New NM AR

[tom gray]

Hi all
My new Rock River Arms NM AR arrived today. Any tips on barrell brake in, sighting in,
etc? Trigger feels great.First trip to the range on Monday
Tom

Information

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[Bob Womack]

NM gunsmith Gale McMillan once said:

The break in fad was started by a fellow I helped get started in the barrel business . He started putting a set of break in instructions in ever barrel he shipped. One came into the shop to be installed and I read it and the next time I saw him I asked him What was with this break in crap?. His answer was Mac, My share of the market is about 700 barrels a year. I cater to the target crowd and they shoot a barrel about 3000 rounds before they change it. If each one uses up 100 rounds of each barrel breaking it in you can figure out how many more barrels I will get to make each year. If you will stop and think that the barrel doesn't know whether you are cleaning it every shot or every 5 shots and if you are removing all foreign material that has been deposited in it since the last time you cleaned it what more can you do? When I ship a barrel I send a recommendation with it that you clean it ever chance you get with a brass brush pushed through it at least 12 times with a good solvent and followed by two and only 2 soft patches. This means if you are a bench rest shooter you clean ever 7 or 8 rounds . If you are a high power shooter you clean it when you come off the line after 20 rounds. If you follow the fad of cleaning every shot for X amount and every 2 shots for X amount and so on the only thing you are accomplishing is shortening the life of the barrel by the amount of rounds you shot during this process. I always say Monkey see Monkey do, now I will wait on the flames but before you write them, Please include what you think is happening inside your barrel during break in that is worth the expense and time you are spending during break in.

A user answered:

No flame here Mr. Mac. When my personal history is comparable to yours,
I may throw rocks - not until then though. I have done this on factory barrels and had good results. I usually use JB compound for the first few shots and through cleaning after range
sessions. The aggressive use of JB seems to smooth things up pretty quickly. (duh) I do not have a custom barrel on any of my rifles. (yet) Would you still hold that the procedure is unneeded on factory barrels?

Gale replied:

When some one uses JB on one of my rifles I void the warrantee! For two reasons. ! it dimensionally alters the barrel dimensions and not evenly and the second reason is the barrel maker laps the barrel with a grit of lapping compound that is most effective in preventing metal fouling. Then a customer polishes that finish away with JB. I wouldn't be as apposed to it if it were applied on a lead lap and very sparingly. It is very obvious when you look at a barrel with a bore scopes all the sharp edges are worn off the rifling if it has JB used on it on a regular basis. As you know ,it is an abrasive of about 1000 grit. As for using it on factory barrels I will say that while it is difficult to hurt a production barrel but the thing that hurts a match barrel will do the same to a factory barrel

I saved that one for times like this.

Bob

[tom gray]

Thanks Bob!

[Bob Womack]

Have fun at the range!

Bob

[Shredder58]

Those RRA NM AR's are very accurate and reliable right out of the box for a factory built rifle. They are a good value.

No break in is really needed or required on barrels these days. Some folks still do it, but most barrel builders will tell you to just listen to what the barrel is telling you. Some more frequest cleaning might be required for the first 1-100 rounds, but other than that just go out and shoot it! Any barrel break in is actually just helping to smooth any rough edges in the transition between the chamber/throat area and the rifling if these were not cut clean enough when the chamber/throat was first cut.

I shot NRA High Power rifle matches for a couple of years using a WOA built upper, and lots of guys on the line were using RRA uppers with very good results. So, go out and shoot it and provide some feedback with your results.

[alex124485]

nice! i picked up an Armalite AR-15 and am slowly converting it to NM specs. the RRA NM trigger is nice!!!!!!! i have one in mine

[jmark]

I recently bought a Armalite M-15 NM.

[coalgeo]

Thank you Mr Womak for that post. I usually break in barrels with a couple hundred rounds of ammo

[Bill Hollinger]

I have an Olympic Arms SUM that is unbelievably accurate!

These are 100 yards

[tom gray]

Nice groups Bill! I am ready for spring & hope to participate in some matches.
Tom