"Breaking in" a new pistol

[Ted Bell]

I know with rifles there's a controlling line of thought that you should break in a new barrel- i.e. fire one or two rounds, clean it, fire one or two more, clean it, repeat five or ten times - anyone follow this approach with new standard or free pistols?

Thanks,
Ted

[Gort]

Ted, I don't belive break in is applicable to high quality rimfire barrels and certantly not to air pistol barrels. Break in procedures are for barrels that fire gilding metal jacketed bullets and even then, the higher quality, the less break in. I do belive in using solvent to clean rimfire barrels when needed and when changeing ammo brands with different bullet lubes.
Gort

[Steve Swartz]

Ted:

It's exactly the same, except the exact numbers differ slightly. For a match grade .22 rifle or pistol, the drill is

1) Fire one or two (thousand) rounds
2) Clean (the action)
3) Repeat as necessary (or when you get bored with shooting)!
4) Before quitting shooting (for good), run a patch through the barrel

=8^)

Steve

[James Hurr]

Its much easier to damage a barrel through poor cleaning than lack of cleaning, in rimfire anyway. I reckon I wore out my FAS barrel through bad cleaning.
Now I just use solvent and a nylon brush, followed by a very loose fitting patch.
It is important to make sure no hard crud builds up in the chamber. A clean ammunition should not cause this to begin with.

I don't believe a barrel shooting soft lead should need breaking in. If it does then it should have been made better by the factory.

Rifles using high velocity jacketed ammunition are a different story.