05-03-2020, 11:51 PM
Allen,
Breaking-in a barrel is another contentious topic. I used to religiously spend an afternoon breaking in new barrels with shooting and cleaning, shooting and cleaning - I don't anymore. If there was any benefit to it I never saw it.
Top tier barrels like Krieger and Lilja come ready to shoot. The first few rounds fill the micro pores with copper which I deliberately don't remove. It has been years since I used copper cleaners like Sweets and Bore Tek. I noticed when you strip the bore of everything the next time you shoot is spent fouling and settling the barrel back into where the MPI was before you cleaned it. Now, I often just put the gun straight back in the safe with a length of anti-corrosion cord down the bore, no cleaning the bore. I still clean the carbon out with Butch's every now and then when the groups seem to be opening up but that's about it. The action gets cleaned every time, just not the barrel.
Breaking-in a barrel is another contentious topic. I used to religiously spend an afternoon breaking in new barrels with shooting and cleaning, shooting and cleaning - I don't anymore. If there was any benefit to it I never saw it.
Top tier barrels like Krieger and Lilja come ready to shoot. The first few rounds fill the micro pores with copper which I deliberately don't remove. It has been years since I used copper cleaners like Sweets and Bore Tek. I noticed when you strip the bore of everything the next time you shoot is spent fouling and settling the barrel back into where the MPI was before you cleaned it. Now, I often just put the gun straight back in the safe with a length of anti-corrosion cord down the bore, no cleaning the bore. I still clean the carbon out with Butch's every now and then when the groups seem to be opening up but that's about it. The action gets cleaned every time, just not the barrel.