Paper patch for new barrel break-in regimen

[eka]

You know, I've been thinking. Wouldn't paper patched boolits be the ideal thing to break in a new barrel? That is if you subscribe to such a thing in the first place. I know there's a lot of debate there. But, let's say you do. The way I understand it you shoot, clean, shoot, clean, shoot clean etc. in order to remove any copper fouling so each time the bullet is burnishing only the barrel steel and not the copper fouling that's being put down. Now, I've done that and it's a pain in the butt. It seems to me you could avoid most of the cleaning regimen by using the paper patched slugs, which aren't putting down any fouling. I was thinking unlubed paper for the polishing effect. What do you think? How many would it take to get the effect you're looking for?

I don't know why I'm even thinking about this anyway, because my interest is in old used guns anyway :-D.

Keith

[montana_charlie]

The way I understand it you shoot, clean, shoot, clean, shoot clean etc. in order to remove any copper fouling so each time the bullet is burnishing only the barrel steel and not the copper fouling that's being put down.
There is one particular barrel maker who instructs his customers to do that.
I appears (from reading the comments of a purchaser of one of those) that the manufacturer leaves a reddish substance in the bore...which may be the 'polish' required to start that 'break-in' process.

This shooter was cleaning his new barrel before starting the 'break-in', and was asking what the 'red stuff' might be.

If you start out with no red stuff, your shoot, clean, shoot, clean may not get the job done.

Paper, on the other hand...
CM

[leftiye]

And/or put some J.B. compound on the paper patches maybe.

[MtGun44]

How about 1500 grit 3M wet or dri ??

:kidding:

Bill

[Jon K]

Well, I guess it would depend on what finish is left in the barrel.
There are barrels that are lapped as the finish operation, and then there are barrels that look like ductile iron pipe in the bore.

Jon

[C1PNR]

Since some paper is more abrasive than other, I think the trick would be to find the one with more "tooth" for this process.

Years ago, when my memory worked,:bigsmyl2: I could tell you which would be better. Now? I don't know.

I'm thinking any of the cheaper "copy paper" variety has a lot of wood chip content, which should work to polish out tool marks. The high linen content paper is probably stronger, but not as abrasive.

[fourarmed]

Personally, I suspect that the barrel makers are gasping with laughter at the thought of their customers at the range with all their cleaning supplies, earnestly swabbing out the bore after every shot, all the while shortening the life of the barrel, so they will have to order another that much sooner.

I remember reading something somewhere by Shilen, to the effect that breakin was utterly unnecessary, but that his customers were so determined to do it that he started including breakin instructions with his barrels anyway.

To show just how extreme this nonsense can get, the instructions that came with the new E. R. Shaw barrel I just bought solemnly instructed the new owner to fire a shot and clean 30 to 35 times. The putative purpose of this is to make the bore easier to clean. I shot about 20 rounds through the barrel, then went home and cleaned it. It took about 3 patches to get the jacket fouling out of it.

[eka]

Fourarmed, you're right about some of the barrel makers. The late Gale McMillan always proclaimed it non-sense. Jon K probably had the best answer. If you buy a Shilen or other top end barrel, maybe it's already as good as it gets. If you buy a production rifle with a standard production barrel, maybe it could use a little help. Maybe it's not a one way or another type thing, I don't know.

Keith

[fourarmed]

I think it is well-established that some barrels do produce better accuracy after being fired a while. It may even be possible that it has something to do with smoothing it out by firing and cleaning - though changes in the throat or bedding with use are also likely. However, I doubt that accelerating the process by firing a bunch of shots purely for that purpose has much merit. It would be a difficult thing to prove, and I know of nobody who has conducted any sort of scientific test. I suspect it is like a lot of things. After one has gone through all that tedious labor, one is likely to proclaim far and wide what a marvelous process it is.

[C1PNR]

I get so few brand new rifles or barrels, that I have very little to add.

That said, my brand new Model 70 in '06 bought in 1972 took somewhere from 20 to 30 factory rounds to "settle down."

In truth, I think part of it was just to settle the rifle in the wood stock, and part to smooth out the bore a little. I'd had a receiver sight mounted before starting the break in period. The last 10 or so rounds allowed me to set my zero, at least with the factory rounds.

Shortly after that I started searching for the "right" bullet, powder, primer combination. Once I found it, the load and my new zero went unchanged for many years.

I finally added a Leupold Vari-X III, but the load remains the same today.

[Blammer]

the last brand new barrel I had (actually 2 of them but I'll only tell of the factory brl) I shot 250 times then cleaned it for the first time.

I did notice that my groups suddenly started to come together about the 200 rnd mark, and by 250 I was notincing a good group and stability on the load developement.

MY THEORY is, you need about 175 to 200 rnds in the brl of a new factory brl before you can start to worry about "groups" and "accuracy".

I have a friend who has had 3 or 4 new factory brls that after much dissappointment they finally started to group. I asked about how many times did he have to shoot it before it started grouping? After a bit of thought he said about 150 to 200. Then it dawned on him that all 3 brls did about the same thing.

Take that for what it's worth.

[pdawg_shooter]

Why stop at break in? Paper patched bullets, if you pay attention to hardness vs. velocity, will do anything a jacketed bullet will do at a fraction of the cost.

[eka]

pdawg, that's exactly where I'm heading with all boolits that require a gas check. One of the things I was thinking about was the advice frequently given that a new barrel needs to have a number of jacketed bullets fired through it before it is suitable for good cast boolit work. It seems to me if smoothing and polishing the barrel is what one is after, the unlubed paper patch would do the trick pretty quickly and not leave you with all the copper to get out.

[StrawHat]

I no longer try to shoot tiny groups so the expectations for my barrels is a bit different.

However, I have used muzzleloaders for about 40 years and find that they begin to settle down after a couple hundred shots. I have also accelerated that process with a judicious scrubbing with 0000 steel wool followed by some abrasive powder of some sort. One of the fine Clover pastes.

Don't know what that means to paper patching, but it is what I used to do.