Barrel Break In???

[Big joe]

I just brought my new 300 Win Mag home!!! It's a Ruger 77 stainless/composite with a Leupold VX II 3X9 silver. This is the nicest rig I have purchased to date. I have bought 5 other rifles new in the past and I'm afraid I never have broken one in correctly. I would really like to do it right with this one. So... If any of you have good info on break-in procedure for my new set up I'd appreciate your info... Also... trigger is pretty poor from the factory. What are your suggestions to improve this? Can I have it worked on, or will it have to be replaced????


As always ... thanks for your info...

[Rocky Raab]

Big Joe, there are a gazillion methods to break in a barrel. I'd guess that all of them are good in one way or another.

But the ones that feature firing 100 rounds would be brutal with a 300 Winnie!

I'd suggest a shoot and clean routine like this:

Shoot one round and clean. Repeat five times.

Fire two rounds and clean. Repeat five times.

Fire five rounds and clean. Repeat five times.

That's a total of 40 rounds. In a high-intensity or large-case caliber like the 300 Win Mag, that may be enough.

If the bore still seems rough or hard to clean at that point, start over.

I can't help you with the trigger as I've never owned a Ruger rifle.

[Jack]

Rocky's method of barrel break in is as good as any of the regimens, IMO.
You can have the trigger on a 77 Mk2 reworked by a gunsmith or you can get a replacement trigger- I think Timney makes them.
The Timney is more or less a do it yourself thing- or can be.

[Dan in the Delta]

Here's how I break in a rifle: Before I shoot it for the very first time, I clean the bore really well. Then I start shooting the rifle looking for a decent group with my handloads. I shoot 3 shot groups and let the barrel cool completely down between groups. After 20 or 25 shots I thoroughly clean the bore again, making sure I get all powder and copper fouling out. Unless I'm going to shoot some more, I then oil the bore and put it up till the next outing. At some point along the way I suppose the barrel with become "broken in" and it really doesn't matter to me when that is. This method has served me well for 30+ years now.

[22-250fanatic]

I agree with Rocky's method. I bought a new Ruger 3 years ago and used that method. I bought a new Tikka last year and used that method. I rebarreled my old Reminton and again I used that method. All three rifles shoot very tight groups, the biggest benefit I know is that the barrel cleans up very nicely. My old Remington was aquired used and I shot it for 15 years. It was always a pain to clean, I would normally have to used more patches than I care to think about and never actually got a completely clean patch. I mean 30-40 patchs and numerous passes with a brush. I could always seem to get more copper out and eventually called it good and went shooting.

My two new rifles cleaned up after 8-12 patches and a couple of passes with the brush. I rebarreled the Remington and after the break-in it cleans up the same.

I'm a believer, and after you been reading here for a while you will find out if Rocky speaks, listen!

[denton]

One small addendum: Part of the cleaning ritual is oiling. Don't leave that off. You don't want to shoot a perfectly dry bore during breakin.

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

I have a funny question about new barels and breaking them in. I just aquired a Baikal single shot rifle in 222 Remington, it's not new but has had hardly any use. The trigger was so rough and heavy which is why the guy got rid of it which I have worked on and it's better, not quite there yet but getting so

However it seems that these rifles have Chromed bores so how would one go about the break in of a chrome lined bore?

So far I cleaned it when I got it and have fired 11 rounds so far sighting in and testing it then it got cleaned again, cleaned up real easy the ammo was Federal 55 grn BT FMJ which gave a 0.600" 3 shot group, and Sako Gamehead 55 grn SP which gave a 0.620" 3 shot group. Distance was only 70 paces but it shows promise. I have fitted a 6x40 scope on it for now.