Proper Break In for AR?

[dee]

I don't break any barrel in no matter the cost. All I do is clean once I get it home to any oil, grease or other rust inhibitors out.

[IHaveAMustang]

I have to take a bit more care of my 5.45x39 barrel just because it shoots steel core corrosive ammo. But for normal AR-15's, blast and lube...the opposite of sex

[Grimpala]

I have to take a bit more care of my 5.45x39 barrel just because it shoots steel core corrosive ammo. But for normal AR-15's, blast and lube...the opposite of sex

Or is it...

[soap]

Any new gun I just run a dry patch through the barrel, shoot the shit outta it take it home clean and re-lube good to go.

[likeitfast55]

I have to take a bit more care of my 5.45x39 barrel just because it shoots steel core corrosive ammo. But for normal AR-15's, blast and lube...the opposite of sex

Corrosive is just the NaCl(salt) by-product of the primer. Left un cleaned, it will destroy a barrel. Simple soap and water bath cleans 100% of the salt left behind.

[Jose]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I had watched a couple of videos on YouTube and thought it was a little crazy. One of them was even from a gun manufacturer! Guess I'm just going to wipe it down as it has oil dripping out from a few spots, buy a soft case to store it in for transport, and buy a case of ammo from somewhere.

[propellerhead]

I don't subscribe to any break in for AR barrels. I suspect the whole break in process was someone's speculation that sounded cool and people reposted the shit out of it until newbies took it as gospel, and reposted the shit out if it some more. Soon the guy who speculated about it died and no one contradicts the break in process because there's really no data to back anything up.

I say the same with rear end gears. People swap in 3.73s or 4.10s and feel like experts talking about the break in process they did. But no one does it for new cars coming off the lot.

[dee]

I don't subscribe to any break in for AR barrels. I suspect the whole break in process was someone's speculation that sounded cool and people reposted the shit out of it until newbies took it as gospel, and reposted the shit out if it some more. Soon the guy who speculated about it died and no one contradicts the break in process because there's really no data to back anything up.

I say the same with rear end gears. People swap in 3.73s or 4.10s and feel like experts talking about the break in process they did. But no one does it for new cars coming off the lot.

There is some truth to "barrel break in" but it's more about smoothing tge throat area of the chamber. Depending on how smooth it was cut will depend on many rounds it smooths with.

[propellerhead]

There is some truth to "barrel break in" but it's more about smoothing tge throat area of the chamber. Depending on how smooth it was cut will depend on many rounds it smooths with.

Is this substantiated with credible engineering data? If so, I'd love to read it. Smoothing the throat area by shooting store bought ammo just doesn't mesh with the claims of making differences of less than 1 MOA. Plus, there's so much more going on outside the barrel that will affect the trajectory of the bullet. I'm not a mechanical engineer but the whole idea sounds like crashing a car against a wall because you want to perfectly line up the hood with the fender.

[71chevellejohn]

My 20" Upper from JSE came with the following instructions:

This procedure begins with firing one round, then cleaning the chamber and bore before firing the next round. This should be repeated for the first 25 rounds. The next step is firing 10 rounds, followed by chamber and bore cleaning. The should be repeated until 100 rounds have been fired. Following this process will help ensure proper function and increase your accuracy. After the initial break in, it will still be necessary to perform routine maintenance on your upper to keep it functioning properly

I don't know how much difference it makes, I haven't assembled the gun yet.

[LANTIRN]

My 20" Upper from JSE came with the following instructions:



I don't know how much difference it makes, I haven't assembled the gun yet.

They probably say that knowing nobody does it so when someone calls to complain about not getting sub 1" moa they can just reply "did you follow the break in?".

[GrayStangGT]

So my last two rifles (AR and a Savage) I bought used so I didn't bother following any sort of break in procedure. But I want to make sure I do that with the new AR I picked up this week and wanted to get some opinions from people on here how to do so. I did some research on YouTube and a couple of the video's were talking about cleaning the barrel out after every shot for the first few (20-100) rounds. Is this excessive?

I have a bull barrel AR that was done like this and it is the most accurate gun I own. Maybe $900 in the AR in parts, but I picked it up for $600 and it groups better than my Sako 85($1500 gun).