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"Breaking in" a rifle ?


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A few weeks ago at the range, I saw someone with an AR-10 running a cleaning patch through the barrel every 2nd mag or so (10-rounders here in NY). I thought he was just being neurotic about cleaning the rifle, but as we got to talking about our guns, he said that he was 'breaking in the barrel' since this was the first time he had fired it since he bought it. I told him that I didnt do any type of 'breaking-in' when I first fired my S308, and had since shot 500+ rounds through it at that point. He really didnt know what effects there might be by breaking it in versus not, just that he felt better about doing it. He also mentioned that his barrel wasn't chrome-lined for the sake of accuracy, and that's also why he was doing what he did.

 

Do you guys do anything special to 'break in' your rifles? Is it neccesary to have done it when I first shot my gun?

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The man was breaking in his barrel as per Armalite's instructions for the best accuracy. If it was the heavy barreled "target" version, it must be done for the best results. It is shooting from a clean barrel each time. It's also removing any burrs and rough spots in the barrel that exist after manufacturing.IF you shoot many rounds through a sniper/target grade barrel without cleaning it, then your results will be skewed. The barrel will have a build up of copper and carbon fouling that will throw off the next shots and therefor mess up your results with fliers. Fire lapping is also commonly done on such barrels with a lapping compound or paste to smooth out the rough spots. :smoke:

 

For guns such as yours, it's not necessary as Saigas aren't MOA accurate. Also as the man said, breaking in a chrome plated barrel is unecessary. So shoot your rifle to your heart's content.....just make sure you clean it afterwards! :smoke:

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With a non chrome lined barrel, I clean mine after each shot for 10 rounds, then every other for 20 rounds and every 3rd for 30 rounds. When I say clean, I mean patch with solvent, brush with solvent, patch, patch, patch, then oil (repeated until no blue shows on the second and third patches). Since I usually take a few guns to the range, and only clean once or twice each time while I'm there, it takes a good couple of weeks to get one what I'd consider broken in.

 

My take on why you break in a barrel has less to do with not damaging the barrel, than it does making the gun easier to clean, and foul less in the long run. A steel barrel will ultimatly have some ridges in it that get worked down a bit in the process. The idea with cleaning is to just work down the ridge and not leave a deposit around the ridge that leads to an even bigger irregularity in the barrel. Theoretically those irregularities lead to more fouling, more cleaning, and less accuracy.

 

Chrome is tough stuff, so a copper jacketed bullet is probably not going to amount to much wear of chrome lining in less than hundreds of rounds. Therefore, I limit my break in to every round for 10 rounds then maybe once every 20 rounds after that for a chrome barrel. I clean for at least a few rounds at first as sort of a QC check as well as a break in (checking that the stock is still tight, gas tubes are OK, etc, you'd be surprized at what goes out the door from even reputable companies. Given the siaga isn't a precision gun, the benefit in my doing even the limited break in is maybe nothing, and at best just making for easier cleaning. The psychological benefit of being familiar with the gun and knowing it holds up well for several rounds, inspected each time is worth it to me.

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I was curious about this whole process once and after doing some research, found mixed opinions. Basically I decided that if my 65 year old Mosin which probably was NEVER "broken in" can shoot 3" groups off the bench with iron sights and my awful hold, that it's probably not a big factor in accuracy.

 

Could it be the difference between a 1/4" MOA gun and a 3/8" MoA gun? Maybe. Would you see the difference in a 2 or 3 MOA gun? Nah.

 

Saiga out of the box, cleaned, oiled, then I shot 80 rounds through it in 30 mins. Still a 2-3 MOA rifle and that's a x39.

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A few weeks ago at the range, I saw someone with an AR-10 running a cleaning patch through the barrel every 2nd mag or so (10-rounders here in NY). I thought he was just being neurotic about cleaning the rifle, but as we got to talking about our guns, he said that he was 'breaking in the barrel' since this was the first time he had fired it since he bought it. I told him that I didnt do any type of 'breaking-in' when I first fired my S308, and had since shot 500+ rounds through it at that point. He really didnt know what effects there might be by breaking it in versus not, just that he felt better about doing it. He also mentioned that his barrel wasn't chrome-lined for the sake of accuracy, and that's also why he was doing what he did.

 

Do you guys do anything special to 'break in' your rifles? Is it neccesary to have done it when I first shot my gun?

 

There are some instructions i ran into on www.snipercentral.com the other day. Just go to the website and look at the FAQ and they completely answer ur question.

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