Breaking In A Gun

Finally the day has come! I open the case, and there sits my new gun! I’ve waited for a while for this moment. My wife doesn’t understand yet she does. You make it safe and then feel it a little bit. It feels good in your hand and you can’t wait to get it into action! We live on a acreage away from civilization so I go into my back “yard” or what I call the “South 40.” I first clean the gun noting the take down and reassembly of the gun. I lube it as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. Then I go outside and shoot! The exhilaration is palpable. I do love a new gun! As Humphrey Bogart says in Casablanca,
“…I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
How long should I let a gun go before it is broken in? 100 rounds? 500 rounds? 2000 rounds?
Well as I mentioned above, when you get a new gun you should first clean it. Follow the instructions in the manual. Check your owner's manual for any special instructions for the first time shooting, because the manufacturer may have some recommendations. Additionally, there are different procedures for breaking in a rifle and breaking in a handgun. For now, we will concentrate on the latter. There are a couple different schools of thought. First is you start by loading one round, and fire it. Then you clean the barrel. Load two rounds, fire them both. Clean the barrel, then load three rounds, repeat, then four, followed by five. Clean the barrel again, and commence to shooting however you want. The other school of thought is once you get it cleaned and lubricated, you shoot as many rounds as you can as soon as you can. The first shooting session with a new pistol should be used for several purposes, first of which is break-in. Second is to determine accuracy, and specifically how it shoots. Does it shoot a little low? The front sight may need to be held under the target. If hitting high, just over the target. To the right or left? You could need more dry fire practice or you may need to adjust the sights. This process also, as you've likely guessed, lets you zero the pistol, which is just as important.
When a gun is broken in is the subject of debate. Some people feel differently, and popular lore holds that some pistols break in very quickly and others may need a bit more. For the garden variety gun, you're mostly likely going to get there after 100 to 200 rounds, so 2 to 4 boxes of 50. After this amount of shooting, you should notice the action will get a little smoother, the trigger should break a little easier and travel a little smoother as well. Again, some guns may need a bit more "break-in" than others. A lot of people in the 1911 community insist 500 rounds are needed at least. Often enough, though, the owner's manual will tell you what the break-in period will be.
A break-in period is a vital step and should be a key focus when getting a new gun you intend to carry or serve in a self-defense role. When you get a new pistol, rifle or shotgun, you are getting a freshly finished product made of metal, wood, polymer, or some other material shaped by man to serve a purpose. These guns are mostly designed with exacting tolerances and springs designed to provide the perfect tension needed in order to make the gun work when the user calls for it to. When being made, gun manufacturers have stages of QC where they inspect a few guns from each batch, or may even inspect them all. The problem is that in some cases, not all problems that can show up will be evident from a visual inspection. The most stress you can put on these guns in order to uncover issues is to shoot them. This does not mean that the factory test fire is good enough, but rather that it is a verification of functionality, not integrity. What I am referring to is running your gun for several hundred rounds, if not a couple thousand before trusting it to function perfectly every time you call for it to.
I prefer to use a longer break-in time for all my guns than is normal. I found that this number works best, no matter the caliber, unless otherwise specified. People today want a gun that can be 100% reliable and ready to carry out of the box. This is not always a reasonable expectation for many guns, since some of their tolerances can cause failures to feed from stiff extractor springs, failures to extract/eject due to weak extractor springs, etc. Some issues like parts breakages could crop up in only 100 rounds. This has happened to me plenty of times, and I accept that as a possibility for all guns.
Guns that have early breakages are not crap, but just have manufacturer defects. If your car broke down ten miles out of the dealership parking lot, are you going to stay away from that whole brand? You can, but that isn’t good judgement unless it becomes a pattern. If you have a problem that keeps happening over and over again after sending it back to the manufacturer for warranty repairs, that may be a sign that the gun is a Lemon and should be replaced. But don’t bash the company for the pistol being a Lemon. If the next one also gives you a hard time, then I say it is up to you to decide the next course of action and I will respect your judgement of the company’s product.
My advice is to use a safe and well tested break-in period of 2000 rounds. I found this to work best because I have had issues crop up at almost every round count, even past 1200 rounds. Some components may not get molded just right or heat treated poorly. Heat treating properly and with precise timing and temperatures can make a huge difference in a spring fatigue life. Metal recipes may have gotten diluted, which can cause metals to become brittle and crack very easily under pressure. The first thing to give problems in my experience is springs. Just be mindful if you have one gun you run a lot and want it to continue to run, get extra springs and be ready to have to replace them. This is the best advice that I can give. Be ready for something to give out and remember that it is better to happen now than when you need it to work.
Breaking in a mechanical item is important for most things. A gun is no different. Take care of your gun and they will take care of you!

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn