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elkhutnaz

breaking in new rifle

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Got a new rifle headed my way and looking for some info on the best way to break her in?? Any help would be great Thanks

Remington Model 700 Sendero SF ll 300 ultra mag

post-1940-1270568223.png

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Great gun

You need to change the trigger lb

And need to add a muzzle brake those two little things will add to the accuracy of the rifle and less recoil

One of the best guns that I have

Bullets are not cheap if you’re not reloading

 

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That is a great rifle and an awesome caliber. I wouldnt worry about a muzzle brake, but a trigger job is a good idea. That rifle out of the box is a tack driver! Congrats!

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more than anything I'd start packin that thing around everywhere you go so you will know how heavy that beast is gonna be come hunting season :)

 

I carry a 12.5lb rifle and almost regret ever having it built.....sucker shoots like a laser but it's a heavy beast. I have the same "Remington Sendero" contour and my rig and it's a heavy barrel.

 

Scott

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I'm glad Red Rabbit posted that link. I've heard for a long time that there is no evidence whatsoever that barrel break-in does anything but shorten the barrel's life. Still some shooters swear by the process.

 

Great looking gun - when you get settled on a load, post up some pix.

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more than anything I'd start packin that thing around everywhere you go so you will know how heavy that beast is gonna be come hunting season :)

 

I carry a 12.5lb rifle and almost regret ever having it built.....sucker shoots like a laser but it's a heavy beast. I have the same "Remington Sendero" contour and my rig and it's a heavy barrel.

 

Scott

 

Scott,

I hear the best rifle scabbard for those LR rigs is the "mule".

Friend just got a 7RUM Sendero and won't fit the Eberlestock scabbard with a bipod attached.

 

Doug

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There are diehard break in guys and guys who swear that the barrel is the best on the 1st shot and goes downhill from there. I broke mine in one day with about 15-20 rds sighting in my scope. I just wanted to make sure there wasnt a ton of copper fouling goin on and maybe "polishing the barrel". I gave it plenty of time to cool down between shots, never more that sets of 2 or 3. I ddnt do the 1 shot, swab, 2 shots, swab twice deal or anything like that. Im not sure if any effect at all it had but the rifle shoots well today. Either way you do it your rifle is gonna shoot well.

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Its like heat treating for metal but its cold treating. My simple answer is I woiuld never pay for it unless i had a hotrod varmint rifle i knew i was gonna eventually use 2-3 barrels on. Id never do it on a heavy large caliber rifle, but on the other hand if your spending 3500 for a custom build whats a little but more $ gonna hurt ya. I dont believe ther is a down side to cryo besides $$. theres tons of reading info of guys offerin their opinion if you look around.

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Cryoing doesnt add much if any life to a barrel and wont turn a 1/2 MOA gun into a 1/4 MOA gun or a 3/8 MOA gun for that matter. It was the rage a few years ago but like the belted magnum, is dead.

 

I have very mixed feelings on barrel break in. Currently my opinion is for factory or unlapped custom barrels, carefull break in can be of some benefit. For a high quality smooth finished hand lapped barrel, the first 3 shots are the most accurate. When youre dealing with a barrel burner such as the 300 RUM and it is a real throat and barrel cooker, you probably want to spend as little time breaking it in as possible. Maybe a few shots where it is shoot one and then clean one. Then 3 bullets fired 2-3 minutes apart and clean. A factory barrel should start to clean easier after 3-5 shoot one clean one shots and 2 or 3 three shot groups spaced a few minutes apart. Take it from a guy who has cooked two 300 RUM barrels that your barrel will last A LOT longer and offer more consistency if you shoot one and let it cool 2-3 minutes between shots. How bad can it be? I burned the throat out of my last one in less than 75 rounds and 150 in the previous one. BE CAREFULL!

 

Make dang sure if you ever use sweets or any other amonia based copper cleaner regardless of whether or not you use it during break in or regular cleanings or both that you dont leave it in the barrel for more than 5 minutes. Also, it will dry the steel out severely regardless of how long you use it. Make sure that after using it that you swab the bore out a couple of times with another type of not so harsh copper solvents such as Hoppes or shooter's choice and swab it with oil when you are done. This will minimize how dry the steel is. Using JB afterwards seems to help a bit which gets the fouling and copper left behind by solvents and helps fight the dryness. If you do use sweets, the instructions on the bottle work the best. Soak a patch and swab back and forth for 1 minute, then swab out the excess. You dont need to swab with 15 patches once. It works better to use one or two back and forth for a minute. What ever cleaning techniques you decide to use, be consistent with the technique you use. Your groups can change if you dont. Some guys like to clean the bore down to bare metal. Others brush out the powder fouling and copper fouling and leave the minor and normal coating in the bore. When one or the other changes, so will your groups and velocity. Brusing and swabing will leave a super fine coating in the barrel. JB paste or Flitz will take it down to the bare metal. Either is fine just be consistent and regular. Dont over use JB or Flitz. Polishing a bore super smooth will make an enviornment for worse copper fouling. Just use enough to get rid of all the fouling.

 

Hope that helps!

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Breaking a barrel in is quite subjective indeed. Everyone has a different opinion of what "breaking a barrel in" means too.

 

When you first shoot the rifle. clean it thoroughly after the first shot- use whatever you want as long as it isn't abrasive- don't use JB to clean during break-in. It will probably take quite a few patches to get it clean. It should cool quite a bit doing this. Then shoot it again. Clean it completely. It will probably take quite a few patches to get it clean- especially the carbon. Do this until it gets noticeably easier to clean. There is no magic number of shots that break in a barrel. You are simply burnishing the steel. A hammer forged barrel should be pretty smooth inside.

 

Once it cleans up nice- shoot your group, working your load or testing factory ammo. I usually clean it again after the first couple of groups and then let it go until you notice that accuracy has dropped off before cleaning.

 

There are some great solvents out there. Most of the new ones are better than Sweets or CR10. I like Bore tech, Montana extreme and TM to name a few.

 

I just broke in a barrel last week. It took 4 shots to break it in. That isn't a lot of wear and tear on your barrel. It is better to get it to where it will clean nicely at first than to fight it for weeks.

 

Good luck and have fun

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