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May20

New gun break in?

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Hi. I'm very new to the scene and learning a lot by reading up these forums. 

My application for FID and P2Ps just got approved and I'm waiting for my local PD to tell me that the documents are ready for pickup. I think the email or phone call can come any day now. My question is what am I supposed to do with a new gun once I bought it? Can I start shooting it straight out of the box without doing anything to it first? Or am I supposed to inspect it and/or lube certain places before I can shoot it?  Is there a break-in period for a new gun? If so, how long is it and what am I supposed to do to break it in? 

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You just need to clean and lube them. New guns ship with a corrosion preventing grease which is not really a good lubricant so you need to clean that off with a gun cleaning solvent and then apply the right oil as directed in the owners' manual.

 

For a rifle there are some that advocate a barrel break-in procedure but that isn't always necessary. Google and thee will find.

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6 minutes ago, Mr.Stu said:

You just need to clean and lube them. New guns ship with a corrosion preventing grease which is not really a good lubricant so you need to clean that off with a gun cleaning solvent and then apply the right oil as directed in the owners' manual.

 

For a rifle there are some that advocate a barrel break-in procedure but that isn't always necessary. Google and thee will find.

Thank you! It's good to know that the owner's manual will show how to lube the gun. I will Google it nevertheless.

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@Mr.Stu covered it as far as the function of th e gun.  You need to shoot it to see where it hits for you and adjust the sights if possible and get used to the trigger.  You need to get used to the controls on the gun.  Something I heard a long time ago was it takes 3-500 repetitions to learn something and 3-5000 before it's muscle memory.  You don't have to live fire the gun for all those repetitions.

When the agency I worked for switched to a new issue gun everyone had to take a transition course.  That consisted of 600+ rounds, maintenance, and malfunction drills.

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3 minutes ago, GRIZ said:

@Mr.Stu covered it as far as the function of th e gun.  You need to shoot it to see where it hits for you and adjust the sights if possible and get used to the trigger.  You need to get used to the controls on the gun.  Something I heard a long time ago was it takes 3-500 repetitions to learn something and 3-5000 before it's muscle memory.  You don't have to live fire the gun for all those repetitions.

When the agency I worked for switched to a new issue gun everyone had to take a transition course.  That consisted of 600+ rounds, maintenance, and malfunction drills.

I agree it takes many repetitions to learn something new. It's good to know it's 3-500 to learn and 3-5000 before it's muscle memory. I'll use these as a guidance. Thanks!

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On 3/10/2020 at 9:58 PM, May20 said:

Thank you! It's good to know that the owner's manual will show how to lube the gun. I will Google it nevertheless.

Don't forget about youtube - plenty of videos out there.

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On 3/10/2020 at 9:36 PM, May20 said:

Hi. I'm very new to the scene and learning a lot by reading up these forums. 

My application for FID and P2Ps just got approved and I'm waiting for my local PD to tell me that the documents are ready for pickup. I think the email or phone call can come any day now. My question is what am I supposed to do with a new gun once I bought it? Can I start shooting it straight out of the box without doing anything to it first? Or am I supposed to inspect it and/or lube certain places before I can shoot it?  Is there a break-in period for a new gun? If so, how long is it and what am I supposed to do to break it in? 

I would definitely say depends on what your getting. 2 of my 1911’s have totally different ways of breaking them in per the manufacturer. Did you decide on what your getting? 

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I took the firearm maintenance & cleaning lesson today at RTSP Randolph. The instructor (an ex-Marine) said it would take 1000 rounds to break in a new handgun.

BTW,  the range was closed and all the training sessions that need to use the range were suspended. The store was still open but God knows for how long....  

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The instructor is full of it. If it takes 1000 rounds to break in a gun, there's something wrong with it. Period. 

Now to trust it as reliable, that's a different matter. IMO ~500 rounds will be enough that anything defective or with metalurgical issues that aren't going to take thousands of rounds to show up will show up. 

The p320 x5 legion I'd just take it apart, clean and lube per factory instructions.  I'd take the ammo you want to use with it and shoot a box or two to see if you get any malfunctions. If you get failure to return to battery fully, check you aren't making contact with the slide catch and if you aren't, swap to the heavier of the two included springs that came with the gun.  It ships pretty tight from the factory and may need the extra oomph until it is broken in a bit. 

Most mass produced guns today will either run out of the box or have issues pretty rapidly. The only real exception to that that I'm familiar with are crappy extractors in modern 1911s. Which is why many big manufacturers went with a more moder spring loaded style extractor rather than the traditional tensioned design.  For example Springfield uses a hardened part that is not proper spring steel and is machined in a way to be put under tension when inserted, but it loses some spring aroudn ~2000 rounds, and wills tart having extraction problems with less than full power, full weight loads. 

 

 

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5 minutes ago, rmd3003 said:

IMHO no break-in for new gun but it's good idea to simply take it apart and check for excess lube. 

Most guns do not ship with lube, excess or otherwise. They do come with a layer of corrosion preventative grease. This should be cleaned off with a gun cleaning solvent and a quality gun oil applied as per the gun manufacturer's instructions.

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I haven't been able to shoot my brand new X5 Legion....  A couple weeks ago, I bought a second pistol: Sig P320 RXP X Full-Size. Both guns have been cleaned and lubed and are patiently waiting for range re-open...

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