Break in of new pistol

[Poygan]

This topic may have been discussed before but I'll plead computer illiteracy as to how to find it. I have two new (to me) S&Ws that have been fired very little, probably under 100 rounds each. What is the collective wisdom as to breaking in a new barrel? Seems I've seen where putting some j******* boolits through them first is the way to go. Any kind of bore prep before? Magical incantations? Common misconceptions?

[versifier]

If they're older S&W's and have been fired that little, the only magical incantation you need is appropriate sacrifices to the reloading and cast boolit goddesses in thanks for sending them your way. Shoot some boolits and see what happens. A few hundred rounds of condoms through them isn't going to do any harm if you've got them handy, as long as you clean all of the copper out of their barrels before shooting the lead. The bores won't necessarily be rough, but you never know until you shoot them.
Slug them and see how big they are. With 5groove rifling, the easiest way to check is to drop or push the slugs through a sizing die. If they pass through it, you're good to go. (If it weren't such a pain to get an accurate reading with a depth mic of the land height, you cound just take a groove-to-land diameter and add the height, but this is much simpler in theory than in practice.)

[Bass Ackward]

This topic may have been discussed before but I'll plead computer illiteracy as to how to find it. I have two new (to me) S&Ws that have been fired very little, probably under 100 rounds each. What is the collective wisdom as to breaking in a new barrel? Seems I've seen where putting some j******* boolits through them first is the way to go. Any kind of bore prep before? Magical incantations? Common misconceptions?


Poly,

The simple fact is that anything you shoot performs wear to correct for all variables. The difference is the rate at which break-in occurs. You can break them in with cast if you have the patience of Job. Or you can fire lap first. Jacketed is the compromise between the two extremes. What you need to do is slug your throats, forcing cone and bore area and see what you have to correct if anything. Then plan your attack. If you don't want to perform these tasks, then jacketed is the most error free method. But you will eventually benifit from slugging, so you might as well learn how now.

Could be that you don't have any smoothing or constrictions to remove and all you need is lead. But what ever you do, always try and get the heaviest / longest bullets available so that the alignment is forced to extremes. The longer bearing area will also complete any smoothing faster. You don't have to push them to the max either to achieve success. Just a nice comfortable load and shoot. Clean often to remove any metal and don't use any lubricant in the bore if you go the jacketed route. When you get to the lead stage, clean every chance of copper and use a bronze bore brush and brush the barrel between cylinders until you are comfortable leading is not a problem.

[Four Fingers of Death]

every time I buy a new handgun, I always buy 1000 cases with it. I keep lots of oil on the gun and try and clock up the first 600 asap. The next 400 I use a normal amount of oil and really start to work out loads and smooth any roughness which might still be there. Most surfaces will have worn in by now though. Then I do my utmost to wear out the brass :-)

[Lloyd Smale]

insert rounds and pull trigger continue until your out of ammo go home reload and repeat

[nighthunter]

Good reply Lloyd.
Nighthunter