Shiloh Rifle Forums

You guys doing this on new barrels? I never have and likely won't. Seems like a crazy idea to me. I was just wondering how common of a practice it was among shooters that can actually hit something.
Thanks, Cody

At one time it was the norm especially with Badger barreled guns.
Shoot one round, scrub the barrel , shoot 2 scrub the barrel, so on and so forth until 50 rounds had been expended.

Don's recollection matches mine, about Badger barrels. I also remember that Shiloh recommended "just shoot the rifle, no break-in required".

Regarding my first rifle with a Badger barrel, it seemed to shoot better after about 500 rounds thru the barrel. Of course this increased accuracy could also be related to "trigger time".

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

I have done that with a smokeless rifle but not with a BPCR neither have I heard of anyone else doing it. I don't know if they are still doing it but Shiloh used to blue the bore in the process and it took a few rounds to get rid of the bluing but just with lead.

Paul

Common practice with bolt guns in the long range precision crowd. Extremely detailed information about this can be had on the Snipers Hide forum.

The basic idea is that the scrub/shoot/repeat routine smooths out the surface of the bore (looks like a sponge microscopically), resulting in moderately higher velocity and less tendency to foul. In theory it should work the same with a BP barrel, but I’ve not seen it done. Be an interesting experiment….

I have 2 rifles with Badger barrels on therm and they recommended with jacked bullets it was shoot one and scrub, shoot another and scrub for a total of 20 rounds. With lead bullets it was shoot 2 and scrub for a total of 50 I think, I can tell you that it does smooth out the inside of the barrel. I don't know if other makers barrels would benefit from the same treatment or not. I would think that single cut barrels might, buttoned probably not so much but am pretty sure it wouldn't hurt anything do do that to them. I will say that I have a buttoned barrel that collects copper fowling like a magnet and maybe once warm weather comes back I will do that treatment to it and see if it helps any. I also have a broach cut barrel that I don't know if there is any help for or not.
The up side to what ever you do is the increase in trigger time, thats never a bad thing.
Sam

Years ago I did it on my first C. Sharps rifle because they recommended it. I haven't done it on any rifle since then and they all shoot like laser beams. I see no need for it.

Chris.

I did it on one it never did shoot up to expectations
Didn’t do it on the second one and it shoots just fine
Nice thing about a Shiloh you tan take a rifle right out of the case and the first round down the tube the first sighter shot in a match No miss no fuss
I also think Mike is on to something by the time you get 3-400 rounds down range you and it are getting to know each other a bit better

Thank you guys for the comments, it pretty much mirrors what I was thinking. There is a discussion on the Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette facebook page right now and they acted like this barrel break in process was the norm and I was crazy for not agreeing with them. To each their own.

Just shoot PP bullets and you will get it done.

New rifle 20, 000 plus down the bore It will get seasoned with use.

It’s been around for a long time but I think most bpcr shooters simply ignore it
Several years back there was a pretty good thread on it here
The Facebook bpcr groups get to be anywhere from informative to slapstick silly stupid sometimes

In my bolt action shooting it seemed that the results of “bore break-in” or “seasoning” were often uneven. The last three bolt guns I’ve had built have all been treated with this….

http://huntspecmat.com/hs-937-gun-and-bore-coatings/

It’s a nano-ceramic compound you apply inside a brand new bore with a simple bore mop or patch. It leaves a couple micron thick layer of tiny ceramic “beads” that get pressed into the pores in the steel upon firing of live rounds. The results seem pretty impressive. Lots easier than scrubbing for hours on end too.

Wow! That looks interesting! Do you buy it through them, or is there a dealer?

Had my smithy apply it during the build. I can ask him where he got it if you’d like to try it.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind. Thank you!