Breaking in new rifle

[ProtegeAA]

Hi. I picked up a brand new Savage 110 bolt action for a tactical/deer rifle and have yet to shoot it. I would like to know if I need to season in my barrel or break it in somehow as I shoot my first 20 rounds. I've heard doing this properly can help with accuracy.
Also, I'm wondering if anybody has any strong opinions on surplus Lake City .30-06 ammo from the CMP. It's as cheap as I can find right now to really bulk up on ammo (I'd rather be shooting retail ammo, but in case SHTF) in .30-06. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[frontier]

Your benchrest shooters will tell you that shooting in the barrel makes a big difference. Shooting and cleaning in between the first 20 rounds is more or less what a lot of people do but if you really want to be anal about it you get yourself a bottle of sweets. After every shot you take for the first 20 rounds clean the barrel very thoroughly with a brush and patches soaked with sweets. Don't stop cleaning until you can run a patch of the sweets down the barrel and it not come out green. The green color you see on the patch is copper and that tells you if the barrel still needs more scrubbing. 20 rounds is really just a rough reference and I would consider that a minimum for a stainless barrel and I would shoot a new carbon barrel in more than that.

The goal is to work out all the rough spots in the barrel without copper building up and making it worse. It may take you a couple trips to the range so only you can decide if it's worth the time and effort to you. Others may have their way of doing it and some say just shoot the crap out of it but shooting in or seasoning a barrel has been proven to help most barrels be more accurate.

Almost forgot, ALWAYS use a bore guide and a good rod.

[ProtegeAA]

Thanks. Does anybody have any experience with Lake City surplus off the CMP? They've also got some Greek surplus. It's $70 for 250 rds, which is unheard of in this day and age. I don't expect the world from it but I'm hoping it can be at least 2 MOA. Thoughts?

[W.E.G.]

100 yards

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/rkba2da/targets/2008-08-11%20-%20SBR%20and%20A-Bolt/A-bolt-fiveshots.jpg

[W.E.G.]

I totally choked the next five shots.

Either that, or that rifle doesn't like to shoot groups with that ammo and a hot barrel.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/rkba2da/targets/2008-08-11%20-%20SBR%20and%20A-Bolt/A-bolt-10shots.jpg

[GW870]

Well, dang, Gary! It's obvious to everyone.
You didn't scrub out with Sweets between groups!

GW

[W.E.G.]

Originally posted by GW870
Well, dang, Gary! It's obvious to everyone.
You didn't scrub out with Sweets between groups!

GW

I couldn't get the brush in the muzzle!

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/rkba2da/smileys/joystick.gif

[GW870]

ProtegeAA, we're just tugging on your pants leg a little bit.
You've bought a nice piece - has a really good reputation
for accuracy. (Although me and some others think it be
Really UGLY - we ain't never said it won't shoot!)

So just know - it's not a BENCHREST MARVEL. None of the
CMP ammo is going to hurt it. Shoot it, enjoy it, be reasonable
cleaning it, and try not to wear it out with your brush.

GW

[ProtegeAA]

Ha! Thanks guys. If there's one thing I know about my rifle, it's that I don't know jack squat about it, so I really appreciate the help.
I'm certainly not worried with bench rest style accuracy so much as long term useability with a reasonable amount of dependability. I'd rather not feed it LC surplus but that might be the affordable way to learn better shooting. :-P
I don't quite understand why some think the Savage is ugly, but I don't think deer or zombies will mind too much.

BTW, what is the big deal about ammo that attracts a magnet? Is this to be avoided completely?

[MAINER]

Two bullets that attracts a magnet are (1) steel core type and (2) copper plated steel jacket. The steel core ones are "armor penetrating" or AP. Be careful where and what you shoot these at. Lots of Shooting Ranges do not allow these. AP usually have black tips, but may have been removed in a cleaning or tumbling process. I wouldn't use these in a good hunting or target rifle.

A number of military bullet makers produce mild steel jackets with a copper plating to reduce cost or at least reduce the amount of copper needed. I have heard they are a bit harder on barrels but don't know for sure. These would be classified as standard "Ball" ammo. I have a bunch of these and load them for military type rifles.

[kayakpirate]

Springfield armory,the real one,not the company,ran a series of tests with a bunch of different M1 Garands back in the 50"s.They ran thousands of rounds,one group,used copper gilded steel jacket. Regular jacketed,non-steel rounds in the other.
After what must have been a lot of fun,they ran errosion tests and general barrel wear for comparison, and found that the differences the two were negligible.