Some have a rather elaborate and lengthy process for barrel break-in while others don’t do much, if anything. Keeping in mind that different barrels often need different things, we fall in between these two ends of the spectrum. Generally speaking we do the following:

  1. Initial cleaning (we use bronze brushes but understand many have excellent results with nylon)
  2. Shoot three to five 3-shot groups while keeping the barrel reasonably cool.
  3. Thorough clean.
  4. How do the groups look?
    1. OK? You’re done.
    2. Not OK? Back to the range with same and additional loads.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 until satisfied. Sometimes if it’s being ornery we’ll use some J-B Bore Paste to do some very light lapping. Generally not necessary.

That’s it.