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I find that no rifle needs "breaking in".
I do find that one does need time to see what ammo or loading that the rifle "likes" the best.

Practice with the rifle...learn how to shoot it , enjoy shooting it and forget about any "breaking in".

Others however will disagree with the above.
Andy
 
Is there a specific or recommended way of breaking in a 22lr rifle?

Is it needed?

I would have to agree with the above statements, I haven't ever heard of breaking in a barrel until recently...not sure what changed with how barrels are made, but you used to do load work ups after fouling shots immediately after installing a new barrel.

Obviously with 22lr you just find what it likes best and keep leading and copper fouling clean and you should be good to go.
 
Not so sure about "keeping it clean". Go talk to the Olimpic shooters, the .22 target shooters, the .22 speed/accuracy shooters, and they all say they rarely clean their barrels (auto handguns and some auto rifle ACTIONS get dirty and need cleaning more often) until the season gets over. That said, yeah I clean my every time they get shot.
 
What kind of 22lr?
When I bought a new barrel for mine it came with break in instructions where you would clean after so many rounds, then increase the rounds then clean again, repeat increments until 200 rds. They referred to this period as "critical stage" to breaking in.
 
You are supposed to break in a 22lr?:s0001:

I have seriously been doing things wrong!!!

On a side note, I think break in for any barrel is unneeded. You break it in by shooting it.
 
Depends on the rifle, you're using soft lead in a hardened barrel.

Match rifles aren't considered broken in until they hit 500-1000 rounds. My Bergara may never be fully broken in with how match ammo is going now days, it may be a decade before that happens.
 
Not so sure about "keeping it clean". Go talk to the Olimpic shooters, the .22 target shooters, the .22 speed/accuracy shooters, and they all say they rarely clean their barrels (auto handguns and some auto rifle ACTIONS get dirty and need cleaning more often) until the season gets over. That said, yeah I clean my every time they get shot.

Probably OK if they ALWAYS shoot the very same ammunition with the same bullet lube all of the time. When I test various brands of .22 rimfire for accuracy, before I change ammunition, it's, two solvent soaked felt plugs and then one dry plug, and then on to the next brand for testing. That's my method, and it works for me.
 
Is there a specific or recommended way of breaking in a 22lr rifle?

Is it needed?
Ruger .22s are fine firearms, Rugers are generally picky with ammo. Larger caliber only fire brass case....22lr go with CCI ammo, just to save yourself a headache and to keep your shooting time enjoyable.
Which Ruger .22 did you buy?
 
Seems like every manufacturer that recommends some type of barrel break in proceedure is completely different from the next one. I would like to hear what they are expecting it to accomplish.
 
I started shooting 22 bench rest. Standard procedure with these rifles is not to clean them! :eek: The barrel will
'settle in' after about 80 rounds reducing or eliminating flyers. Clean the barrel only when accuracy deteriorates
some where over 1K rounds. Then you clean the barrel getting the carbon ring cleaned in the first couple of
inches of barrel. Of course these bench rest guys shoot 22 match ammo only. Like SK or Lapua match ammo.
Real greasy stuff. I know it sounds crazy but I am following advice of the other top shooters I compete with.:rolleyes:
 
The phrase "breaking in a barrel" is sort of a misnomer. It's not like breaking in a new pair of boots. The goal you are trying to achieve with a new barrel is to achieve the best accuracy for that barrel. A new barrel will have microscopic burrs and other imperfections from the manufacturing process. When a bullet is fired through the barrel, some of the burrs are removed or smoothed out. The bullet will also leave behind a small amount of fouling. Basically, you are using the bullet to polish the inside of the barrel. To accomplish this polishing, you will need to shoot one bullet and then scrub the barrel clean with solvent and a bronze brush, then follow up with a couple dry patches. I do this 10 times. If you are shooting paper from a bench with a rest, you will notice the bullet group starting to tighten up with each shot. This is pretty amazing to watch! After the first 10 shots, you can then increase the number of shots to 5-10 per string. I do this 4 or 5 times. After this, your barrel will be "broke in" (polished)! You will notice the polished barrel will have less fouling and will shoot tighter groups. I know this method is time consuming, but it is well worth the effort. You will end up with a true tack driver! I forgot one thing, be sure to use copper or bronze plated bullets. Lead is too soft.
 
All I do is shoot them and run a bore snake thru the barrel when I get home. I find by the time I've got the scope dialed in with the ammo the rifle likes it's pretty much broke in. The process looks something like this: buy a rifle then a scope and have it installed and bore sighted. Take it to the range and dial in the scope to hit close to my sight in mark. At this point I'm not shooting for group only trying to hit close to my aiming mark. Next I'll put up a target with a bunch of small aiming points, the one I like is for reduced silhouette shooting. Off the bench I fire 10 shot groups at the heads of the silhouettes with different ammo. Somehere along the way there will be one ammo that just stands out as the one. That's the one I zero the scope for. With my Savage it was the CCI Standard Velocity Match ammo.
 

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