Breaking in a Sharps

[Deadeye Don]

Howdy,  I just received my new CSharps rifle.  In the materials they suggested a break in procedure for the barrel.  Has anyone done this with a new gun before.  This is the first I have heard of this.  They suggest using black powder rounds in either jacketed or lead bullets.  Shoot 2, clean the bore and shoot 2 more etc until you have shot 10 rounds with jacketed or 60 or so rounds with lead.  I would appreciate an explanation of why this is important.  Also, do you think that shooting smokeless to break it in would result in the same end?  Thanks.   Deadeye.

[Doc Shapiro]

Shoot about 100 rounds of jacketed.  Either BP or smokeless.  The copper jacketed bullets will burnish down any burrs in the rifling and should help with the shot precision.

I did this after getting new barrels installed on my revolvers and the groups now are spectacular.

[Deadeye Don]

Hey Doc,  Thanks for your wisdom.  Do I need to clean the bore out every couple of shots as recommended by the CSharps people or just shoot the 100 rounds and then clean?  Where do I get jacketed 45-70 rounds?

[Camille Eonich]

Break ins are suggested for all precision rifles.  There is some controvery over it.  I have added four links to articles for you to look at so that you can form your own opinion.

http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/RapidCat/catalog/pagetemplate.cfm?template=/RapidCat/common/viewPage.cfm&PageId=2558&CompanyId=1246

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_144_24/ai_57886929

http://www.eabco.com/Reports/BarrelBreakIn.htm

http://www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn_II.asp