New Ruger Break In

Cariboo Kidd;
Welcome. Lots of opinions here, so here's mine:
Just shoot lead. No seasoning required. I have been at it since the 50's and have seen a lot of semi-religious myths come through the gun world. I think seasoning barrels has been one of them. I have occasionally lapped a muzzle loader barrel to get a choke bore, but never for seasoning. In fact, my old buddy John Barseness is finally coming over to the dark side and writing about both barrel break-in as a myth and the false ideas about controlled round feed vs. push feed.
So, I would say the main thing is to use bullets that are not too hard for your velocity and match their diameter to the throat of your cylinders. That will keep the lead out. Rugers have the reputation of being quite precise in their cylinder and barrel dimensions.
If you are going to cast bullets, I like the Lyman 454424 and lyman 454190. Of course, they are both out of production, but you can find them on Ebay. I just got a 4 cavity 454424 for a fair price, and I notice that there is another one on there.
Have fun, those are some nice revolvers.
 
Mike

Glad to see you posted your question, I second the previous post. Enjoy!
Al

I haven't had the privilege of breaking in a new barrel in quite some time, but I am of the opinion that the old way never destroyed any barrels I seasoned, and actually may have made them better.
Traditional barrel break in comes from the idea that a new barrel has rough machining, together with gaps/holes in the metal that can be filled in a way to reduce fouling. Seasoning a barrel also helps it to seat itself into its final condition. Since good barrels can last a century or more, a little extra work is potentially time well spent.
It is not critical to begin with jacketed bullets, but since they are prevalent, they can be used to speed the process. For the first twenty shots, fire one round, and clean the barrel. After twenty, fire two rounds and clean until another 20 have been expended. At this point, if you intend on using cast bullets, be sure to make that change, and fire twenty rounds again, all in one string, and clean. You barrel is now seasoned. It has heated, and cooled, allowing it to set in. Burrs have been removed, holes filled, and machine marks erased. Once you have fired 200 rounds in your pistol, be sure to clean the bore down to bare metal, and lightly oil. You are now ready to give those CASS targets a run for their money.

You could just shoot it and save a lot of work and have a lot more fun. Let's talk barrels for a bit. In the old days? most barrels were made with a bored hole through them and then a cutter was pulled through over and over and over again to rifle said barrel. This is generally called "Cut Rifling". A good, old time barrel maker would then "Lap" the barrel with a lead lap to smooth all the burrs and rough spots so the barrel wouldn't foul as easy. Then factories discovered things like mandrel forging or hammer forging and button rifling. They all do the job of putting rifling in a barrel. Probably most barrels on factory guns are button rifled. Button rifling is done by pulling a very hard rifling tip or "button" through the bore. Generally, in one pass the button forces grooves into the steel and smooths the entire bore along with the lands and grooves to form a rifled barrel that is pretty close to smooth and even all the way along it's length. This allows mass production. Now since nothing man made is ever perfect there will always be some minor microscopic imperfections in the bore, but for all but the most precise shooting a button rifled barrel needs very little smoothing or lapping. The biggest problem on a revolver is the threaded joint of the barrel to the frame. As Gunsmith detailed on his Smith, it was compressed or squeezed tighter than the rest of the bore. Some guns have this and some don't, it depends  a lot on how the revolver is made. So, in answering your question, your Vaquero may or may not benefit from a break in procedure. Should you do it? That's pretty much up to you and how much time you want to spend on it. If you are going to do the barrel break in as Mak described then your gun would probably also benefit from an action smoothing too, and then you could........... it goes on and on and on, so as I stated in the beginning, you probably should just shoot it for a while and be careful cleaning the barrel since more damage is done in that process (cleaning) than most shooters realize. Chris

I'm sure we all have heard the claim that technological advances negate practices of the past, but what is interesting is to discover that at least one custom gun maker suggests, not only a procedure for breaking in their barrels, but the solvents and oils with which to perform this task. They claim a material difference-for the worse-in accuracy and fouling for those who dispose of the break in. Is this true science, or arcane art-alchemy? I don't know. What I do know is those barrels I've broken in with the time consuming, traditional process have demonstrated a happy tendency to shoot better than I do. Does this mean that just shooting won't work? No, but it does suggest that a little extra time now can be rewarded later.
I think the problem of the barrel squeezed by the frame is often referred to as "throat choke". Its not really that at all, because its not the throat that has the problem-its the barrel to frame fit. I don't know if this is much of a problem with guns that see an abundance of shooting, but it certainly does exist in new guns.
I have to agree with Chris here that cleaning is likely the most misunderstood area of the shooting sports. No less an authority than Mr. Keith himself stated that he kept his sixguns working in demanding conditions with little more than a little oil, a leather pull and a tin of solvent soaked patches.  
How much cleaning is enough? Well, unless the gun is going into long term storage, wiping the bore until the patch comes out clean is the fastidious way, and wiping it until the bore is free of detritus, using the same patches to clean out the chambers, cylinder face, and cylinder window should keep her ready to go if you are shooting smokeless.

Mak, don't be so touchy, I said the choice was up to the individual and what is expected of the firearm. Technology versus old school techniques is not the issue. Considering a Ruger Vaquero and it's intrended use as a shooter in competition, practice shooting will probably negate any need for barrel improvement. The vast majority of shooters need shooting practice more than barrel improvement. My best wishes on the competition no matter what way Cariboo decides. Chris

As MAK says, one barrel maker does recommend barrel break in. However, many barrel makers do not. And, these are custom barrels. Most barrels today are manufactured by the hammer and mandrel method. They are as smooth from the factory as if they had been hand lapped.
The larger problem here is political correctness. We have all seen what it has done in politics and education. It turns people into fanatics who think their opinions are religious dogma. The two big areas I see this is in 'barrel break-in' and 'controlled round feed'. nuf said.

 Mike, you are probably correct. I should have said most factory barrels are made by one of those methods I named and not assumed a particular method. Keep up the good shooting. Chris
P. S. I sure hope Cariboo hasn't gotten discouraged!  

I see too much bickering over non-problems on the gun forums I belong to. I hate to see fanatacism creeping into the p;aces that should be relaxing and helpful. Mike Venturino quit the BPCR forum because of that kind of thing. It hurts to see helpful people with real experience go away because of bickering. My original reply to cariboo was an attempt to tell him to just enjoy his revolver and not nake it a chore.

Sorry Mike, I was just a bit old and cranky today, Merry Christmas to all. Chris

Chris;
I didn't see old and cranky at all. Now me... that's another item. I'm always old and cranky. Somtimes I just hide it a bit.
I take the motto of Wallace the Buzzard in the Hank the Cowdog books. (Try them, they are hilarious)
I'm a grouch. I'm proud to be a grouch, and I plan to continue being a grouch.
 
Merry Christmas and no humbug.
 
Mike
 

Glad to have you around here. Keep up the good spirits. Chris
 
P. S. I just downloaded book #1. Will let you know how I like it. Chris

Not trying to be a fanatic, or touchy, or beat something into the dirt.
Maybe I read the lead post wrong, but seemed the gent was searching for info, and figured it might be worthwhile to share a lil info. Also, pointing out that traditional barrel break in is still important to at least one company, so its not dead.

There are many ways to get things done, as long as sound fundamentals are observed.

Just a quick update on the Ruger's, and a big "Hat's Off" you to all of you out there who responded to my inquiry.
Well, we took the Ruger's out to the range last Sunday (Dec. 11/11) for the first time.
After considering your comments here and other input/s, I decided to run 5 rounds of commericial (American Eagle) 225 grain copper jacketed thru each revolver, cleaning the barrel/s with Hoppes #9, a nylon brush and patches  between each round.  I followed this routine with 5 round groups of commerical (Remington)  250 grain all lead FNRP and cleaning the barrels between 5 shot groups, until we had run 100 rounds thru each pistol.  This was followed by another 100 rounds of Winchester 250 grain Cowboy action loads and again cleaning the barrels after each 5 round group.  The final rounds for this range trip consisted of 100 rounds of hand reloaded cowboy action rounds (225 RNFP grain bullet) and following the same cleaning regimine.  The targets were wood frames with 8-1/2" x 11" paper targets placed at approx 5 yds and 10 yds. Only one of the wood frames made it back home !
The guns ran well mechanically, but I have to admit I am not not likely to be accused of being a sharp shooter any time real soon.  It did not matter who the shooter was (there were two of us  present)  the guns both seem to shoot low and to the left from point of aim.  I am thinking this is probably our problem as niether of us have a whole lot of revolver shooting experience - yet!   The grips on these guns are the original Ruger grips (black plastic checkered type), and they seemed a might bit thin from the first time I picked the guns up, and I will be looking into different grips right away.  Also I have a slight astigmatism issue in my right eye which makes sight line focus a challenge with the narrow rear notch site on the Ruger's. I am thinking maybe a trip to the gunsmith is in order to widen the rear notches just a little.
I am now waiting on my order of cowboy ammo (1000 rounds to start) to arrive and hopefully we will be out to the range over the Christmas holidays to continue with improving our accuracy.  I am also pondering the wisdom of a reloading outfit for the near future.
Thanks again to all of you for your sage advice
Have  very Merry Christmas
Cheers
Tom & Jude
 
 
 
 

Glad you're having fun. Yes, you will probably benefit greatly from investing in some reloading equipment as you will soon see how fast ammunition seems to disappear through those guns! Keep up the good shooting and Merry Christmas. Chris

So, Kidd. You got lots of shooting done. Here is a chart that has helped me with correcting my grip on a revolver.

You might print it out and see if changing your grip might help before you make changes to the gun. Also, I think I would deside on a standard load because different loads are going to shoot to different points.
Reloading would be a good addition to your capabilities. I use 8.0 grains of Unique with my Keith 454424 255 gr. bullet. Since I use the tons of lead that I have scavenged, my only costs are primer (3 cents) and powder (12 cwnts) for a total of 15 cents per round. I checked Winchester lead 255 gr. factory, and it is 90 cents per round. For 100 rounds fired, that's a diff of $75. I rarely use factory fodder. Of course, you can get into reloading full bore and spend a ton, but you can also get going pretty reasonably. Gives you something to do in bad weather.
Anyway, glad you are on the road. Good gun, good caliber. Let 'er rip.
And by the way, you can pratice a lot of fundamentals at home for free by doing dry fire practice. It will never hurt your gun.
 
Mike
 

Everyone has given you good info, and you can definatly move the point of aim with handloads and or raising POA with some judicious filing of the front sight. Your point of aim should rise as you start shooting cowboy loads anyway, which will probably be a little easier on you as a shooter as well.
I had a Ruger .44 in the late 70's that had a terrible trigger (off the scale and rough as a cob). I spoke with Ruger and they said to send it in but if I felt comfortable doing it 'be sure the revolver is unloaded and to use carb cleaner or lectro-motive and de-grease the 'innards' and dry fire the gun (out of the mouth of the Ruger tech) for an hour or so while watching a TV show or whatever, re-lube and see how it felt. It worked like a charm. I then did the unhook of one spring leg and later put a Wulff spring kit in when they became available and it has always done fine. The guy I sold it to loves it. It is one I wish I did not let get away.
All of the advise on barrel break in has been gone over so much.....Wow.....I personally with a new gun clean and inspect the bore prior to shooting, Run a few cylinders of cast bullets throug it, clean and call it good. Avoid overheating and I guess it never hurts to run some jacketed bullets through after the first cleaning after the cast and reclean. Honestly one of my best revolvers I shoot CAS with had a few rounds put through before a match to see where it was hitting and then shot the match. All was good.
I know one guy that shoot bench rest and he had worn out brass cleaning brushes that he would wrap a cleaning cloth miexd in Hoppes #9 and a small amount of valve lapping compound and would pull that through twice and then clean barrel on new rifle barrels. He then used one of the above posted shoot & clean etc procedures. They all shot remakably well.

Howdy All.  Thought I would post an update on the Rugers.  Also wanted to thank mwworkmastersr, for the chart that you posted, it helped alot.
We have also been taking a few lessons from one of our SASS club member's on handling SA's and that has helped us alot too.
We now have over 500 rounds thru each gun, and can report that we can reliably hit the steel plates most every time.  We are shooting cowboy loads now instead of commercial ammo, and there is definately a big difference in point of aim.  Just need to fine tune the powder charge a bit more, but that will happen.  I do notice that I need to load the rifle ammo a bit heavier, than the pistol ammo, as the pistol ammo in the rifle is not as accurate.
Anybody out there have any experience with a coachgun made by Pioneer arms ??  It's a very nice looking greener type action shotgun.  A bit pricey but it looks like a good solid gun.
Anyway, thanks again for all your comments and help with the Ruger break in info.