[MoHawk]

I understand that I'm a newb and this is gonna sound blasphemus, but I didn't know (should have assumed though) that you had to break a weapon in. How do you do it? How would I break in a Pistol? Revolver? Rifle? Shotgun?

[IGETEVEN]

Shoot it!!

Shoot it a lot.

Jack

[Dillinger]

A commonly accepted way is to shoot either 1 or 3 rounds with a boltgun, or a magazine or two with a pistol.

Stop shooting and then clean the barrel from the chamber through the crown, in a forward only motion.

Repeat this process for the first 20 or 30 rounds in a boltgun, or the first 100 or so rounds with a pistol.

The most important thing is to not overheat the barrel and just pound round after round down the barrel right out of the gate.

Now, with modern barrel making and steel, the age old "you have to break it in properly" actions are not as needed.

The important thing is that you shoot the weapon, you clean the weapon, you care for the weapon. Don't abuse it and treat it with the respect that it deserves.

If you do that, it will take care of you for a long time to come.

JD

[Gatekeeper]

For a rifle I do the following
Clean the bore.
Fire one shot and then clean with a good copper cleaner until the patches come out clean
repeat for 5 shots. (5shots total)
Fire 2 shots and clean, repeat 3 times (6 shots total)
fire 3 shots and clean, repeat 3 times(9 shots total)
Fire 5 shots and clean and thats it.
25 rounds and an hour or so at the range.

Barrel break in is the cause of much argument.
Feel free to vary this routine, the first 5 shots seem like they remove the most roughness from the bore and seem the most important.
I started doing this routine a couple years ago and it really seems to smooth out the bore. Copper fouling doesnt build up as fast.
It gives better accuracy for more rounds fired before cleaning is required.
Pistols and Shotguns I go with Jack's method
my .02 Gate

[Rentacop]

Answer : A semi-auto pistol should be fired at least 250 and preferably over 400 rds. for break-in. Tight 1911s like Kimbers should get at least 400 rds of firing before you trust your life to them.