I know we all clean differently. I wet the bore thoroughly before brushing. I'll push 3-4 wet patches first, then brush it, then 3 more wet patches or more until clean, then a few dry, then 1 with oil, then a final dry patch for storage or prior to next shooting session. However, on any new rifle, I use Iosso paste on a patch after I wet the bore with Free-All or Kano Kroil to clean the throat thoroughly. 2 patches with oil, then 2 with paste, the 2 more with oil, the dry it out. On a newly chambered bore, doing that has eliminated the need for a brush for me I never did any break-in on a factory barrel but did on ALL of my custom barrels. I was so afraid of paying all that money for cut-rifle or button rifled hand lapped barrels I wanted to make sure I did what I thought I should. Years later I learned that hand lapped barrels need little to no break in at all but factory barrels do, if at all. At this point, I stopped doing break in on any barrel and have found what most say is true, especially competitions shooters, snipers for law enforcement and military, and that is break in is not necessary but personal choice
Two nearly identical .243 rifles, 16 years un-sold on the shelf at the gun store? How lucky did you two get to find those! It made for an interesting experiment which leaves me .... still in the dark! lol. To Clean - Or Not To Clean? That is the question.
My barrel break in process has never failed me. Clean it with a dry patch before you shoot it the first time, then never again unless the accuracy gets worse after 300 rounds down range. I've got a lot of very expensive rifles and it works great for me.
You dont oil your bore for storage? What climate do you live in? Because in my area if i didn't oil my bore I would have rust issues. I dont always clean my bores after shooting (want to keep her fouled in) but i run a lightly oiled patch after range time
Ive done break ins on new rifles and i haven't done it... never seen a differents so now i don't do it , but i do clean my bolt gun every 20 rounds or after every hunting season
Great video. On the flip side, the experiment shows that taking a rifle to the woods with a clean, cold barrel isn't necessarily the boogie man that so many claim. It would have been even more interesting to see a mapping of only the first shots in each group from each barrel. After all, it's that first shot that always matters most in the deer woods.
Great point David, and the ability to easily do things like that is something I love about the new electronic systems that track shots. I might have to upgrade to that one day?
It took quite a few shots with different brands and loads of factory ammo to maximize the grouping capabilities of my TC Icon 243. It turned out that my rifle loves a store brand factory load - Academy Sports Monarch 100gr soft point ammo. I don't chronograph my shooting but according to the label the MV on this ammo is just over 2900fps. From 100 yards I consistently get sub moa groupings with this Monarch ammo. I tried other name brand ammos like Hornady, Winchester, Federal, and a range of different bullet weights and tips. I was pleased to discover my Icon loves the Monarch stuff. I assume one of the big name brand manufactuerers makes the Monarch but I don't know which one it is. Don't really care about things like that. Also don't really care about using a chronograph. All I care about is getting consistently moa / sub moa 3 shot groups - took some time and a few boxes of ammo but I found what my Icon loves and I stick with it.
That was a fun video. They both seem to be shooting very good regardless of break in or not. I like your added background music, it gave the video a classy touch. As far as your video channels, I’m glad for your decision to keep rifle content here & put your gardening and other content on your other channel. I’m interested in your other content as well, but like to know I can come here for videos about rifles. Take care and God bless my friend. 😎👍
My only break in process with any new rifle is to strip it down clean it fully. (New guns always have crap left in them from the factory) Then go shoot it i find most rifles are broken in after 50 rounds and then I clean it again For cleaning I use a soaked solvent patch of hoppies #9. Then i let it sit for 5 minutes, then i run a bronze brush a few pases, then a few dry patches. If the bore is still dirty I run a wet patch then brush then dry patches. Once clean and dry I run a patch oiled with Balistol. If i plan to shoot the rifle again soon I lightly lube the bore. If its going to be stored long term i usually use more oil for preservation
That was a great find you and Joey came up with in those two rifles,they are shooting pretty well right out of the gate,so I hope you guy’s bring them back out for us when you fella’s find their preferred ammo and the bugs settle down a bit. I think those rifles have a pretty neat bedding system and potential for high accuracy👍
Thanks for all the effort you did in making this video and it’s really interesting topic and test I don’t know if someone mention in the other comments it would be really interesting to switch rifles and shoot one more group to see the effect of the shooter on the group size . Thanks again and God bless.
😂those bugs are having a blood brunch on you guys! Tom great video as usual👏 I love to break in or shoot a new rifle with great anticipation as to how well it will shoot with the handloads and factory loads! I am happy for your new house! I am a rifle gun nut but I like anything you post Tom over the years so have at it, I am retired and love both your channels!
Thanks 308 Guy. My personal belief is that it really makes a difference on some rifles but for most rifles the difference it makes is very little but it does help even if just a little? Unfortunately, I still can't prove it! LOL
While shooting gophers I had bug spray but it had been out in the truck for two years and its' effectiveness had been diminished to say the least. 2223 gophers, 4 badgers, and a magpie so far. The perks of being unemployed.
@@luvtahandload7692 Not entirely. Such figures are always inexact thanks to the gopher sized\gopher coloured rocks and pieces of cowpies, the hits you thought were misses, the misses you thought were hits, etc. I was being conservative in my count so it might be slightly higher.
I have found that the significance of barrel breakin may not be revealed until 70- 300 rounds have been fired. But this is in reference to the sniper rifles in our SWAT department, as we can not risk a cold bore deviation in a hostage scenario. Great test. Thanks for the video.
And thanks for your comment Sean. I bet spending the time you guys do shooting and monitoring every shot that you see a lot of things over time that most of us miss.
Thanks.For Your Service ? On the Cold Bore. Is that a Clean Cold Bore ? Or A Fouled Cold Bore? Just curious. As know my Hunting rifles generally shoot better fouled than clean. Not enough difference for the game field but can see it could be for you guys. God Bless Ya
@@michaelwilson9986 You are absolutely correct. Beginning with a clean bore, and up to between 60-70 rounds, with light coppering, the accuracy improves predictably until a relative equilibrium has been achieved. In the range between medium and heavy copper fouling, consistent performance is achieved, sometimes up to over 300 rounds, before erratic performance starts. Every rifle has it's own personality as you may well know. Also, the 300 win mag has been custom loaded to work with specific systems. 7.62X51 and 338 Lapua Magnum are also preferred by some, and for different reasons. It doesn't hurt to have a $7000 scope to work with either.
Assumeing here n Yes We Know What That Does...Forgive me. That the Ammo was same brand n lot.!!?? I never have bought into breaking a barrel in.JB it out of the box n clean it at range generally 5th shot before next next string with a good copper cleaner. For you 2 guys this would be a good time to see If breaking one in as you have yours. IF ITS EASIER to Clean it after x # of rounds compared to Joey's.. 1 thing breaking in one is supposed to do. Just a thought. God Bless Ya n Yours
I keep a box of dryer sheets in my truck, it works great to rub a sheet on your skin to keep biting bugs away when fishing, or shooting etc. Maybe next time shoot each others gun to see if there's a difference too.
I never saw the need for a break in either. A good cleaning right out of the box and then couple times after range sessions and now I only run a bore snake through it after a range session. I don't want to unfoul my bore and then the groups get larger until the barrel is fouled again for accuracy.
You are spot on! I have broke in a FEW hundred rifles over my 60+ years of collecting reloading and hunting and that is about all you need to do on most rifles even high end rifles because I have a bunch of them too and didn’t make much difference if any after the first cleaning!
Gota put at least 20 shots through before the barrel settles down from the factory in my opinion. After a good box r so your groups will be the best there Gona get.
The original .243 was built with a 1 in 10 twist rate. Bullets have gotten heavier (longer) and need a faster twist rate to stabilize the longer bullet. Remington went to 9 1/8 and ruger is 1in 9. I put a 1 in 8 on my tikka t3x for 100 gr. Bullets. The results were very positive (for me). Thanks for your all your videos. Your calm approach is refreshing when you consider most of the guys talk like they have had 5 cups of coffee and a redbull.
Actually you do know if a break in process is needed or not. The way you know that it is not needed is if you buy a Tikka/Sako, Sauer and alike. Lesser quality rifles need a break in process.
Thanks so much Tom! So I wasn't actually pulling for Joey to win or beat you, but I did find myself pulling for Joey to do well. I thought about it and asked myself, why am I doing that? Simple answer is that I do what he does. I get a rifle, new or used, and I start putting bullets through it. Now, I do normally look down the boar to ensure it is clear of any obstructions, but I don't brush it or clean it. An exception to that is if it is a used rifle and it needs a cleaning I'll do that, but I have never done a break in process. So in watching this I was pulling for Joey to have good groups because I needed some self assurance that my process or lack of process is viable. Anyway, I think this was great footage to video and put up. On another subject, the no-see ems I like to call them "All Jaws" as they hurt when they bite down. It's hot too with the temp and humidity so the bugs are really irritating then as well. That old 8N needs to be ready to go in a couple of weeks if that area is to be mowed for dove. Speaking of that, your information about hunting, gardening, home refinishing on the other channel has me thinking. Perhaps I need to do the same since 90% of my videos are shooting/gun related and the other 10% relate to my dove field or hunting perhaps I'm killing my own videos by co-mingling them like that. Thanks as always and sorry for the long comment.
Cervus, we all want to see something that reinforces what we all ready believe, including myself! And I don't think your dove field stuff is out of place on channel. I actually think it fits well with the rest of what you are doing. One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of things on RU-vid are seasonal. I get way more views from October to January than the rest of the year just because that's when people are most interested in hunting. If I were you I would really be putting out the videos on dove hunting and dove fields from now until the end of Sept since time to be cutting now and season is almost here. I suspect a lot of people will be looking for info on that and I know I was planning on going back through some of you videos since we're getting ready for dove season. I also suspect RU-vid is just getting harder to get views on for smaller channels for a lot of reasons that I'm going to get into on the new channel?
Thanks Tom. This year most of my updates on the field are in the community page. I plan on heading out there Wednesday (8/16) to mow about 50% of the field. I got my tractor back from the shop Saturday and I've already hooked up the mower. It was too hot to go out there in the middle of the day and it is supposed to be a bit cooler Wednesday. That's 17 days prior to opening day. I've mowed four strips in the field already trying to get the birds interested in it. I'm just not seeing a lot of birds at the moment. I sure hope that changes. I'm currently competing with the corn fields just down the road and my neighbor's sunflower field across the road. @@TomRiverSimpleLiving
Great video. Thanks for the blood donation in order to get it done. Im sure the next wave of them will thank you too. Beautiful rifles I love the classics. Let me ask you. A new to me rifle or let me re word that . Say a new to you rifle. With out knowing its history do you do a break in. Or save that as last resort if accuracy is suffering in effort to save it?
I save that as a last resort. I'll do just a normal cleaning with a brush, patch, and Hoppe's #9 and just see what the rifles does. If it shoots well then I leave it as is. If I can't get it to shoot well and I've tried everything else then I'll do a really good cleaning with JB bore cleaner just like I do for a break in but I don't really do a break then because I only clean it once. But it gets the bore spottless and back down to steel.. Sometimes that makes a world of difference and sometimes it doesn't. My Lee Enfield went from 3.5" plus groups to under 1.5" just from cleaning the bore.
@@TomRiverSimpleLiving i remember the Enfield. I ask because I've picked up a few new to me rifles. Some nice classics. I have one giving me issues. A 7mm mag browning a bolt. Im about to break it down and start to chase the issues. I figured I'd save the jb for last if all else fells.
@@BuckIt00I would definitely put the scope down the barrel for a close inspection. Just bought a like new looking A Bolt from a pawn shop that had been setting on their shelves for 3+ years and the barrel was totally destroyed from rust by not cleaning the last time they took it hunting! I got the gun dirt cheap so it’s getting a new barrel!
You will see a better ES and SD with the properly cleaned rifle you are shooting. To bad you couldn’t get the data for this video. I have never tried this with factory ammo though.
The variation that was not mentioned is in the barrel of the rifle every barrel is different no matter if the rifles are exactly the same one set of rifling could have been caught with a brand-new sharp tool one set rightfully could have been cut with a tool that had just cut four other barrels you never know when you could be the lucky duck that gets a Hummer barrel on a Mossberg Patriot as for breaking in that's the owner of the rifles choice I have never broken in ,a barrel on any
Keith, you are 100 percent spot on correct. Even if we had seen a difference in these rifles it still could have just been one of us got lucky with our barrel. Every barrel is unique even if they were made one after another. But it still would have been interesting had we seen a difference.
That would be a great clambering, but honestly I'm looking forward to trying the 243. It's a cartridge that I've never hunted with but I know it's a great cartridge just because of knowing so many really good hunters over the years that loved their 243. I guess I'm going to find out?
Now that's a good idea. And I thought about us changing rifles every other group while we were shooting but then this trip turned into a survival mission!
Sandy, I normally do but I went from my Xterra back to my Tahoe as my daily driver and I left the Deep Woods Off in the Xterra. I will rectify that mistake shortly.
