W.R.Buchanan
03-15-2012, 06:34 PM
I'm putting this post here as I thnk it pertains more to pistols than other guns, but it still applys to rifles and shotguns as well since they are all mechanical devices.
Most shooters don't realize that there is a period of "break in" associated with all guns.
This is especially true of Autoloading Guns be they rifle, pistol or shotgun, but equally as true of Leverguns Pump actions even single shots..
Until I went to Front Sight the first and second times I did not really understand how much difference there is between a new gun and one that has 1500 rounds thru it. [smilie=s:
It takes every bit of 1500 rounds to break in a Glock! Mind you, Glocks have 100% parts interchangability, and they are not exactly tightly fit guns as there is no fitting, they are just assembled. But even so they still run better after they are shot a good 1500 times.
Pistols like 1911's, especially high quality ones (STI, KIMBER etc) that have good tight slide fit up really benefit from being shot a bunch. Most guys tell me their 1911's don't really start to work well untill they have a good 3-4 thousand rounds thru them.
Where this really shows up is in the manipulation of the slide. They just get easier to operate. They also feel smoother and all around the trigger gets smoother, the mag release gets smoother, and over all the pistol just gets much friendlier in your hand.
Most people never experience this phenomenon, and the reason why, is they never shoot the gun that much. In fact I had never experienced it until I went to the 4 day pistol class, as that class was the only time I had ever had an excuse to shoot 800 rounds in one four day time frame. :veryconfu
Most guys who shoot some kind of competition where they are putting many rounds thru the gun frequently can relate to my assertions. Shooting IDPA or Steel Challenge, and Cowboy Action or being involved in some kind of shooting competition are the best ways to shoot alot. Frequent shooting is the key to competancy with any firearm. I don't care if your main pursuit is hunting, you still need to shoot frequently so that you are good enough to insure a humane shot on your quarry.
Paco Kelly states in "Paco's Rule#1 for hunters" That you should be firing "at least" 100 rounds for every 100 yards of distance you choose to shoot at a game animal. That means if you are going to shoot a Deer at 300 yards you should have shot your hunting rifle 300 times at that distance that year in preparation for that shot. This much shooting promotes, but not necessarily guarantees competeance. You have the moral obligation to insure that you are in fact competant, but realistically this should be judged by someone other than you, as many people have a much higher opinion of themselves than is really warranted in the real world. [smilie=p:
My G35 has about 6000 rounds thru it and my G21SF which is fairly new and has not done a FS class yet has about 500 thru it. The .45 is starting to loosen up and since it is a Glock it runs exactly the same way as my G35 does. But it will get a workout next month when we do our spring pistol class.
Another gun I have first hand experience running many rounds thru in a short period of time is my Mini14. After 500 rounds in 4 days that gun was an absolute joy to shoot. The action was smooth as glass, the trigger pull was as good or better than any Garand I have ever touched, and I was hitting the targets with annoying regularity out to 200 yards.
My favorite uncle gave me his "Pristine Browning A5" before he died in 1995. He had bought the gun in 1965 and had fired it exactly 22 times in 30 years. He even gave me the three remaining shells from the box he bought with the gun. He never experienced how well this gun functions. I ran 8 boxes thru it during my first Dove shoot with the gun a week after I got it. I have also shot Trap with it several times and at 250 rounds a session the gun probably has 1000 rounds thru it now and is breaking in nicely.
My Citori XT trap gun has about 4000 rounds thru it and it is just to the point where it opens without too much resistance. It is still very tight and unless I lube the hinge every hundred rounds it starts getting tighter. Definately a Zero tolerance fit in the hinge, and those guns are just built like that.
It should be noted that higher end shotguns do require a lot more breakin due to the extremely tight fits they use in the interest of longevity. It is nothing to see a Trap gun that has 250,000 rounds thru it, and maybe had the springs replaced once. Trap and Skeet guns I would venture to say get shot more than any other kind of gun there is. I saw a Kreighoff Trap gun at a high end dealer in LA that had over 1 million rounds thru it and they still wanted $8500 for it. The gun did however look new as that type of gun does tend to be taken care of a little better than your typical run of the mill 870.
I have many guns that are not broke in, and may never be. Simply because they will never get shot enough, however I intend to try to wear all of them out!
When you shoot a gun alot you will truely get the most bang for your buck (both literally and figuratively) because you will experience what the gun was designed to feel like, and how it should operate. If you only shoot ocassionally it will never happen.
The whole point of this post is to encourage you to shoot alot! We cast boolits so that we can afford to shoot more. We devise new games so we can shoot more. We devise more excuses so our wives will let us shoot more. So the only thing left is to actually go and shoot!
So go make sure all your guns are well broken in! :bigsmyl2:
It will make you feel better. :cbpour:
Randy
Most shooters don't realize that there is a period of "break in" associated with all guns.
This is especially true of Autoloading Guns be they rifle, pistol or shotgun, but equally as true of Leverguns Pump actions even single shots..
Until I went to Front Sight the first and second times I did not really understand how much difference there is between a new gun and one that has 1500 rounds thru it. [smilie=s:
It takes every bit of 1500 rounds to break in a Glock! Mind you, Glocks have 100% parts interchangability, and they are not exactly tightly fit guns as there is no fitting, they are just assembled. But even so they still run better after they are shot a good 1500 times.
Pistols like 1911's, especially high quality ones (STI, KIMBER etc) that have good tight slide fit up really benefit from being shot a bunch. Most guys tell me their 1911's don't really start to work well untill they have a good 3-4 thousand rounds thru them.
Where this really shows up is in the manipulation of the slide. They just get easier to operate. They also feel smoother and all around the trigger gets smoother, the mag release gets smoother, and over all the pistol just gets much friendlier in your hand.
Most people never experience this phenomenon, and the reason why, is they never shoot the gun that much. In fact I had never experienced it until I went to the 4 day pistol class, as that class was the only time I had ever had an excuse to shoot 800 rounds in one four day time frame. :veryconfu
Most guys who shoot some kind of competition where they are putting many rounds thru the gun frequently can relate to my assertions. Shooting IDPA or Steel Challenge, and Cowboy Action or being involved in some kind of shooting competition are the best ways to shoot alot. Frequent shooting is the key to competancy with any firearm. I don't care if your main pursuit is hunting, you still need to shoot frequently so that you are good enough to insure a humane shot on your quarry.
Paco Kelly states in "Paco's Rule#1 for hunters" That you should be firing "at least" 100 rounds for every 100 yards of distance you choose to shoot at a game animal. That means if you are going to shoot a Deer at 300 yards you should have shot your hunting rifle 300 times at that distance that year in preparation for that shot. This much shooting promotes, but not necessarily guarantees competeance. You have the moral obligation to insure that you are in fact competant, but realistically this should be judged by someone other than you, as many people have a much higher opinion of themselves than is really warranted in the real world. [smilie=p:
My G35 has about 6000 rounds thru it and my G21SF which is fairly new and has not done a FS class yet has about 500 thru it. The .45 is starting to loosen up and since it is a Glock it runs exactly the same way as my G35 does. But it will get a workout next month when we do our spring pistol class.
Another gun I have first hand experience running many rounds thru in a short period of time is my Mini14. After 500 rounds in 4 days that gun was an absolute joy to shoot. The action was smooth as glass, the trigger pull was as good or better than any Garand I have ever touched, and I was hitting the targets with annoying regularity out to 200 yards.
My favorite uncle gave me his "Pristine Browning A5" before he died in 1995. He had bought the gun in 1965 and had fired it exactly 22 times in 30 years. He even gave me the three remaining shells from the box he bought with the gun. He never experienced how well this gun functions. I ran 8 boxes thru it during my first Dove shoot with the gun a week after I got it. I have also shot Trap with it several times and at 250 rounds a session the gun probably has 1000 rounds thru it now and is breaking in nicely.
My Citori XT trap gun has about 4000 rounds thru it and it is just to the point where it opens without too much resistance. It is still very tight and unless I lube the hinge every hundred rounds it starts getting tighter. Definately a Zero tolerance fit in the hinge, and those guns are just built like that.
It should be noted that higher end shotguns do require a lot more breakin due to the extremely tight fits they use in the interest of longevity. It is nothing to see a Trap gun that has 250,000 rounds thru it, and maybe had the springs replaced once. Trap and Skeet guns I would venture to say get shot more than any other kind of gun there is. I saw a Kreighoff Trap gun at a high end dealer in LA that had over 1 million rounds thru it and they still wanted $8500 for it. The gun did however look new as that type of gun does tend to be taken care of a little better than your typical run of the mill 870.
I have many guns that are not broke in, and may never be. Simply because they will never get shot enough, however I intend to try to wear all of them out!
When you shoot a gun alot you will truely get the most bang for your buck (both literally and figuratively) because you will experience what the gun was designed to feel like, and how it should operate. If you only shoot ocassionally it will never happen.
The whole point of this post is to encourage you to shoot alot! We cast boolits so that we can afford to shoot more. We devise new games so we can shoot more. We devise more excuses so our wives will let us shoot more. So the only thing left is to actually go and shoot!
So go make sure all your guns are well broken in! :bigsmyl2:
It will make you feel better. :cbpour:
Randy