break in

[sorral]

I have just got my new AR. It has a chrome lined barrel, and I was wondering if there is any break in needed?

[Shooter45]

Always follow the break-in procedure on any new firearm after a careful cleaning. Enjoy your new weapon.

[southernshooter]

Sorral what no pictures.

[millwright]

Most "breakin" procedures are intended to smooth out the jags/tears left over from cutting the rifling. The process of hard chroming may have pretty well taken care of this.

FWIW, shoot it some and clean it, then shoot it some more and clean it. When you get it home clean it real good and see what the patches tell you. >MW

[sorral]

just put 5 rounds through it today, following DPMS instructions for break in. clean in between each round for the first 25 rounds, than once after each 25, untill 100 rounds.

I'm cheating, using a bore snake!

Fun as he!! to shoot! This is my first AR15

[LDBennett]

In the June Issue of Handloader is an article on the last page by John Barsness on cleaning barrels. In summary after years of shooting many different guns his records and his bore scope inspections show regular cleaning to be a waste of time. He has gun barrels he never cleans with no impact on accuracy. But he admits it is a function of each barrel. When the accuracy starts to be impacted he then cleans them but not until then. In general he says most of us way over clean. He NEVER breaks a barrel in....he says his records show that to be a waste of time too. And in recent times he has started testing Ultra Bore Coating, a ceramic coating that makes cleaning tremendously easier when your accuracy results or the bore scope show that it is time. Note it does not change inherent accuracy but kind of seals the barrel metal pores so they can't fill with contaminates, making the cleaning process a couple of patches instead of a gross of patches. He advocates NOT using ball powders as they are very dirty and insists Ramshot powders to be superior as they produce less fouling.

While I do not practice this approach (in fact I kind of enjoy cleaning guns....get to take them apart to remind me how specific guns work) I think Barsness approach, that he claims is supported by years and years of testing, is interesting. I don't plan to follow it but it shows the diversity of cleaning processes (or lack of cleaning) going on out there by even the supposedly knowledgeable professionals.

LDBennett

[sorral]

I contacted DPMS, and asked them. They told me that the break in directions are put in every box packed at the factory, But the Chrome lined barrels do NOT have to be broken in.

[Mosin_Nagant_Fan]

Funny how people clean after each shot. Me, my mom, my dad and my bro together fired 250 rnds of Federal .22lr HV rounds, then cleaned it with hoops bore cleaner, a wire brush and wiped it down and oiled it and works like a champ.

[stash247]

I follow a similar to the first mentioned 'break in' procedure, with all new barrels, eccept the chrome lined barrels, for these reasons.
A 'cut rifled' barrel leaves some 'snags', through the length of it's bore, to be sure, if the magnification is high enough, but creaes no stresses in the barrel, from the process; a 'button rifled ' barrel would be glassy smooth, under the same magnification, as would a 'hammer forged' barrel.
In my experience, the best barrels I have shot were nearly all 'cut rifled', and most took their own sweet time, about 'coming in', frequently over a thousand rounds, but, once they were broken in, were 'hummers'.
True enough, I often pay a premium price, for a premium product, where barrels are concerned, so am diligent in their breaking in.
Button, or hammer forged barels, both are less prone, it seems, to metal fouling, and often shoot as good as they ever will, after the first ten or so shots, and this is by no means 'faint praise'; some of these have been 'hummers', right out of the box!
Understand, I shoot small calibers, out of massive, relatively, barrels, for the most part, so 'barrel stress', and the accordant shift, with temperature, is relatively minimal, but, as the caliber goes up,and the temperature of the barrel rises, the cut rifled barrel has shown me the least shift, in POI, at serious ranges.
The 'downside' of this, if you will, is that even the best finished cut rifled barrels require a lot more 'breaking in', than the other two types, but,if they are 'right' as to dimensions, and 'choke', once the 'break in' is complete, as indicated by group size, they will outshoot the others by a good margin, IMHO.
Why anyone wuld buy a new barrel, and ignore the manufacturers' instructions, as to 'break in' totally escapes my grasp of reality!

[sorral]

I had talked to the guy who put my AR together, and he was wondering about breaking in a chrome lined barrel. I ended up calling DPMS and talked to them. They said that with the chrome lined barrel, that the breaking in was unnecessary, that those instructions are put in every box at the factory. I tell y'all, I was glad to not have to go through that!!

[Donzie]

on an AR or other short/mid range rifles i would not worry about break in, but if it were a custom or bigbore i use a finishing kit to break it in. alot of ammo co. now offer finishing kits.

[Don Buckbee]

With a chrome lined barrel, I wouldn't worry about breaking it in.
For barrels that are unlapped by the maker, like most factory rifles, I polish the bore with JB Bore Paste on a tight fitting patch. About 100 strokes gets the job done. That eliminates any need to do the polishing by shooting, or "breaking in".
For barrels that are lapped by the barrel maker, I just shoot them as they need no breaking in.

Don

[stash247]

While this should have been an earlier post, and I omitted it, the reason for chrome in the bore is longevity, not fouling resistance; the process of plating the bore acrually roughens the surface, however microscopically, and neds to 'wear in' and smooth out, for best accuracy, and resistance to jacket fouling; In a 'Lead Bullet' gun there would be no point to a chrome bore!
My FAL, with a 1964 Vintage barrel, chrome lined, shot well from the first round, I thought! And wrote the jacket fouling off, as normal, and just cleaned til the patches came out white, which sometimes took a while.
It has burned several cases of Milsurp Ammo, mostly Hirtenberger, as good as Lake City Match, since the first shot, and bu the 4,000 round mark, the improvement in resistance to jacket fouling, and accuracy because of that, became more than 'documentable', it was obvious! At a bit over 8,000 rounds, it shoots under 2", at 200 yds, and consistantly so.
Chrome is much harder than copper, so wear to the chrome is very slow, but as any other barrel, constant!
I am not much a fan of 'Fire Lapping', as I think it often does more harm, than good, but a chromed bores are the one place I might consider it; were the bore a real 'fouler' I would cast a lead lap, and do the job by hand, as the manufacturer should have, for such barrels!
What Don says of lapped barrels reflects my experience; barrels in the price range to afford the luxury of such skilled hand work, almost always shoot well, foul little, and often are 'hummers' in less than a hundered rounds.
I've a Shilen, out in the shop, yet to be fitted to my Stevens 44 1/2, that just makes me drool, out of the interior finish, and I am almost too anxious to safely throw in the lathe, and do the deed; I use a couple of medical cystoscpoes, and a video monitor, to inspect bores, and this is the best barrel I have ever seen; dunno who lapped it, but, given the funds, he would work with me, tomorrow!!
As I recall, the Aussies hand lapped the FAL 'Target Rifles', the few they built, and they shot well; My recollection, from one of Ian Skennerton's works on the subject.