Do hammer forged barrels require break in?

I have a Tikka Super Varmint on it’s way which has a hammer forged barrel.

I saw a video from Sako saying that these barrels don’t require any break in.

Do you guys agree with this? Should I still put a rod down the barrel every 5 rounds for the first 20 or just shoot it as normal once it’s sighted in?

Also - For sight in, does the method of nore sighting and getting a shot on paper, then holding the rifle at the point of impact and adjusting the turrets to the point of aim to get a zero actually work? If so, does it have any effect on the function of the scope?

Cheers

Everyone has different opinions on this one but i can tell you my Tikkas that i broke in properly shoot better and are easier to clean than the one i didn’t.
Fire 1, clean, fire 1, clean, fire 1, clean, fire 3, clean, fire 3, clean, fire 3, clean, fire 5, clean, fire 5, clean and you’re done.

As for your scope question it’s a good way to get to a close starting point, but for best results you need to have the gun able to be kept stable & on target without moving while you adjust the scope. Fire your shot then put your scope back to original point of aim and adjust it up to the point of impact.
Then you can check/fine tune it with a few more shots as needed. And no it has no effect on the scope function.

Everyone has different opinions on this one but i can tell you my Tikkas that i broke in properly shoot better and are easier to clean than the one i didn’t.

Yeah, agreed that it’s a personal preference thing. It’s hard to do an experiment on it whilst controlling for everything. Even manufacturers can disagree with themselves. Bergara’s website said not to bother, but the manual says to break it in lol. I ended up not bothering.

If you think it will work for you, obviously do it.

then holding the rifle at the point of impact and adjusting the turrets to the point of aim

I dunno about you guys, but I find it really hard to hold the rifle very still whilst I’m doing the adjustments. The way I like to sight in is that I measure the vertical and horizontal difference between the POI, and the POA, and because the turret clicks are supposed to be a fixed value, I calculate the number of clicks needed.

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Don’t listen to Sako, what do they know about guns. You should take the advice of random internet weirdos.
Clean, shoot, enjoy.

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Alrighty awesome, thanks, I’ll go with the break in using your method, fire some single shots during sight in and clean after each one, then I’ll fire some 3 shot groups with cleans after each one then a few 5 shots.

With the cleaning itself, is it just a matter of pushing the rod through with a bit of cloth on the end and doing so until it comes out clean?

And thanks for answering my scope session, I’ll adjust from point of aim to point of impact keeping the rifle still and fine tune it from there.

I could also use the measurement method. The scope I got is in MRAD, so as far as I understand 1 mil at 100m = 10cm. So if I’m 7cm high and 4cm right that would be .7mil down clicks on the elevation and .4mil clicks left on the windage yeah?

I had just figured that using the point of impact dialing method would save me a lot of range time as I wouldn’t have to wait for a seize fire to go and measure the target properly, though maybe I can get a fair idea through the scope too.

Get some bore cleaner/copper remover, i use the Boretech one myself but again everyone will have their preferred brand, it’s the copper fouling you’re working on, run through a wet patch through and you’ll get black & light blue (the copper) come out on the patch, the black will disappear pretty quickly, but just keep running patches through until there’s almost no blue (or just the faintest hint if it) switch between running wet patches & a couple of dry ones. Once you’re happy with how the wet patches are coming out run a dry through again then run a wet one through with something like G96 on it then one more dry one and fire your next shot/shots and repeat. The process is slow and a PITA but it gets better and take less runs through as you get through the process (and you will go through a million patches doing this lol).
I found that the one off muck around doing this just makes life easier from then on, my run in guns all seem to take more shots before needing a clean and the barrels clean much easier & quicker so it does pay off in the opinion of this internet weirdo lol.

As for the sighting in the biggest thing is to keep the gun perfectly still while tracking it, you’ll need a couple of bags, or bag & bipod, or even better if someone you know has a lead sled or something similar strap it into one of those and it will make the process really easy.

Awesome thanks a bunch man, I’ll run some G96 and do the wet and dry poke thoughs.

Yeah I’ll either get a good set of bags or a bipod and a rear bag, it’ll be a bit of messing around but we’ll get it there.

Thanks again for all your help👍

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No worries mate, have fun.

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Yeah exactly that.

wouldn’t have to wait for a seize fire to go and measure the target properly

Waiting for ceasefire would give the best results IMO, but you can get targets that have something like 1 inch grids drawn up on them. You could figure out the adjustments that way.

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I bought my lithgow .308 cleaned the shit out of it and shot it like normal with no specific routine, i’m not a beleiver in break it, its already been shot at the factory

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Agree, the Lithgows are shot at the factory - 3 shots. Mine came with a result sheet.

3 shots for a 12.3mm group. That is about 0.48 MOA.