New Bbl break in

[JudgeBAC]

How should I break in a new 29-10 .44 mag S&W? (jacketed or cast)? Any special break in recommendations for a handgun? Of course, I plan on shooting cast exclusively when the gun is good and broken in.

[fourarmed]

Clean bore, oil lightly, shoot a few jacketed, repeat. This should smooth out any burrs.

[Bass Ackward]

How should I break in a new 29-10 .44 mag S&W? (jacketed or cast)? Any special break in recommendations for a handgun? Of course, I plan on shooting cast exclusively when the gun is good and broken in.


I use both. And I alternate every so often too, even after the gun IS broken in.

How much if any break-in is needed is best answered by Professor Gun. If a gun won't shoot lead right off, then let it tell you when it's ready. Cause there is less risk to damage cleaning out copper than scraping out lead.

[Lloyd Smale]

What i used to do with a factory gun is shoot about a 100 jacketed bullets through it cleaning it after 50 and cleaning it real well at the end. Most aftermarket barrels dont need this and actually most factory barrels probably dont either. Anymore i dont even bother. Just shot them with cast and if they lead i lap the barrel. Saves 20 bucks in bullets.

[freedom475]

Copper fouling can be hard to completely remove. Copper is much harder than lead,so it might not hurt for break-in but if there is any left in the barrel when you fire a cast through it is like sandpaper on the cast boolet. Causing a boolet/load combination to lead your barrel that would not normaly cause leading.

Before I knew better I use to shoot a few jacketed rounds just to clean out the lead from casts. Not knowing the whole time that it was the jacketed rounds causing the leading problem all along. Now after a lot of copper clean-up, I will not shoot copper in my big-bore revolvers again.

:castmine:

[waksupi]

We break in several new rifles each week. Stainless will generally group well with no preparation. Chrome moly needs some break in.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive shot a couple jacketed rounds through guns to remove light leading for years. Lead is a lubricant and i doubt shooting jacketed bulelts to remove it would alloy for copper fouling unless your barrel was very rough to start with. Bottom line though is that its a stop gap procedure. If your barrel is leading theres a reason for it and it may be your alloy, lube, load, or gun and its much easier to fix the problem then deal with leading and in my opinion for what its worth with the new cleaners on the market its easier to remove copper fouling then lead fouling. theres good products that will disolve copper fouling but for the most part lead needs to be scrubed out. If shooting cast bullets in a gun that previously shot copper was such a bad thing why would we use gas checks youd think theyd raise cane with the problem too. If you dont think gas checks are rubbing hard on your barrel try this. Ive had new star sizer dies that came rough and a guy couldnt push a bullet through them without an arbor press. But push 50 or so through it with an arbor press that have gas checks on them and your die will be smooth. A barrel so rough that it creates excessive copper fouling needs lapping period. A good smooth barrel wont care if you mix copper and lead all day long. My ppc gun is a good example its a clark built smith 10. I practice with cast and shoot jacketed for comp because they dont produce near the smoke and it obscures my target. that gun will shoot in the vicinity of 10000 rounds of each through the summer and the barrel is usually not touched. I might push a wet patch through it but its never brushed. End of the year i take a patch with jb bore paste and give it a cleaning before i put it away. More to insure theres no residue in it that will cause rusting over the winter then anything.
Copper fouling can be hard to completely remove. Copper is much harder than lead,so it might not hurt for break-in but if there is any left in the barrel when you fire a cast through it is like sandpaper on the cast boolet. Causing a boolet/load combination to lead your barrel that would not normaly cause leading.

Before I knew better I use to shoot a few jacketed rounds just to clean out the lead from casts. Not knowing the whole time that it was the jacketed rounds causing the leading problem all along. Now after a lot of copper clean-up, I will not shoot copper in my big-bore revolvers again.

:castmine:

[Lloyd Smale]

I find about the opposite with ruger handguns. Its usually the stainless guns that give more trouble.
We break in several new rifles each week. Stainless will generally group well with no preparation. Chrome moly needs some break in.

[MT Gianni]

I believe Veral's little book claimed Ruger ss was the hardest used and 200 jacketed rds were generally need for breakin purposes. Gianni

[nicholst55]

I find about the opposite with ruger handguns. Its usually the stainless guns that give more trouble.


+1; Ruger's stainless handgun barrels are rifled with wood rasps, I do believe. [smilie=1:

[leftiye]

Rugers, Stainless and moly have both always been rifled by sadists who can't abide a shiny bore (or machinists found daily at the homeless shelters).

[22cf45]

I use the method by barrel maker, Earnie Stallman. I figure if he can make barrels, he surely knows how they should be broken in. http://www.badgerbarrels.com/ Go to the custom barrel page and continue.
Phil

[Newtire]

I think a box of jacketted should help to smooth the bore and also am in agreement with Lloyd in that I shoot jacketted & lead in several rifles & pistols with no ill effect. I have never seen a barrel any rougher than a Marlin .444 I have and I used to see copper fouling in the beginning but now nothing sticks to it. I only shoot jacketted full power loads when I feel my shoulder needs to be put back in alignment.

[Char-Gar]

Here is what I do with a sixgun that shows promise and I intend on keeping. I don't go to this trouble until the sixgun has already told me, it wants to please.

1) I load 200 rounds of snappy (44 Special) loads with cheap bulk jacketed bullets
2) I fire those two hundred rounds as fast and I can load and shoot.
3) Wearing gloves, drop out the cylinder as soon as the last round has been fired
4) Using a new broze bore brush give the bore 200 fore and aft strokes, keeping the barrel flooded with Shooter's Choice or some other quality solvent.
5) Take the pistol home and lock in into a vise with padded jaws.
6) Using Semi-Chrome or Flitz metal polish on tight patches, give the bore about full half hours of work, changing patches and adding polish as need to keep everything tight.
7) Clean the barrel with a good solvent

You will now have a sixgun that will not lead with any decent load, will be easy to clean and give all the accuracy the pistol has to offer. All of the burrs and micro-machine hickies will be gone and it will be smooth, smooth, smooth.

[Blackhawk Convertable]

1. Clean before starting.
2. First 10 shots, clean after every shot.
3. Next 20 shots, clean after every 3 shots.
4. Next 50 shots, clean after every 5 shots.
5. It's now Broken in, clean after every use or every 10 shots or so...

[454PB]

I used to use FLGC bullets after a thorough cleaning, about 100 fired before any cast. I then tried straight linotype cast with a gas check and found it works as well and is a lot cheaper.