Does a Barrel Need Breaking In Before ELEY Shoots Its Best?
Yes. Bedding a barrel in is critical. That is ELEY’s position, and it applies to any new barrel before you draw conclusions from what it puts on the target. A barrel that has not been bedded in is still changing between sessions, and a changing barrel cannot tell you the truth about the ammunition going through it.
The round count and the method belong to the barrel and its maker rather than to the ammunition, so follow your barrel manufacturer’s guidance on procedure. What ELEY’s own testing methodology establishes is the principle underneath it: barrel condition is a precision variable, and results are only meaningful when barrel condition is held constant. Whether or not your barrel is new, fire fouling shots after cleaning and let the bore settle before you judge any group.
What ELEY’s Testing Proves About Barrel Condition
The way ELEY tests ammunition is itself the evidence. At an ELEY test range, up to 20 batches are evaluated through the shooter’s own barrel. Ten shots are fired from each batch, the best-performing batches are shortlisted, and a further 30 shots are fired from those selections until a 40-shot group size and consolidated score is recorded for each, using electronic targets and bespoke ELEY software managed by trained Customer Range Officers.
That sequence only produces a valid comparison because one barrel, in one condition, shoots every batch. If bore condition drifted part-way through, the differences recorded between batches would be part ammunition and part barrel, and no one could separate them.
The same discipline applies at proof. ELEY tests 200 rounds from every batch across four different firearm brands to calculate Radial Standard Deviation (RSD), so the published figure for each product describes the cartridge rather than a barrel’s good day: 3.75 mm for ELEY tenex, 4.74 mm for ELEY match, 5.50 mm for ELEY team.
A Sound Routine Around Bedding In
Bedding the barrel in comes first; consistency comes immediately after it. Procedures differ between barrel makers, so take the method from yours, then apply the same discipline to everything that follows.
- Define your starting point. Decide what “clean” means in your routine and apply it the same way every time.
- Fire fouling shots before judging anything. After every clean, settle the bore before the first group that counts.
- Find your own settling number once. Shoot consecutive groups of equal shot count and watch for the point at which the point of impact stops moving and group size steadies. Note the round count and use it thereafter.
- Do not compare across conditions. A group from a freshly cleaned bore and one from a settled bore are not comparable data.
- Keep records. Batch code, round count since cleaning, conditions, result.
Why This Matters More With a New Barrel
Every barrel has its own unique characteristics and each batch of ammunition performs differently: what performs flawlessly in one barrel may not deliver the same results in another. A very new barrel whose behaviour is still changing between sessions is a moving target, so treat early results as provisional. Bed the barrel in, establish a stable and repeatable bore condition, and only then do your serious lot selection. Testing a batch against a barrel that is still changing tells you about the barrel, not the batch.
The Bottom Line
Yes, bedding a barrel in is critical, and it should be done before you judge either the barrel or the ammunition. Take the procedure from your barrel maker; the ammunition is not what is being bedded in. The principle ELEY’s own methodology demonstrates is that barrel condition must be constant for results to mean anything, so fire fouling shots after cleaning, establish your settling routine, and apply it identically every time.
Once your barrel gives repeatable results, use them: book a batch test at eley.co.uk/vip to compare up to 20 batches through that barrel, or open the free Lot Analyser at eleyxshot.com, which now holds the proof data for all lots of ELEY tenex, tenex pistol, tenex biathlon, tenex rapid fire pistol, match, semi-auto .22LR benchrest precision, ultra and club. The best ammunition is the production lot that performs best in your rifle.