Barrel break in

[mustanggt]

I've got a big 50 coming in another month or so and am wondering what 50cal jacket stuff I can use to break in the barrel per Badgers procedure? Finding a 458cal bullet was easy but a 512 diameter I'm having a harder time. Any ideas?

[GabbyM]

Clean it good then polish with JB bore paste and go shoot cast.

Opinions differ. I break in my sub caliber high velocity rifles with cast bullets before running jackets down them. Works for me. I strive to polish a bore not laminate it.

[herbert buckland]

Put a few hard cast through it then some paper patched bullets through with some light loads of SP(I youse Trail Boss for this), this has worked for me very well

[bigted]

you can also "lube" your cast with 'crest' tooth paste and fire a few of these thru ...only make sure you tone the velocity way down as all your trying to do is polish the barrel and fold the pores shut and seal them with themselves and this takes different applications for each barrel till it shines like wet when cleaned and wiped dry. go slowly with whatever you use tho as you could come dangerously close to premature wear instead of stopping at the break-in.

i find this area of shooting to be very frustrating to do. i have a 38-55 barrel that is being very stubborn on the break in...however i see that it wants to shoot well so the single shooting then allowing it to cool completely while scrubbing it out to remove any contaminates from the open pores is tolerable.

i continue with the break in till the clean-up is a snap...requiring only a couple swipes to clean...unless i have a leaded condition...then all the break in is suddenly worth all the fuss as a bit of turpentine soaked patches and a tight clean patch after the turpentine has had an hour or two to soak in under the lead and then a tight patch removes it lick-ety-split.

[Gunlaker]

I broke in one of my Badger barrels using their instructions. I also have a number of other rifles with Badger barrels that I did not break in at all. They all shoot well and are very easy to clean. If I remember correctly, according to their instructions, you can use cast bullets with their procedure, it just takes longer.

Personally though, I'd just shoot it as it is.

Chris.

[NickSS]

I have five rifles with Badger barrels and I never broke in any of them. They all shot extremely well from the git go. In fact the only barrel that I ever had to break in so it shot cast lead bullets with black powder well is one of my Pedersolli Sharps rifles. This one is one of the Cheap hunter models that Cabella's sells. I originally bought it for a hunting rifle so as not to beat up my C Sharps or Shiloh rifles out in the woods. It shot so so and was hard to clean after the first time I shot it. So I loaded up 50 rounds of jacketed and fired them out starting with a couple and cleaning then a few more with more cleaning etc. By time I had 40 rounds through it I was getting very good 5 shot groups so I put the last 10 through it and achieved a nice 1.75 inch group. I next tried it with black loaded with 400 gr cast and 65 gr of FFG. Results were as good as the jacketed group and the bore cleaned with two wet patches and a dry one followed by an oily one.

[August]

I don't know about "breaking in" a barrel. But, I do buy into the notion that overheating a new barrel is a bad thing and can create a barrel that "walks" for the rest of its days.

In other words, break-in procedures are a surefire way to get the user to keep the gun cool during initial firings. It makes sense that final annealing will occur during break in.

[Gunlaker]

I don't know about "breaking in" a barrel. But, I do buy into the notion that overheating a new barrel is a bad thing and can create a barrel that "walks" for the rest of its days.

In other words, break-in procedures are a surefire way to get the user to keep the gun cool during initial firings. It makes sense that final annealing will occur during break in.

That could be August. I wipe between shots and it's generally cold here. Unless I'm in direct sunlight I've never had any issues with my black powder rifle barrels getting hot. That might be why the no-breakin technique has worked for my rifles.

Chris.

[montana_charlie]

It makes sense that final annealing will occur during break in.
The temperarture required to anneal steel ranges from 760 to 910 degrees celsius, depending on carbon content. After heating, the metal is held at that temperture for a prescribed amount of time, then allowed to air cool to room temperature.

760° celsius, the low end of the range, equals 1400° farenheit ... twice as hot as your bullet casting alloy.

CM

[largom]

If you are going to shoot cast boolits in this gun [assuming you have a mold], just fill the lube grooves with 600 grit lapping compound and shoot them, cleaning after each shot. Should not require more than 10 or 12 shots with a GOOD barrel. You could also polish the bore with a bore mop coated with JB bore paste or a fine lapping compound. If polishing by hand Do Not push the mop thru the muzzle and pull it back. This will damage the crown! I much prefer shooting coated boolits.

If you are going to use jacketed bullets then use the ones you are going to always shoot. My procedure is to shoot one and clean after each shot until complete. This can require many, many, many shots. The reason I clean after each shot is to remove any carbon or copper hanging on the rough edges. This makes the breaking in go faster since you are not shooting over layers of fouling.

When you get your gun shoot 3 or 4 normal rounds thru it and then check the muzzle and see if you can see any copper in the bore, if so you need the break-in procedure. I once bought a high dollar premium .264 barrel and followed the manuf. break-in procedures. After break-in this barrel would still copper foul so bad that each shot after the third one would walk 1/2 in. After I fire lapped it the barrel shoots good.

Larry

[montana_charlie]

You could also polish the bore with a bore mop coated with JB bore paste or a fine lapping compound. If polishing by hand Do Not push the mop thru the muzzle and pull it back. This will damage the crown!
I have a trick I use when using a product like JB Bore Paste.

I coat a felt lap (or mop) with the paste, then shove it into an empty cartridge case. After wiping the case exterior clean, chamber it in the rifle.

Using a muzzle guard, run a cleaning rod through the bore and screw it onto the waiting lap.
The bore can be thoroughly polished without affecting the muzzle or the chamber.

Push the lap back into the case, then shove it out through the breech.
Remove the case and the lap and pull the rod from the barrel.

CM

[RMulhern]

Shoot 3000 good PP through it and it'll be just fine!

[mustanggt]

Thanks for the help boys. I'm starting with greasers Rick but will get to paper patching for that rifle. I'm going to cut my teeth on my 45/70 for paper patching.

[Hip's Ax]

I have 2 CPA's with 34" Badger Barrels and I am a big one for barrel break in but I did not have the time to do anything to either barrel. I do wipe every shot with 10:1 oil and water (always) and I just shot both of them right away (I got each one of them JUST in time for a match) and both rifles (one 45-70 one 45-90) shoot fantastic. I only shoot black powder and grease groove cast boolits in these rifles, neither has ever seen jacketed or smokeless.

After shooting I run the oil and water (moosemilk) patches through until I get a clean one, then I clean as usual with brushes patches and solvent then oil the heck out of the bore and wipe down the outside with thin oil. I have had the 70 for 4 years and the 90 for three years and both rifles still look new inside and out. Never any sign of leading ever.

I have been known to take days weeks months and in one case years breaking in barrels on my smokeless jacketed shooting target rifles.

[RMulhern]

Years?? Me thinks you're suffering from one of those 'compulsive repetitive disorders'!!

[Hip's Ax]

Years?? Me thinks you're suffering from one of those 'compulsive repetitive disorders'!!

LOL, you are not the only one. My shooting buddies still break my chops.

I like the shoot one and remove all the copper method, almost all rifles slick up in 7 or so rounds. My Palma rifle was different. It took over 50 rounds and 4 or 5 years (I shoot a lot of matches of all kinds so weekends are at a premium) and the first dozen or even 20 rounds took on the order of 8 hours constant attention to get the copper out. The barrel did eventually slick up but like it said it took over 50 rounds.

A friend was looking into getting a long range prone gun built and he asked me for info. I sent him my invoices from Warner and upon reading them myself I found that I had a tight bore barrel, 0.298"/0.307" rather than the normal 0.300"/0.308". I looked skyward and slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand.

[largom]

I have a trick I use when using a product like JB Bore Paste.

I coat a felt lap (or mop) with the paste, then shove it into an empty cartridge case. After wiping the case exterior clean, chamber it in the rifle.

Using a muzzle guard, run a cleaning rod through the bore and screw it onto the waiting lap.
The bore can be thoroughly polished without affecting the muzzle or the chamber.

Push the lap back into the case, then shove it out through the breech.
Remove the case and the lap and pull the rod from the barrel.

CM


Now why didn't I think of that? Thanks for the tip.

Larry

[RMulhern]

Let me tell you how we broke in National Match Star-guaged barrels in our M1 Garands back in 1958! We (all team members) would run about 5 clips of 8 through the barrels about as quick as we could pull the triggers! We could then lay down from 600 yards and shoot cleans with a pretty good V count!! Me thinks a whole lot of this 'barrel break-in' procedure is HS of the highest order! For the young studs that don't know any better!!

[semtav]

I have been known to take days weeks months and in one case years breaking in barrels on my smokeless jacketed shooting target rifles.

I might break your record on that.
After several misstarts on my 42-85, and still getting too much leading
, I decided to try it the right way.
Shoot a jacketed bullet, clean all the copper out, repeat.
So far I've shot two , and the last was a couple weeks ago. decided I wouldn't shoot another til all the copper was completely cleaned out.
At the rate I'm going, it may take a year, but I'm not going to shoot lead in it till it quits coating the barrel with copper on each shot.

[waksupi]

Let me tell you how we broke in National Match Star-guaged barrels in our M1 Garands back in 1958! We (all team members) would run about 5 clips of 8 through the barrels about as quick as we could pull the triggers! We could then lay down from 600 yards and shoot cleans with a pretty good V count!! Me thinks a whole lot of this 'barrel break-in' procedure is HS of the highest order! For the young studs that don't know any better!!

Amen!

[6.5 mike]

+1 on paper patch, just what I plan to do with the 2 from C Sharps next month [smilie=w:.