New Rifle

[fish]

I bought a new stainless steel winchester model 70 the other day. It is my first rifle and I need to get some advise on how to break in the barrel. The salesman was trying to explain an elaborate shoot-clean, shoot-clean routine that went a bit over my head. I would appreciate the help.

[harvey lee]

With all the rifles I have owned over the years,I have never found it needed to break a barrel in.I will go to the range and shot it.and then go home and clean the barrel.One thing I feel is a must is to let the barrel cool between shots.I would believe the worst enemy of the life of the barrel would be heat.With my bolts I always shoot 1 round,open the bolt and let the gun sit for a few minutes.If you do heat up your barrel your shots will vary.

If the gun makers states to break the barrel in,then I would follow what they say to do.

[picksbigwagon]

here is my routine, clean the gun extremely well, paying very close attention to getting the barrel and action as clean as possible, count the number of cleaning patches it takes to clean the barrel... shoot 3 shots, taking time between each shot, clean (count the patches til it is clean again, and repeat. then try 4 shots, take time between clean and repeat, then 5 shots etc... repeat. by now you have about 25 rounds through it, if it takes less patches to clean then the first three rounds, your are basically there. Use good ammo and have fun. Make sure your scope is mounted tight, and sight in as you are breaking in the barrel....have fun

[Rost]

I'd take your gunsmith's advice. After spending big $$ on a new rifle, why not take the extra few minutes and do it right?

Here's why you should break in your barrel.

Each rifle barrel comes off the production line with tiny burrs and inperfections from the machining process. A bullet is squeezed through the barrel with enough pressure to clear out these inperfections. But it's important that your barrel is clean so the bullet can work directly against the bore. This is why they recommend cleaning it so often after the first several shots.

One important thing to consider is using a quality solvant during this process. Any solvant will take out the powder residue, but it's really important that you use a solvant with enough amonia to dissolve the copper that gets embedded in your barrel. (I use Butch's Bore Shine)

How much will this improve the gun's accuracy in the long run? Tough to tell. When it comes to accuracy problems, human error is probably the culprit more than anything else anyways.

Harvey Lee has a good point about burning a barrel up. However, unless you are shooting a very hot round, on a hot day, multiple times per minute, I would not worry about damaging it. A gun barrel is designed to with stand significant heat. Of course, calibers will fire much hotter than others. Examples would include the 22-250 or any of the "short mags".

Holy dump I'm rambling again. Sorry

Good luck with your new gun!

[New Yankee]

Rost, think Harvey was speaking more towards a hot barrel changing the POI or 'walking' a bit than damage. If not, I'd agree with you. I think the biggest error most folks make when sighting in a rifle is not letting the barrel cool, but again that issue is seperate than damage from heat IMO.

Sorry, rambling a bit myself...

[picksbigwagon]

Rost got a little more technical than I did, he is correct about the microscopic nicks and burrs that the copper smooths out/fills in. I swear by butch's bore shine.

If you're not an anal retentive type person, wake up the morning you are going to break in the barrel, drink a pot of coffee, iron your newspaper before you read it (wrinkles stink) cut your toast into perfect equilateral triangles, and of course have another pot of coffee, and drive 53MPH to the range on the highway, why 53? Your gets the best gas mileage at 53, on the highway that is. Seriously, at the end of the day, you want to sit back and say man I was completely anal about this.....

Why two pots of coffee? I find that when I have two pots of coffee in the morning, I am very wired and meticulous when working on things. Normally, I don't give a rip, believe me, you should see my garage, but this is something you want to take your time with. Take your .22 along to blow through the ammo while you are waiting for the gun to cool and after you're done cleaning. This process will take 4-6 hours, but the accuracy is worth it.....

[Rost]

And since we're getting nit picky, is the winchester 70 free floated and glass bedded? Maybe you should take care of these issues before you take it out!! J/K

Go ahead and shoot it. It will be fine.

Good luck with your gun.

[harvey lee]

Since were getting picky,if they say the barrel is free floated ,is it really.You can take a dollar bill and slide it between the barrell and forearm and check.

I agree,go shoot the gun.

[fish]

Thanks for the posts. It looks like I better get another box of ammo. I think I'll wait for a cooler day to do it. I can't sit out in 90 degree weather. It seems the theme here is take your time and have fun.

[walerak]

remember you dont have to do it all at once, i bought my last rifle a month or two before it was actually needed in the field. so on that to break in the barrel, i sat down and did the first 10 shots cleaning every shot. once i got the main part of it out of the way, i had my gun by the door, when i got home from work, i'd go throw 3 shots at a target, clean the rifle and the set it back by the door... i did that for a about two weeks, switching to 5 shot groups after a week, then it was done....

i did notice though that it started grouping a a little tighter though after about 3-4 days. i am going to believe it was the barrel being "broke in", but i could have just gotten more comfortable with the gun too.

[Code-Man]

I got a 30-06 Ruger All Weather it's got that stianless barrel and I love it but you gotta be very careful when shooting a stainless. It heats up really quick. Take your 3-4 shots pull the bolt and point the barrel into the wind and let it cool while you check your target. Don't shoot when it's too hot because your barrel wont take it. I have not noticed with my stainless 30-06 I needed to break it in but I guess with my muzzleloader I do need to break it in slowly. Just watch that barrel that you don't get it too hot and you'll have a blast.

Code-Man