Savage Wood

[JeffsSig]

I had bought a Bell & Carlson stock for my new Savage 10. The stock did not fit the standard barrel and they only make their stocks for heavy barrel in the 4.40.

So I bought this wood stock from Stockys. It is their LRS made by Remington.

The fit and finish is rather good. It dropped right in. Now all I may do is bed it.

So now I have another gun to take to the range and break in.

Anyone out there do the 1 shot and clean then shoot and clean for 10 rounds?

[Guest JHatmaker]

Absolutely, it's a pain in the arse, but it's gotta be done. Here are the break in procedures that GA Precision recommends:

The G.A. Precision Break In Procedure For break-in, the barrel should be cleaned after every shot for the first 10-12 rounds or until copper fouling stops. Our procedure, outlined below consists of removing the carbon fouling followed by the copper fouling.

Step 1 Carbon Fouling: Push 2 saturated cotton patches through the barrel (Bore Tech C4 Carbon Remover or Eliminator Bore Cleaner). This will remove the loose powder fouling and wet the inside of the barrel with solvent. Next, wet a nylon brush with solvent and stroke the inside of the barrel 5-10 times. This is followed by another wet patch and then 2 dry patches.

Step 2 Copper Fouling: Now, push 2 saturated cotton patches through the barrel (Bore Tech Cu+2 Copper Remover or Eliminator Bore Cleaner,). Next, wet a nylon brush with solvent and stroke the inside of the barrel 5-10 times. Let the chemical soak for 3-5 minutes. This is followed by another wet patch and then 2 dry patches. Repeat steps if necessary.

REPEAT: Steps 1 & 2 after each shot for the first 10-12 rounds. The copper fouling will be heavy for a few rounds and then taper off quickly in just one or two shots. Once it has stopped or diminished significantly (normally 10-12 rounds) it is time to start shooting 5 shot groups, cleaning after each one. After 25-30 rounds, clean at a normal interval of 10-25 rounds. Your barrel is now broken-in.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to dry out the chamber after cleaning to remove solvent, a pistol rod with a 45 cal nylon brush works well using a patch over it. Failure to keep the chamber clean and dry will raise pressure to extreme levels.

[Guest gcrookston]

So now I have another gun to take to the range and break in.

Anyone out there do the 1 shot and clean then shoot and clean for 10 rounds?

I've done it with most of my guns, but not all. I followed the instructions on my .308 savage (1 clean, 5 clean, 5 clean, 10 clean until 50 rounds are down the pipe), and it's a quarter minute gun. I took my .223 savage out of the box, cleaned it, lubed it and shot it without break-in. It's a quarter minute gun.

I followed a break-in regimen with my M1a and it's sub-moa. I cleaned my SASS after the first 10 rounds and never looked back. It's sub-moa.

There was an article last year in American Rifleman about dirty barrels, break-in, etc. that concluded pretty much what I surmised... There appears to be no scientific ability to measure if break-in actually improves or increases wear or has no effect on the final accuracy of the barrel.

The logic behind break-in is it deburs the rifle, seals the porous surface, smooths the lands and groves to a uniformity not achievable with modern machining tools.

But, no two barrels are exactly alike, no two rounds of ammunition are exactly alike. The wind between shots is never identical. It's impossible to measure the benefits because all the factors it takes to make a shot cannot be controlled uniformly.

My question -- If barrel break in has such an impact on accuracy, why don't the makers of precision barrels do it at the factory to insure their product's integrity?

[323ssplt]

A few years ago, my sniper platoon conducted a similar informal test when we received 8 brand spanking new M40A3's. Some of the guys cleaned after every shot, some after every few, and others only cleaned when done shooting. With one single exception, you couldn't tell the difference between which guns had been "properly" broken in and which hadn't. The only gun we had problems with turned out to be a scope issue, so I don't include that one.

The key I've always found is CONSISTENCY. Consistency is the key to accuracy. No matter how you prefer to clean your gun, make sure you do it the same way each time.

[Guest ADAM]

CONGRATULATIONS JEFF you finally got wood.

[Armed Aviator]

That's a fine example of gun Porn!