bedding in a new gun?

[fishy 1]

i've had shotguns for the past 20 years or so and only recently got into rifles[approx 1 year],last week i was chatting to a friend of mine whos had rifles for years and he asked if i had 'bedded in' my new rifles....i said whats that? he said with a new rifle you are supposed to fire 1 shot through it then clean the bore,then 2 shots then clean the bore,then 5 shots then clean,then 10 and clean,then 50 and clean,then clean as a normal/used gun. is this true???? iadmit i am totally green to rifles but how can this acheive anything? i haven't done this to my 2 new guns [.22lr and .223] so are they now damaged?? seems abit weird to me. any help appreciated.

[SNAP SHOT 194]

The term is called shooting in the barrel mate, now in the .22lr there will be no real need, just give it a good clean, before you start shooting it will do fine as the velocities are not that great,

 

Now however with the .223, you Will be better off shooting it in, shoot 1 clean one, for around 5, then clean with a good copper remover, KG 12, or forrest bore foam..

 

the continue the routine shoot 1 clean 1 for another five or so, clean with a carbon remover or similar, then clean the copper again, if noe trace of copper, shoot 5 then clean again, everyone shoots in a barrel a little different, but the result will be the same,

 

Now your question as to WHY...

 

when your new gun comes from the factory there may be little burrs in the rifling all down the length of the barrel, Each time you take a shot the surface of the bullet comes into contact with the burr, stripping copper of the jacket of the bullet...

 

So now we have a bit of copper attached to the burr or a little of the burr, Now on shooting the next shot.... the bullet passes over the burr, and the copper from the previous shot gets compressed into the bore, the more shots you take the more copper gets compressed,

 

the burrs will wear away after a while, but the copper will be ground into the barrel, compressed by each following shot, now this WILL be very hard to remove as its forced its way into the barrel...

 

If you don't shoot the barrel in then it will lead to a loss of accuracy, as copper build up will be enough to achieve this accuracy loss,

 

And it will be a long slow procees to remove the copper deposits......

 

 

hope that sheds some light on the subject for you.........

 

 

 

snap.

[fishy 1]

thanks buddy,i've only had the .223 2 weeks and put only 5 shots through it,i then cleaned it with nitro cleaner.if i get some copper cleaner and clean it straight away and then say after every shot for 5 more shots,do you think this will be sufficient.then say after every 5 or 6 shots for a while. also how often do you use nitro or copper cleaner after the barrel is de-burred.

[SNAP SHOT 194]

i clean for copper normally every 50 or so rounds or whenever i see accuracy start to drop off.

 

carbon i clean after every outing as it can also make life difficult if left, if you've only fired 5 through it you'll be fine give it a good clean now,

 

and remember to always remove the carbon first in the cleaning routine, then the copper........

 

good luck...

 

 

[fishy 1]

thanks mate.i go and get some copper cleaner asap.