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What & The Why: Breaking in a New Gun-Should a New Gun be Broken In

Annihilator

Annihilator

Emissary
Founding Member
Nice article on breaking in a new gun

www.gunsamerica.com

The What & the Why: Breaking In A Gun – Should A New Gun Be Broken In?

There are really two reasons that a person may want to break in a gun. One is to improve or smooth the action or trigger. The other is to make the gun as precise as possible. So the first thing to consider when deciding to break in a gun or not, is what the gun is going to be used for.
www.gunsamerica.com www.gunsamerica.com
 
I always clean and lube a new gun prior to firing it for the first time. The only modern semi-auto pistol that required an extended break-in period was my Springfield 911 Alpha .380. It had at least one FTF in every one of the first 10 magazines I ran through it, despite using different brands of ammo. I called Springfield, and they said they would be happy to send a label to have the gun shipped back to them, but advised that the .380 911's often require a bit of break-in. By round #200 the gun was running perfectly, and it hasn't had a problem since. Of course, this happened back when .380 acp ammo was readily available on store shelves for $15 a box.
 
I don’t know about breaking striker pistols in persay, but if it’s a gun I will carry I put at least 500 through it right away. That way I am familiarizing myself with the weapon, insuring complete reliability and figuring out which ammo I want to use before I trust my life to it.

Now 1911s and other steel hammer fired autos, yeah probably some parts need to be smoothed out.

This is just the way I figure it in my head. I could be completely wrong.
 
The one good point I took from that article was the factory grease - while it may look like lube, it may just be packing grease to keep the gun from rusting on the shelf (not that ANY gun is in stock long enough these days, to start rusting!). Always a good idea to at least clean-and-lube before firing it the first time.

I picked up my Hellcat about a month ago...and it was bone-dry. There were marks on the rear of the barrel (the square part that sits in the ejection port when the gun is in battery) indicating test-firing at the factory...but there wasn't a drop of lube on it. Anywhere.

When I bought my XD-s years ago (from a different store), I took it right to the range...but this was back in the days when stores HAD guns on the shelf, and had time to go through each one and do a proper "prep" to them before putting them out for sale. That particular store - now closed, unfortunately - always prepped their guns before putting them out. They'd do the initial clean/lube, and their 'smith would bore-sight them to make sure everything lined up. If anything was out, they'd test-fire and adjust until things were properly lined up, then clean/lube again before display.

I miss that store. Those were some good guys.
 
The first thing I do with a new firearm of any kind is take it down and clean it , then lube it.

When I bought my mod 1 XDs .45 I took it down and found that the striker channel looked like someone had poured it full of rearend ( automotive ) gear lube. It wasn't quite that bad but it had a lot more lube in it then it needed.

Always take a new firearm down and clean and lube it.
 
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