Savage Chronicles...

[nikonNUT]

Looking good! So how many rounds through the gun so far? Still doing the break in process?

23 rounds down range so far. I am still breaking her in properly (I think). Break in is a hotly contest subject I'll tell you! Even high end barrel makers like Bartlein aren't super concerned. Their suggested break in process is shot a round, clean, shoot another round, clean, shoot (4) 5-shot groups and clean throughly and see want the barrel says... Shillen and Kregier feel the same for the most part!

 

[nikonNUT]

Interesting stuff on break-in.
From Bartlein Barrels...
Break in and Cleaning
The age old question, “Breaking in the New Barrel”. Opinions very a lot here, and this is a very subjective topic. For the most part, the only thing you are breaking in, is the throat area of the barrel. The nicer the finish that the Finish Reamer or Throating Reamer leaves, the faster the throat will break in.
Shoot one round and clean for the first two rounds individually. Look to see what the barrel is telling you. If I’m getting little to no copper out of it, I sit down and shoot the gun. Say 4 – 5 round groups and then clean. If the barrel cleans easily and shoots well, we consider it done.
If the barrel shows some copper or is taking a little longer to clean after the first two, shoot a group of 3 rounds and clean. Then a group of 5 and clean.
After you shoot the 3rd group and 5th group, watch how long it takes to clean. Also notice your group sizes. If the group sizes are good and the cleaning is getting easier or is staying the same, then shoot 4 – 5 round groups.
If fouling appears to be heavy and taking a while to clean, notice your group sizes. If group sizes are good and not going sour, you don’t have a fouling problem. Some barrels will clean easier than others. Some barrels may take a little longer to break in. Remember the throat. Fouling can start all the way from here. We have noticed sometimes that even up to approximately 100 rounds, a barrel can show signs of a lot of copper, but it still shoots really well and then for no apparent reason, you will notice little to no copper and it will clean really easy.
This is meant as guide lines only. There is no hard and fast rule for breaking in a barrel.

From Kreiger (by far the most in depth)...
BREAK-IN & CLEANING:
With any premium barrel that has been finish lapped -- such as your Krieger Barrel --, the lay or direction of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, so fouling is minimal compared to a barrel with internal tooling marks. This is true of any properly finish-lapped barrel regardless of how it is rifled. If it is not finish-lapped, there will be reamer marks left in the bore that are directly across the direction of the bullet travel. This occurs even in a button-rifled barrel as the button cannot completely iron out these reamer marks.

Because the lay of the finish is in the direction of the bullet travel, very little is done to the bore during break-in, but the throat is another story. When your barrel is chambered, by necessity there are reamer marks left in the throat that are across the lands, i.e. across the direction of the bullet travel. In a new barrel they are very distinct; much like the teeth on a very fine file.

When the bullet is forced into the throat, copper dust is removed from the jacket material and released into the gas which at this temperature and pressure is actually a plasma. The copper dust is vaporized in this plasma and is carried down the barrel. As the gas expands and cools, the copper comes out of suspension and is deposited in the bore. This makes it appear as if the source of the fouling is the bore when it is actually for the most part the new throat.

If this copper is allowed to stay in the bore, and subsequent bullets and deposits are fired over it, copper which adheres well to itself, will build up quickly and may be difficult to remove later. So when we break in a barrel, our goal is to get the throat “polished without allowing copper to build up in the bore. This is the reasoning for the fire-one-shot-and-clean procedure.

Every barrel will vary slightly in how many rounds they take to break in For example a chrome moly barrel may take longer to break in than stainless steel because it is more abrasion resistant even though it is a similar hardness. Also chrome moly has a little more of an affinity for copper than stainless steel so it will usually show a little more color if you are using a chemical cleaner. Rim Fire barrels can take an extremely long time to break in, sometimes requiring several hundred rounds or more. But cleaning can be lengthened to every 25-50 rounds. The break-in procedure and the cleaning procedure are really the same except for the frequency. Remember the goal is to get or keep the barrel clean while breaking in the throat with bullets being fired over it.

Finally, the best way to tell if the barrel is broken in is to observe the patches; i.e. when the fouling is reduced. This is better than some set number of cycles of shoot and clean as many owners report practically no fouling after the first few shots, and more break-in would be pointless. Conversely, if more is required, a set number would not address that either. Besides, cleaning is not a completely benign procedure so it should be done carefully and no more than necessary.

From Shillen (Second line!So funny I’m Ded!)
How should I break-in my new Shilen barrel?
Break-in procedures are as diverse as cleaning techniques. Shilen, Inc. introduced a break-in procedure mostly because customers seemed to think that we should have one. By and large, we don't think breaking-in a new barrel is a big deal. All our stainless steel barrels have been hand lapped as part of their production, as well as any chrome moly barrel we install. Hand lapping a barrel polishes the interior of the barrel and eliminates sharp edges or burrs that could cause jacket deformity. This, in fact, is what you are doing when you break-in a new barrel through firing and cleaning.
Here is our standard recommendation: Clean after each shot for the first 5 shots. The remainder of the break-in is to clean every 5 shots for the next 50 shots. During this time, don't just shoot bullets down the barrel during this 50 shot procedure. This is a great time to begin load development. Zero the scope over the first 5 shots, and start shooting for accuracy with 5-shot groups for the next 50 shots. Same thing applies to fire forming cases for improved or wildcat cartridges. Just firing rounds down a barrel to form brass without any regard to their accuracy is a mistake. It is a waste of time and barrel life.

P.S. I’ll take any of these makers word as gospel and if you are of the “TL;DR” mind set I get that too!

 

[nikonNUT]

And this chapter can close. I scrubbed the barrel thoroughly, cleaned the receiver lugs, and swabbed the chamber. After that a quick bore scope to check the screws (No signs of movement so far!) and inspect the barrel. Not the prettiest machine work I've ever seen and their are lots of tool marks but it cleans up fairly easily! No carbon ring and no fire cracking near the throat which my MSR-10 exhibits plenty of! I think Savage did above average on these barrels and it should run for a long time with some basic maintenance and TLC! I'll carry on the break-in process for a few more rounds but I think it's seasoned or what every you want to call it! Time to enjoy this one, do a little tweeking, and ponder the next build... Defiance Machine Deviant? Bartlein barrel? Another .338 or a .375 Chey-Tac? Decisions, decisions!

 

[stone and strop]

And this chapter can close. I scrubbed the barrel thoroughly, cleaned the receiver lugs, and swabbed the chamber. After that a quick bore scope to check the screws (No signs of movement so far!) and inspect the barrel. Not the prettiest machine work I've ever seen and their are lots of tool marks but it cleans up fairly easily! No carbon ring and no fire cracking near the throat which my MSR-10 exhibits plenty of! I think Savage did above average on these barrels and it should run for a long time with some basic maintenance and TLC! I'll carry on the break-in process for a few more rounds but I think it's seasoned or what every you want to call it! Time to enjoy this one, do a little tweeking, and ponder the next build... Defiance Machine Deviant? Bartlein barrel? Another .338 or a .375 Chey-Tac? Decisions, decisions!

Chey tac, variety is the spice of life!
Competition against each other - they'll be the best of brothers

 

[nikonNUT]

So I scrubbed the 338 Sunday and I'm impressed with how easily the fouling comes out. My routine is wet a patch with BoreTech CU+2, let it "soak" for 3 minutes, wet patch again, 3 more minutes, then a dry patch and repeat until 10 wet patches total have been used. Not a lot of copper to begin with but it really is cleaning easy and so far no fire cracking or carbon ring...

 

[nortac]

Once you finish your break in process, you should invest in a 10 rnd. box of match grade ammo to see what she'll really do and chrono those rounds to give you a benchmark for your eventual reloads.

 

[nikonNUT]

I'm sure a box of Lapua 300gr Scenar ammo is coming soon for a baseline plus I'll have GOOD brass! Everyone say Lapua brass is heavy duty stuff and great for MAX++ loads. 300gr bullet at 3000 FPS? It boggles the mind.

P.S. No brushes were harmed in the cleaning process. I don't use them on my rifle barrels.

 

[OkieStubble]

I'm sure a box of Lapua 300gr Scenar ammo is coming soon for a baseline plus I'll have GOOD brass! Everyone say Lapua brass is heavy duty stuff and great for MAX++ loads. 300gr bullet at 3000 FPS? It boggles the mind.

P.S. No brushes were harmed in the cleaning process. I don't use them on my rifle barrels.

Yes it does.

 

[stone and strop]

I'm sure a box of Lapua 300gr Scenar ammo is coming soon for a baseline plus I'll have GOOD brass! Everyone say Lapua brass is heavy duty stuff and great for MAX++ loads. 300gr bullet at 3000 FPS? It boggles the mind.

P.S. No brushes were harmed in the cleaning process. I don't use them on my rifle barrels.

That's some serious energy/thump on the receiving end.

 

[nikonNUT]

That's some serious energy/thump on the receiving end.

About 50% more energy (1818 ft/lbs) at 1000 yards than a 5.56 M855 has at the muzzle (1255 ft/lbs)...

 

[nikonNUT]

And now it looks the part!!!

Time to test her out!!!

 

[stone and strop]

Looks like a great way to spend some time outdoors.
That really looks awesome, nice package!

 

[nikonNUT]

Looks like a great way to spend some time outdoors.
That really looks awesome, nice package!

Thanks, man! Looking forward to some before and after shots (sonically speaking) this weekend!

 

[stone and strop]

I'll be interested to see how well it knocks the DB's down.

 

[nikonNUT]

I'll be interested to see how well it knocks the DB's down.

I've gotta grab a dB meter app but there are allegations that it should drop from around 165 to 170 un-suppressed to about 133 supressed. Not quite hearing safe but a lot more tolerable! I'm curious about the recoil reduction as well!

 

[nikonNUT]

Took the Hybrid out yesterday and the while the sound reduction is impressive it's still not what I would call hearing safe. I tried one shot sans ear plugs and was rewarded with a very brief moment of ringing. I would say it is just above the 130dB threshold. Recoil reduction was also very impressive for a semi-hot load (94.6gr of RL33 under a 300gr SMK. Minor primer cratering). I'm not 100% sure but I think the groups tightened up a bit as well. POI changed a bit but the above load shot .46MOA including a called flyer. Today we check velocities and tweek a bit more. Hoping to lock down a node and finally call it good!

 

[nortac]

Looking good!

 

[nikonNUT]

Looking good!

Thanks, man! Loving livin’ the suppressed life and ready to lock thinks down so I can get on with long range shooting!

 

[OkieStubble]

Looking good!

+1000!

 

[stone and strop]

Looking pretty good!
Looking forward to seeing some long range action