First Time Using Your New Firearm

Now that you’ve got that new firearm you’ve been waiting for, you just want to go out and shoot it!  First read the instruction manual and familiarize yourself with the controls and how she operates. New firearms and especially military surplus firearms are often shipped with heavy oil in the barrel, be sure to run a dry patch or patches down the bore to remove this.  It is advisable to keep new actions well lubricated and to clean frequently.

Breaking in New Barrels

This is a controversial topic; remember that many barrels are spoiled through bad or over cleaning. Breaking in new barrels if done correctly can do no harm, the improvement may only be slight or it may be quite dramatic. Basically the first shots through a new bore are in fact carrying out the final polishing. Any imperfections, any roughness will collect copper residue, this residue if not removed may start to gall up, this degrades accuracy and can become difficult to remove if left. The rougher the new barrel the more important the break in procedure. In a highly polished match barrel the break in would be minimum.

Break-In Procedure

1) Run a patch through the barrel before you shoot it to remove oils and residues

2) Run a patch with bore solvent through the barrel after each round for the first 5 rounds

3) Clean after every fifth round for the next 50 rounds

Tips

1) Wait at least 5 minutes between break in shots to keep the barrel temperature cool

2) Use a good quality cleaning kit

3) Do not modify your firearm in any way when breaking it in (You want to reduce the number of variables as much as possible in the event you do have problems)

4) Use good quality ammo

5) Make sure the gun is well lubed with a medium to light oil

6) Do not use a cleaner with an abrasive in it since you are trying to seal the barrel, not keep it agitated

7) More barrels are ruined through bad cleaning or over cleaning than over shooting

After this procedure your barrel’s interior surface will be sealed and should shoot cleaner and develop less fouling for the rest of its shooting life. 

Please note the information given is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the opinion of Wolverine Supplies or its staff.