New Rifle procedures?
 

What do you do when you buy a new rifle?

I used to buy a rifle, clean out the bore, then shoot the sht out of it.

Now I buy a new rifle, clean out the bore, pull out the barred action, clean it out, tester the barreled action, torque to factory spec on front and rear action screws, do a barrel break in, and now I’ve started polishing the action. I have a tub of mothers metal polish and I put it on some fine steel wool and polish the bolt until it’s butter smooth, I work the bolt for literally hours on some rifles. It’s like breaking in a new pair of boots.

What do you guys do with a new rifle?

I shoot it. I clean it before putting it away. and then i enjoy time with my family.

I do most of this while with my family, always do the barrel break in while we’re at the cabin for the weekend. I'll work in the action while watching tv with the family, although my oldest being a teenager with a job and a truck, he’s not around as much as he used to be, we still hang out on the weekends though.

I shoot mostly cast loads. Read somewhere a while back the best way to break in a barrel for cast loads was to shoot about 20 jacketed rounds and then switch to cast without cleaning. Just oil and dry between sessions until accuracy drops out. I think the idea is a skim of copper in the bore keeps the lead out. Seems to work for me.

Colin

I’ve never heard of that, very interesting.

I wait until the wife is at work then sneak it into the house where it generally sits in the safe.

I tried that. I came home and found condoms on the barrels. She said it should keep them from reproducing.:)

Colin

Did it work?

The reproductive cycle of the North American big bore, known colloquially as the blue beaked lead chukker, have never been studied.

Colin

They work fine, until you add alcohol and figure pulling it off this one time won’t hurt anything

Lol. I've been trying the abstinence approach. Sometimes it's hard in more ways then one. With upcoming daughters wedding the cfo put budget cuts in place. No guns she says but she didn't say anything about raffle tickets. Much like being nurtured.
If I win a new gun I'll shoot it clean it then put it away to keep the others company.

I cleaned the barrel for the first time since 1984 when I bought the rifle. Accuracy was never an issue either. Why do you think you have to break in a barrel?

When you say accuracy was never an issue do you mean you’re not worried about accuracy? We all have different ideas of what’s accurate. My idea of accurate is sub 1/2 moa, is that the kind of accuracy you’re talking about? If you had to guess, what’s the round count over the past 34yrs?

I’ll probably put over 500rds through my new rifle this year and I’d prefer not to erode the throat out of it within the first 5 years, proper barrel break in will help clean my barrel in the future and theoretically help prolong the life of my barrel

Most guns shoot better than the person holding them.

I throw scope on tighten it to I think it’s good line cross hairs up till I think there straight clean barrel and stock action. Go fire couple boxes give rifle a name and go home to clean it. Never torqued, lapped or leveled a scope and never had an animal complain :)

I always pull the barreled action, clean the bedding area, adjust the trigger, then put it back together, and torque the action screws. Then I clean the barrel, and fire it. I watch for fouling ,and make sure that I don't let the barrel get overly fouled, as some barrels foul more when new.

In your case I’d definitely agree.

This is what I do with a factory rifle. I've never "broke in" a factory barrel, used for hunting and have never had a problem with the gun.
If buying an aftermarket barrel, I'd follow the manufacturers instructions that come with the barrel.

yea, i get between 1 to 1.5 moa consistent on the majority of my targets. I'm sure someone with more trigger time could get my factory Savage and Ruger guns to shoot all the time 1 moa or better. I do get the occasional coincidence 0.3 moa group which always brings a smile. But im real with myself and don't post up a 0.3 moa group saying i have a sub 0.5 moa gun... I know in reality my shooting is 1 to 1.5 moa.

I mean I can literally drill hole for hole with this rifle. It’s a .243 win and I used to shoot gophers in the summer time with this rifle and carry on into sheep season and the deer season. I reload and would get all my reloading supplies from the States. 1 pound of powder cost me $5.99, primers were $5.00 for a case and bullets were $5.00 for a hundred rounds. I wouldn’t even want to guess how many rounds have gone down the barrel of this rifle and it still a tack driver.

I don't know what the heck you guys arguing about. If Kurt wants to do that to his guns and take good care of them how he sees fit, all the power to him.

In my opinion, basic care of a factory rifle is fine.

Before I replaced all my triggers I was always cleaning and tinkering with my stock ones, and I'm forever mounting and remounting and changing out scopes and stuff.

Who doesn't like playing with their guns?

Once you can shoot better you might find you want a rifle capable of shooting better. Once you spend a bit more than average on a rifle you might find the need to take it apart, tinker with it, adjust the trigger to where you like it, start out by using factory specs on torquing the action screws, then if you want to fine tune it more you can play with the action screws while you’re shooting to see where you accuracy will peak.

Some people shoot 1 to 1-1/2 moa and are happy with that and there’s nothing wrong with that either.

Did I hear “tack driver” ... good time to bump the Tack Driver Challenge :).

Or in other words put your money where your mouth is. :)

My firearms have more than paid for themselves with the wild meat they have harvested. They are more than accurate enough to serve their purpose.

What is it with you, why do you always have to bring up cost?

I wasn’t interested in finding out if they’re paying themselves off, I kinda just wanted to know what you do with a rifle when you bring it home from the store. Not everyone buys a rifle for the sole purpose of putting food on the table, maybe that’s where your problem lies, that’s probably something you don’t understand.

I bet your car has paid itself off taking you to your job everyday too, but some people like to go 0-60 in 10 seconds, or go through 3’ of mud without worrying about a tow truck. To a guy just going 15 blocks down city streets everyday it don’t much matter what he drives, any vehicle will “pay itself off” if that’s the case.

You brought up the cost part, I replied to it. So what is a rifle worth? That's up to the owner. It does what it needs to do, that's it.

Ok, I’ll go along with you. How much food has to go into the freezer before you consider a rifle paid off?

Your last statement explains why you don’t understand why someone would buy high end firearms. Not that there’s anything wrong with where you’re coming from, the majority of people most likely share the same sentiment, it’s the fact you figure Everyone shares your view and you seem to have a hard time accepting some people have either more passion or skill or both in shooting than you do. You don’t seem to miss the chance to say how bad of a shot people are.

1” to 1-1/2” groups at 100yds is what anyone with any modern gun can pretty much shoot. A good marksman can shrink that down by a quarter inch, and if you add a good rifle to the picture you can shave another quarter inch off that. An acceptionally good marksman with a high quality rifle can shrink that down another quarter inch.

1/4” to 3/4” groups can be consistently shot when you have the right rifle, with the right ammo and the right guy behind the trigger.

If you buy a rifle, screw a scope on it and put it in the safe until Hunting season, the 1” to 1-1/2” group at 100yds is not only acceptable, it’s all you need. I was that way for years. It wasn’t until the last 10 or 15yrs that I started wanting to see little groups at 100yds, now I’ve progressed to wanting little groups at 1000yds, and I think it starts right when you bring your rifle home from the store.

I credit about $6 a pound of boned out meat to estimate what hunting meat is saving vs buying it. subtract the expenses of gear and gas.

As for buying high end firearms, someone can buy high-end anything if they enjoy it. If you want a piece of art that makes you happy then go for it.

But if you are talking about buying a firearm for a purpose of shooting, then I would argue you should get performance for what you pay for. And if you are going to pay for performance, then what kind of performance do you need for your task. Hunting doesn't need a 0.5 moa rifle. Wind is a bigger factor than accuracy. https://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/...p-size-matter/ If debating is so offensive to you, then stop debating. Read the thread again and notice that you made the poor shooting comments to me, not me to you. I am passionate about hunting, and not into target shooting so much, so ya, maybe I take the big game hunting perspective automatically where someone was referring to just target shooting. I'm not intending to have such a personally offended conversation. Its just a bunch of steel and lead. Have a good night.

While you can spend a lot for fancy wood and engraving , more money,does not mean buying artwork .Features like McMillan stocks, aftermarket actions,and match grade barrels certainly cost more, but they aren't purchased for cosmetic reasons. A precisely made action, using machined parts, instead of stamped parts, is truer, usually smoother, and more consistent, and often stronger and more reliable. A McMillam stock is stiffer, more stable, and stronger, and can be ordered to fit the shooter, which makes it more comfortable to shoot.. A match grade barrel threaded into a receiver, is usually more accurate, and can be ordered in various contours and rates of twist. Yes a person can usually get his animal with a cheap bargain basement rifle, but some of us choose to use rifles that are smoother and more comfortable to use, and that give us more confidence And I have seen more failures with some of the cheap rifles, magazines that didn't feed properly , chambers that were rough and caused issues when the hunter tried to chamber a round quietly, extractors that failed to extract fired rounds, triggers that were so inconsistent that they caused poor shooting, stocks that flexed so bad, or moved with the humidity, that they caused the point of impact to move. Cheap scopes are even worse, when they move on their own, or when they don't track properly.
Some of us prefer to spend more on better quality rifles and optics, because were enjoy using them, or because we feel more confident using them, but some people seem to take offense to the fact that we spend more on our gear. Buy what you choose, and don't worry if someone else chooses to spend more on firearms instead of on other things like drinking, smoking or gambling, or on expensive vehicles or vacations. Enjoy what you have, and let other people do the same.