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stubbicatt
05-11-2015, 11:41 AM
Guys, I am to receive a new Uberti rifle this week. I intend to shoot boolits through it. I do have experience with a Marlin years ago where, using my boolits and home made lube, that thing was always a breeze to clean. I always figured that it was "seasoned" as never so much as a speck of leading in the tube.

With the Marlin I had shot several jacketed bullets when I first received it, before changing over to cast.

I do not know for sure, but I figured the jacketed bullets would have ironed out or otherwise removed any minute imperfections in the tube.

My question is whether I should follow a similar drill with this new barrel to assure that the tube is smoothed out before shooting boolits through it. Or perhaps there is an even better approach?

--Looking forward to advice on best practices.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Stubb

Hickory
05-11-2015, 12:07 PM
50 jacketed bullets down the tube won't hurt, followed by a good cleaning with J-B bore paste.
Then I'd follow that with about 50 passes with flitz, all from the breech end.

dondiego
05-11-2015, 12:10 PM
...................or just shoot it with a bunch of boolits!

44man
05-11-2015, 12:16 PM
Nothing should be needed. Shoot it first with boolits. it was test fired with jacketed so clean out any copper first.

country gent
05-11-2015, 12:32 PM
On my new match rifle barrels ( kriger, pac nor lilja green mountain and douglas) I like to do a break in with ammo close to what will be used. I fire 1 round and clean 5 times 2 rounds and clean 5 times 3 rds and clean 5 times then 5 round groups to 50 or there abouts rds total fired. May not be needed now with the new manufacturering methods and better finishes but it is something I have always done. After the "break in" checking barrel with the Hawkeye bore scope they appear smoother and the "flow" looks better alighned. I do this both with jacketed bullets and cast bullets depending on what the rifle will be used with. Above all a good cleaning before firing to remove any crud from test firing and or shipping is most important. Also a tight fitting patch on a jag will give an idea of the bores surface and consistency.

Shiloh
05-12-2015, 09:14 AM
...................or just shoot it with a bunch of boolits!

:)

Shiloh

Freeandcold
05-12-2015, 12:54 PM
+1 for what Hickory recommended.
A little smoothing out won't hurt and will likely help. Make sure you clean out all the copper before going with boolits.

Or clean it and shoot it and see if you have a problem before you try to fix it. Just don't go to long between cleanings at first.

I've done what country gent does too. The idea is that the copper wears off the roughness. But, it builds up quickly, covering the roughness. So, you clean then shoot again. It's the first shot out of the clean bore that does the work. The next just build up copper. I think you get the same result over time if you clean well between shooting sessions. The shoot, clean, shoot... Just gets the job done quicker. Once the roughness is gone the copper fouling or leading is greatly reduced (assuming boolit fit, etc. is ok)...

stubbicatt
05-12-2015, 04:26 PM
Thanks guys. I guess there is no definitive answer.

CHeatermk3
05-12-2015, 05:43 PM
The debate over barrel "Break in" has gone on for years.

Dan Lilja, I believe says that the shoot-and-clean regimen is not necessary.

I believe that with run-of-the-mill factory barrels a bit of the shoot-n-clean break-in method country gent outlines can be helpful. I personally believe that no break-in is necessary for a match-grade tube; you're just wearing out the gilt edge condition of the new lands' nice sharp edges.

I just started shooting a factory-new Zastava M85 7,63x39 rifle. I had never loaded for this cartridge and bought the rifle intending to shoot cast almost exclusively. I had no idea what moulds to get so I bought some cheapo jacketed ammo for the cases and shot 4 rounds to have some fired cases to measure and get an idea how big a boolit I could chamber in loaded rounds.

I cleaned after those 4 rounds(and however many proof rounds were fired at the factory). Used Patch-out copper remover and got royal blue patches out. It took 5 solvent/wait/dry patch sessions to get to a clean bore condition(as following the manufacturers' directions for Patch-out).

After a few days, I mounted a scope on the rifle and fired another 10 rounds of jacketed ammo, and cleaned--got royal blue wet patches again to start with but only needed 3 more sessions to get to clean bore condition.

A few days later I shot another 16 rounds of j-words to finish up the box of S&B ammo I started the first day(getting antsy but still needed to wait for tooling and boolits to cure). This time I got NO royal blue patches the first wet-patching and got to clean bore condition after a total of 3 cleaning sessions.

SO- I learned that, for this barrel at least, yes-firing jacketed factory ammo does "knock the rough spots down". Shoot factory ammo if you want--you're gonna want fireformed cases anyway!

Enjoy your new thunderstick!

44man
05-14-2015, 10:22 AM
Too smooth can be a detriment to accuracy. Seems you need some Resistance to boolit movement. Crosswise tool marks should be smoothed out but do really want a mirror bore?
Seems my most accuracy came from new guns.
I have done all the shoot, clean, shoot clean stuff too but it seems to hasten the path to an accuracy loss. I will never believe in a high polished bore.