BREAK IN PERIOD FOR NEW BARREL

[chgraf]

I'm kind of a newby to muzzel loaders and I was wondering if any body could tell me is there a break in period for a new barrel? I've been told it takes 200-300 shots to break in a barrel. I would like to hear from some of you more seasoned shooters your thoughts and ideas on this matter.Thanks for any information :grin:

 

[arcticap]

I'm not sure that a standard response applies to every barrel since every barrel & situation is unique. If a barrel is really well finished, I'm not sure it would need any break in period, or at least not that anyone would be able to notice that it needed one.
On the other hand, some people have bought new guns with rough barrel type problems which don't seem to ever get resolved until they buy a replacement barrel. Some of the replacement barrels seem to shoot so good right out of the box I'm not sure how anybody could say that every single one of those needed any break in period at all.
I can only say that some barrels do noticiably need to be broken in while some other barrels don't noticiably need to be. :winking:

 

[shortstring]

arcticap pretty much nailed it solid. If your patches aren't cutting & it feels smooth & uniform when you clean it, its probably pretty good. Your looking for loose & tight spots, sharp corners that cut patches, left over tooling marks, these thing are problems that can change or be changed by you. The good news is that barrel making isn't rocket science by todays standards & most of the makers understand how to drill, ream & rifle. For the most part they will shoot right out of the rifling machine.

 

[shmrck1]

chgraf,
I'm going to give my answer just from my
own experience and we all have our own take on
things. The answer is very simple: Yes, No,
Sometimes and Maybe. I have had barrels shoot
great from the get go, and some that did not.
Some required 100+ shots before settleing down,
and others half that many. Some I was never able
to shoot to my satisfaction, I would sell, and
the buyer would come back and tell me what a
great barrel I sold him. Go figure...One thing
I have learned for sure is that every barrel and
every shooter are different, and everyone has
their own exspectations. The fun part is finding
out what yours are.IMO
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[musketman]

I'm kind of a newby to muzzel loaders and I was wondering if any body could tell me is there a break in period for a new barrel? I've been told it takes 200-300 shots to break in a barrel. I would like to hear from some of you more seasoned shooters your thoughts and ideas on this matter.Thanks for any information :grin:

You can use a lapping compound on a cleaning patch and polish the lands and grooves to remove the chatter left behind from the drill bit and rifling tool, this will go a long way in reducing the break in time on new barrels...

 

[Brutus]

I'm kind of a newby to muzzel loaders and I was wondering if any body could tell me is there a break in period for a new barrel? I've been told it takes 200-300 shots to break in a barrel. I would like to hear from some of you more seasoned shooters your thoughts and ideas on this matter.Thanks for any information :grin:

You can use a lapping compound on a cleaning patch and polish the lands and grooves to remove the chatter left behind from the drill bit and rifling tool, this will go a long way in reducing the break in time on new barrels...

Just swab the barrel with it? or is there a special procedure?

 

[musketman]

Just swab the barrel with it? or is there a special procedure?

Use a good fitting cleaning patch and put a goodly amount of lapping compound on it, then with the ramrod and jag, do 50 strokes (down and up) with the compound, clean the bore and test it with a clean patch, if you feel it grabbing a little, do another 50 strokes with the lapping compound and retest...

I had to do a total of 400 strokes with one of my guns to get the chatter out, every gun is different...

If you don't have lapping compound, white toothpaste will work, it to is a mild abrasive...

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I'm kind of a newby to muzzel loaders and I was wondering if any body could tell me is there a break in period for a new barrel? I've been told it takes 200-300 shots to break in a barrel. I would like to hear from some of you more seasoned shooters your thoughts and ideas on this matter.Thanks for any information :grin:

I shoot greenmtnbarrels. When I get one I look down the barrel with a borelight at a angle and can see the " chatter marks" left behind by the cutting tool.
I start by using a four part lapping compound by NECO.
I use a 030 thousands canvas patch wraped around a bore size ball.
Start with the first grit, (220) cover your patch in the compound wrap your ball and start it down the barrel. It will be a tight fit and you may have to use a rubber mallet against your ball starter.
Push the patched round ball all the way down to the breach plug.
Put your ball puller on your field rod and screw it into the seated ball.
Roll up your sleves, take a swig of your favorite bevarage and start sawing back and forth all the way out to the end of the barrel and all the way back down to the plug.
I do this 10 times than pull the pall and patch and throw it away.
I then throuly clean my barrel with hoppies # 9 and start over again.
I lapp three times with each grit all the way down to fine.
It takes my three hours to complete a barrel, much shorter and cleaner then shooting one in.
The next day my first five shot string at 50 yrds is always in the one inch range.
I shoot one of two patch thicknesses in my Greenmtnbarrels that have always worked so my shoot in time is very short.
The final result is that I get half inch groups at 50yrds with less than 100 weighed balls shot through a new barrel.
I have done this with six Greenmtnbarrels with great! results
:hatsoff:

 

[ZERMATT7]

What thickness patches do you use ?