Recently purchased a TC Encore. As I was looking for all of the other stuff needed to load and clean the rifle, I was approached by a sales guy at the store. Although he admitted to being a "purist" in the style of ML he shot, he admitted to the ease of modern muzzle loaders and gave me a few tips on breaking in my new barrel. He suggested shooting up to a box of patched lead balls (with my choice of pellets or loose powder) to break in the barrel. His reasoning was that the lead would help to smooth and remove any burrs on the rifling. I usually will break in the barrel on a centerfire rifle with a certain procedure, but hadn't heard anything about muzzle loaders. Sounds like it makes sense. Any other tips are appreciated! Thanks!
Barrel break in?
- Thread starter hell bent
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I mighted be wrong but I don't think shooting pure lead would do anthing to burrs in the barrel. It would likely leave lead behind which might smooth the barrel until you cleaned the lead fouling out. Something harder would be needed, IMO.
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Clean the rifle thoroughly. Pay particular attention to the breechplug and bore. Leave the bore bone-dry. Push a fresh cotton ball through the bore as if loading it. Push it completely through and out the breech. Look at a light through the bore... see any cotton fibers? If not, no worries. If you see a few fibers, clean the bore again and try the cotton ball again (second opinion :wink: ). If you again see fibers in the bore (not the breechplug area, I would expect a few there), you might want to purchase a box of conicals such as the Great Plains and fire them off with fairly light charges. Clean and cotton ball test again - should be nice and smooth in there.
In spite of that advice, I really wouldn't worry much unless you see lots of snagged fibers. Just go shootin'.
RAF, it's a Grand Canyon thing. :lol:
In spite of that advice, I really wouldn't worry much unless you see lots of snagged fibers. Just go shootin'.
RAF, it's a Grand Canyon thing. :lol:
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On my new rifles I always shoot about twenty or more conicals or patched roundball through the new barrel. The conicals will knock off ruff spots or burrs if there are even any in there.
Another easy way is take some scotch brite pad and J-B Bore Paste and scrub the bore real good and then clean it. It will shine like a new dime after that.
The cotton ball trick really works, but a few fibers is nothing to get real concerned about. I would think your Encore would be just fine, new right out of the box.
Many years ago, when you bought a traditional muzzleloader, you did not even get worried about accuracy until after at least 50 rounds. I used to shoot a couple hundred before I even sighted in... The more modern ways the barrels are made today seemed to have caused a lot of the old ways to become unnecessary.
Another easy way is take some scotch brite pad and J-B Bore Paste and scrub the bore real good and then clean it. It will shine like a new dime after that.
The cotton ball trick really works, but a few fibers is nothing to get real concerned about. I would think your Encore would be just fine, new right out of the box.
Many years ago, when you bought a traditional muzzleloader, you did not even get worried about accuracy until after at least 50 rounds. I used to shoot a couple hundred before I even sighted in... The more modern ways the barrels are made today seemed to have caused a lot of the old ways to become unnecessary.
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