Barrel Maker John Krieger on Barrel Break In, Cleaning, Lifespan, Optimal Length & Effect of Heat on

[@xBobby]

I’ve watched 7 different videos on people telling me how to clean a rifle and this is the first one where they said just shoot the dang thing and clean it when it stops shooting. Great video

[@tim1942]

So many people try to over complicate things what he said works lol

[@johnnywadd9918]

I just cleaned my marlin 60 for the first time yesterday and ive had the rifle for forty years.

[@Fausto_4841]

honestly. maybe these guys who are splitting nut hairs notice it, but i'm consistent with quarter size groups and only clean it when i see a keyhole

[@NoWr2Run]

Ray, He's talking about " HIS BARRELS " & he didn't say " JUST SHOOT THE DANG THING ". He said every barrel is different like people, he watches his patches for color & goes from there. He said the barrel will tell you what it needs as in cleaning more or not. If you just shoot the dang thing, not cleaning it for many rounds & it's copper fouling badly you're going to have a long cleaning job ahead of you. A regular production barrel is going to be worse yet & cleaning after every shot is key in smoothing out the barrels high & rough spots. You have to have a clean barrel ( no copper ) when shooting bullets down it so it smooths those high spots off. If just shooting it & shooting it won't smooth it out. Copper will just build up & build up not knocking down or smoothing out the barrel, which means a very hard barrel to clean.

[@camfam52002]

Wow, he's probably forgotten more than most will ever know on the topic. So much respect for old guys who live their craft...my father was one of these men.

[@spbartlett8386]

I bet he is sorry he fired Tracy Bartlien

[@jonathanprince297]

my left ear really enjoyed this

[@reece674]

i thought my headphones broke haha

[@istra70]

@@reece674 The same here.....

[@Silenced4yt]

Oh shit !!!!😂😂😂😂😂

[@uralbob1]

What a great video! So refreshing. No attitude, no ego. Just straight up education from a plain talking master! Thanks a million!

[@travismichael3705]

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[@maxtobias6034]

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[@toddchristensen7437]

I never bought into all the barrel break in procedures. It's good to see John Krieger agrees with what Gale McMillan was saying over 20 years ago.

[@PewGoBoomLife]

Love reading over Gale's writing! Guy was a heck of a knowledge book.

[@aaronwilcox6417]

Not only Gale but also Bo Clerke

[@308dad8]

I never did it either and I do like he says only clean the barrel when it stops shooting well.

[@danphariss133]

This is a shutnup and listen learning video. When someone like this speaks you MUST listen. he is not just a barrel maker but a serious shooter as well....

[@michaell397]

This Man has a LOT of experience. Well done Sir!!! KnifeMaker/Retired after over 47+ Years in the Craft

[@Liberty4Ever]

It's always great when we can learn from a true expert - not merely someone who knows how to do something, but someone who developed the processes and not only know what to do, but why it works. Thanks to John Krieger for sharing his vast knowledge, and thanks to Long Range Shooters of Utah for providing this valuable and informative content.

[@stevepuyear2738]

Liberty. I couldn't agree more with you. No padding an ego, no breaking his arm patting himself on the back, just years of experience and firsthand knowledge gained as a shooter and from customers/shooters. He's a very humble man who has no doubt raised the bar in the quality dept., as well as the repeatable accuracy dept.

[@stevenlefebvre2991]

Great interview thank you so much for letting the man talk and not talking over him like so many other people do.

[@rubear71]

This video made me change my order and get a Krieger barrel. There is more information in this one video than all the 5 shots patch it bullshit!! This man is a living legend and gets my money every day

[@poorfarmer1234]

i learned more in those few minutes than i ever did in school!! thanks

[@82delta]

To understand what he was saying, look at a reloading book blueprint of the .243 Win and draw a line from the shoulder on both sides at the same angle as the shoulder to centerline and they intersect in the barrel throat and lead. The case stops at 2.0449" from bolt face yet the shoulders intersection of angle at centerline occurs at 2.1835" which is 0.1386" past the case and into the throat and this is just the beginning of the erosion diamond. Now continue the lines to the opposite side of the bore and bounce the lines back at the reverse angle inside the barrel and you see a diamond shape inside the barrel and this is your maximum erosion /flame cut/plasma erosion area. Look at the 6mm Rem blueprint and do the same and the intersection occurs inside the brass case neck mostly. Better to erode brass necks than barrel throats.

[@robpederson281]

Thanks

[@chipsterb4946]

Mr. Krieger does the best job of answering “it depends” I’ve ever seen. Lots of great information packed into his answers. I especially appreciated his explanation of different rifling processes and the trade offs.

[@georgeholt8929]

John Krieger also makes cut rifling barrels for long range Black Powder rifles, his chosen rifling is quite unique. That was a worth while video, I enjoyed it very much.

[@BamaChad-W4CHD]

Great video! I like the look he is giving John through the entire video. It's like, omg he is really explaining in detail and the rule is you need to keep video segments under a minute or people will click on another video but this is the man and I can't interrupt him.

[@jonduffer4340]

Well that was fun! That was great that you got to talk to Mr. Krieger - I'm 59 and he confirmed some of my thoughts on barrels. Great content - Thank You

[@hardtarget2359]

John Kreiger is a very interesting person to listen to about barrel mechanics!

[@rogerbob6580]

Hes been building top notch barrels so long ..hes a walking encyclopedia

[@SABjork]

Wow, I was in awe to listen to John Krieger talk about his craft and metallurgical insights. Completely challenged just about everything that I thought I knew and had heard from less knowledgeable. I feel smarter than I did the second before I started watching. Thanks for sharing, I could listen to him all day,

[@WTFSoCal]

I learned more on this subject in16 minutes than most will ever know.... very good video

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Thank you. please share it and subscribe.

[@legiontraining4691]

Thank goodness! John Krieger is an awesome barrel maker and an honest business man. Mr. McMillan informed me long ago the barrel break in procedure was because the process would shorten the service life of the barrel. This process was started by some (or a) less honest maker to sell more barrels! Glad to see the truth is getting out there!

[@camshaftshaft2711]

I could listen to him talk all day great upload

[@benavrahamyitzchak8433]

I am going to send mine to Compass Lake to have a Krieger barrel added to my Smith and Wesson M&P. Want to get more accuracy and distance from my rifle. He’s not only a shooter but a master and should be respected

[@ashman0071]

great interview - I think it's time I purchased one or more of John Krieger's Barrels.........Obvious Engineering Background - and he explains everything very succinctly ..........

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

John is the man for sure. Still comes to Shot SHow to answer questions every year in that sweet suit coat.

[@ORflycaster]

What an honor to speak with such an experienced and knowledgeable man.

[@ssstealth]

I really appreciate these interviews! I've read so many (often conflicting) "answers" to these kinds of questions on forums all across the 'net and it's such a relief to hear the kings of industry speak truth to the matter. The last bit about button and cut rifling was something I hadn't given much thought about. Thanks to you and keep them coming!

[@richiesbikesnbitz8473]

What a cool guy I could have watched that for hours

[@CryptoCPA]

A lot of great wisdom and sage advice from Mr Krueger. I especially appreciated his thoughts about being careful with the crown of the barrel when cleaning and what happens inside a new barrel when breaking it in.

[@219garry]

A long range shooter pointed out to me one time that if you measure barrel life in bullet traveling thru it time, the life of a barrel is only like 6 seconds. In other words a bullet passes thru so fast that in each shot the barrel is only being used for milliseconds per shot. When you add up bullet time travel thru barrel thousands of times you only wind up with a handful of seconds a bullet was in it.

[@beestoe993]

What a great interview! That was hands down the most comprehensive insight on barrel break in (and a few other points) that I have ever heard. Thanks for sharing this.

[@user-it3rq9qs5n]

Great video, it’s a pleasure to listen to a master share his knowledge. Thank you

[@sfla4x4molonlabe66]

All I can say is wow.... I learned more in this video from John Krieger than what I have read in the past year on this topic. He really nets it out and gives you his impressions straight up. So much stuff on the Internet it is great to listen to the voice of experience. I don’t believe I will be wasting all my time during a lengthy break in process. May shoot once clean, then shoot five and clean for a few times but not much more. Then just clean the action and chamber until the rifle really needs me to clean the carbon out of the barrel. Thanks for the video guys simply awesome!

[@DS-gd1xw]

Thank you Long Range Shooters of Utah for posting this video! Very valuable information

[@colb9916]

Great post. The man certainly knows his stuff and makes awesome barrels.

[@dekonfrost7]

The kriegers are really good people, i met his brother once. In maryland a real gentleman .

[@rodrigogonzalez3620]

He has forgotten more about rifles and bullets and trajectories and casings and pressures and temperatures the most Master gunsmiths will ever know.... thanks for the wonderful video and thank you sir for taking your time to talk with us.

[@mikekopmanis2099]

What a great video. John Krieger has seen a lot. Years of experience there, listen up!

[@wolverinekut]

He answered to all my questions, that I was asking about 👏👏😁👍 thank you

[@patrickacuna2607]

Thank you for this interview.

[@TakeDeadAim]

I love hearing guys like this. The REAL experts. The interviewer seemed to be trying to get specific numbers however there aren't really any in this case. I hear the "range experts" running their gums about "Oh you gotta replace your barrel after xxxx rounds" this and "Oh, you gotta break it in like ______" that. Then you get the truth(which I have always stated) which is that A....indeed, you let the barrel tell you when it's going south. You'll know. You call a 9 at 6o clock and see a 7 upstairs at 12 type of stuff happening. Now, once in awhile...bad luck. When it starts costing points...time for a new tube. Break in? As Jack O'Conner said "Just shoot it".

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

What's funny is we also interviewed George Gardner at the same show and his approach was slightly different. This year we interviewed David Tubb who is arguably one the most decorated shooter in US shooting history and his process and beliefs are completely different. That's exactly why I did these interviews and pushed on these questions. I'll be posting that interview filmed two days about at Shot Show very soon. Thanks for watching.

[@TakeDeadAim]

@@LongRangeShootersofUtah Tubb was always a diva at matches though(when he still shot regularly). I won't go into some specific matches but lets just say that if things, a range, the pits...whatever...weren't just right he'd whine. A LOT. I know he's a phenomenal shooter but care little for him or his opinions. As with a very famous fighter pilot(assuming one cares about flying) I flew with, great stick but no one I'd ever want someone to emulate.

[@braddavis2163]

WOW, I AM IN AWE..... MOST HONEST TIME EVER SEEN SPENT ON YOU TUBE.....

[@bryanwyatt9829]

BEST Video I've seen on barrel break in. Great questions and very informative answers. KREIGER Barrels awesome product. Incredible Creator well done Gentlemen. Thank You.

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Thank you! Please Subscribe & Share. I appreciate it very much.

[@stevecochran2677]

Awsome video, I'm going to go with his approach as he has to be way more knowledgeable than I ever will be. Thank you.

[@jomomma8754]

Will be getting one of his barrels when I build a custom.

[@MrTilbey]

Great interview, and what a great humble guy . Makes me feel good knowing I just had a new Krieger on my 22-250 yesterday. 👍

[@patrickgjorven7832]

Interesting concept of thin barrel and the heat mirage being the culprit of larger groups.

[@hillbilly4christ638]

I read a story about a barrel maker that lived in the 1800’s. He carefully lapped the barrel so it had a very fine taper up to the muzzle. The bullet swaged as it progressed down a finely polished barrel and it had amazing accuracy. He manufactured barrels that used a paper patch and had same hole accuracy. One such barrel is in the national firearms museum. The accuracy was unsurpassed and they retired it. It would be too expensive to manufacture barrels like this today.

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Interesting

[@tacticplanner7188]

When you get a chance to talk to a true Master Smith, plant yourself there, let him teach you! Experience will teach you far more than you can even learn in school. Great interview Thanks guys!

[@jamessutherland5107]

I liked what the Breitlen guys said. A properly rifled and polished barrel shouldn't need breaking in.

[@RammaJamma3]

Wow this guy is very smart!!! Someone needs catch him with more time do several videos on barrels

[@everythingphil9376]

I'll definitely be saving this and watching over. Thanks!

[@williamdecormier7894]

I've always worked up a load to optimize tightest group. I vary the powder charge to get optimal group

[@dragonusmc0311]

Another great interview .

[@MegaPoxie]

Great information from a man with a highly experienced opinion! I would have liked to have heard his opinion on forged barrels.

[@7curiogeo]

Learned more about Bbl's in this vid then my entire life. Thank you.

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Thank you. Please share it, subscribe and follow us on social media.

[@valkry007]

Great interview !

[@blanejr1]

Woah...."clean the barrel when it stops shooting." So much for quirky barrel break in procedures too!

[@mojoman2001]

I took "when it stops shooting" to mean "at the end of the range day", as opposed to in the middle of your shooting day. I'd be surprised if he meant to leave a fired barrel uncleaned until next year's hunting season, simply because the rifle didn't jam (yet). But, he seemed to speak in expert code. I won't shoot over 100 yards, and if my barrel costs over $500, it better come with a lock and a stock, so it was all Greek to me.

[@az-chris1136]

Very informative and insightful interview. Thanks for getting this out on youtube!

[@Skellissaint]

My left ear enjoyed this presentation.

[@alhodge4051]

loved to hear the master speak

[@eastriverbeesdchris924]

Great video

[@THEfamouspolka]

Thank you for posting a great interview with am amazingly knowledgeable fellow!

[@rohawaha]

Great Interview , excellent questions !

[@tacratt6091]

I could sit down and listen to him talk about barrels all day! I wonder how the 6.5 Creed, compares to the 243 in barrel life,

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Creed is 2500-3500 ish, 243 is about 1000 less than that. Roughly as there are many many variables that come into play.

[@brianrailing2363]

One advantage the 6.5 has is its longer neck. Also helping in more room for powder.

[@mosin9105]

What a fantastic video!

[@paulsimmons5726]

This man knows more than most and if he's not worried about cleaning the barrel after every trip to the range, well, Hmmm... 🤔

[@daddydan1000]

Excellent video I have learnt a lot

[@duckslayer11000]

what a great upload! Thank you

[@theHSPCproject]

I think Mr. Krieger meant cut rifling in his last comment, as he was talking about how they turn down the contour on un rifled blanks then cut rifle them after the major machining is done to avoid stress, directly before he said "button rifling". If I'm not mistaken, most Kriegers are cut rifled?

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

The HSPC Project yes he was saying that one of the many advantages to cut rifle barrels is the ability to contour them before cutting the rifling. Whereas Burton barrels must remain a full diameter blank while being cut in order to ensure consistent results. Button is a much more brutal, high pressure fast process

[@spldrong]

The HSPC Project my Krieger has 5R button rifling. it shoots great.

[@paym1861]

Long Range Shooters of Utah, LLC

[@rick-kx7gy]

Highly informative . No ego , no attitude , no pretense, no BS . Just solid info . Thanks.

[@KTMcaptain]

3:05 he’s right on. I put 200 rounds through my barrel before cleaning it and damn that thing was dirty. Much dirtier than normal is what I thought. Zeroed it on the first 10 shots... last 5 shots of match ammo, 6.5 creed, grouped the same as the first 5 shot group after zero. Just over .5 moa. Even shitty ammo could group at 1-1.25 moa, and it was so bad they liked to stick in the chamber. Break in is for ammo manufacturers to pad their pockets.

[@yahatinda]

Spent 60 years at benchrest and target shooting without break in but did experiment with 22LR "fire Lapping" which did not harm or appear to improve various barrels either. i do not clean 22RF barrels,my CZ gopher rifle has never had its barrel cleaned since 1994.

[@andykruth]

But the question of heat affecting the factual accuracy of the barrel itself instead of aiming prob lem due to heat mirage should be early enough to test with a sledge where the rifle is firmly attached?

[@lmj2783]

Very very interesting to listen to a the expert.

[@301joey1]

Science and engineering master!

[@wb6csh]

POOR AUDIO, especially Bryce... I think he is not mic'd up - he's using Mr. Kriegers mic! Thanks for uploading this video LRSU!

[@HeavyJ318]

What a guy!

[@borisbuliak3626]

I have a chrome moly mauser and it does take some cleaning but not too bad. Don't use any dirty loads in it.

[@Deuceblank]

Had to watcg this vid for a 3rd time, very informative

[@308dad8]

Interesting fact about rifling.

[@Liam-B]

On the topic of mirage, I know a guy who used to did some sniping in the 75th Ranger Regiment who would lay a wet rag over the top of his barrel to help mitigate mirage from barrel heat. I've also heard of guys doing this on machine guns. IDK how effective it really is.

[@woodstock217]

I've seen guys piss on machine gun barrels to cool them down.

[@alexandrite3208]

@@woodstock217 nah, that was the mortar team pissing on the tubes. (We were Soldiers..) (-;

[@jimpalmer4916]

My new rifles don't shoot well until 50 rounds have been shot through them. I've often wondered why that is, and now I know why.

[@12gauge1oz]

Excellent. Thank you

[@davidrobins4025]

Very interesting information

[@pizzafrenzyman]

wow! great interview. So, to maximize barrel life, we should not fire bullets through the barrel.

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

If you do that, it will last forever.

[@steverugerguy9606]

How many rounds for a factory stevens carbon steel 243 barrel before priblems start....used for target only...cooling after 5 or 6 round strings...thicker barrel than a standard hunting rifle.

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

My guess is 1500 rounds

[@steverugerguy9606]

@@LongRangeShootersofUtah ok, ty

[@steverugerguy9606]

@@LongRangeShootersofUtah how about the same rifle but in 308?

[@DougsterCanada1]

Thanks kindly!

[@melanieestel3454]

DougsterCanada1 s3

[@219garry]

I have a stainless barrel. If I shoot a box of 20 rounds I just pull a bore snake once. If I go deer hunting for a week in the winter and don't even take a shot, I will get home and just do the bore snake once again. Basically just to get any moisture out of it for storage in the safe. So at most I pull a bore snake thru my barrel twice a year.

[@44hawk28]

He didn't mention it but the way he talked I would understand that the type of powder you use might have a severe effect on Barrel life, if you're using a ball powder it's much more abrasive than IMR powder would be.

[@wac8516]

i think he said what wears out a barrel is how the unburnt power goes down it if th shoulder is more angled it slams the barrel before going out where if the shoulder is less the unburnt powder just flows smoothly down and out. something like that anyway.

[@aquariusdawning]

very interesting about the .243 gas erosion. That was definitely worth the 16 minutes it took to watch.

[@renfield1101]

Same problem with 6.5 x 284

[@veiledallegory]

Unbelievable amount of knowledge in that man's head. This video takes a lot of the mystical BS out of shooting rifles and replaces it with a basic level of science! I heard from someone else several years ago not to believe the barrel break-in nonsense and to just shoot about 40-50 rounds and clean thoroughly. Maybe that original advice came from Kreiger?!?! Either way it's good the see that information verified. Now it's time to clean my new barrel after shooting 50 rounds and call it good!

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

That was the goal. Thanks for the compliments and for watching. Please subscribe and share. Follow @longrangeshootersofutah on Instagram & Facebook.

[@ricksundberg5659]

I literally just had a stainless Remington 700 re-barrelled with a Krieger stainless fluted #5 contour barrel and guys were preaching the: Shoot then clean for 10 rounds...Then every 3 rounds 5 times before really shooting it a lot. So I did it and finished last night thinking what a pain in the ass it was. Tonight I decide to look up to see if there is a video, not sure why I checked for a video after the fact, but I did and I probably woke the neighbors 5 acres away laughing after I watched. Live and learn. Now I know.

[@thelert]

Good information.

[@gz989898]

Great job! Thank yoy

[@alreadygone3855]

And a cameo appearance of Lester Bruno on the lower left at the beginning of the video no less!

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

That's correct. Another legend.

[@cfunk4236]

Long Range Shooters of Utah, LLC

[@ryanpatton5937]

I'm guilty of over performing barrel break ins in my ARs to my bolt guns even my pistol I cleaned my ar 10 barrel 5 times before I took it to stight it in . But I'm OCD so there's that to

[@LongRangeShootersofUtah]

Don’t do it

[@ryanpatton5937]

@@LongRangeShootersofUtah I have stopped myself from doing this I picked up a new ar10 and a new 300wing mag bolt gun I'm going to let the barrel tell me when it needs cleaning

[@greghill9958]

Great.

[@dontask8979]

Well done

[@billcavazos2817]

Very important to clean your barrel between shots when new. But of course if your shooting through a Krieger, Hart, or any other well made custom type barrel its a real difference. These high grade barrels are made so much better and smoother. Very little is left behind when bullets are fired through them.

[@calangel]

No wonder the 22 hornet has such long barrel life...long neck and super shallow shoulder

[@250-25x]

I wonder if anyone has experimented with sleeving a blank and heating it before button rifling as to exert less stress into the blank? I'm amazed there are still questions about rifling and the best way to do it.....that, and why don't we insert a thin stainless liner instead of cutting/swagging kind of like an air rifle, or old school 22's.... Have fun, G.