy. I'm going to try just the muzzle brake first, as it's cheap enough, and I'm not really looking for tack driving accuracy, the rifle is going to be a plinker for me, so doesn't really need to be that accurate. I've got close to 500 rounds of the chinese ammo, so once I shoot them (loaded with lead boolits), then I'll worry about if I'm going to try and reload them, or just trash them, and get boxer primed brass to reload.