How to break in your firearm…

A proper firearm break in is crucial to the overall functionality and expectation of your new firearm’s performance. We require no less than 50-75 rounds fired before a warranty concern can be assessed. Remove all excess oils and hand cycle your firearm, with authority, about a 100 times to aid in this break in. Doing so will possibly even save you money in ammunition used at the range. This break in allows adequate time for your platform to work out any “kinks” it may have. At any value, a firearm is produced using cost effective machining that does not always result in “hand fit 1:1” surfaces. However, you can trust that you have purchased a quality firearm that will have no trouble with a reasonable break in. A few key aspects will ensure that you do your part in the process of correctly operating your firearm for the first time. The most important pieces we will cover are Maintenance, Ammunition, Gas settings, Magazines and most importantly… Recoil Management.

Lets start with Maintenance. It is your job as a consumer and a responsible gun owner to know how to properly disassemble, clean, reassemble and maintain your firearm. All firearms are shipped with heavy amounts of rust preventative. Read your ENTIRE owner’s manual. You will find good reference for disassembling your firearm. Upon disassembly be sure to wipe away all excess shipping oils. Excess oil on the moving parts can and will impede the cycle of the firearm. This excess oil will also promote buildup of debris. Most notably, heavy amounts of oil around the areas of the bolt and gas piston tube can cause unreliability. You want them to be lubed but not dripping. Wiping the surfaces with a clean oily rag will do just fine.

Ammunition and Gas settings are another very important piece of the puzzle when it comes to the performance of your new firearm. It is responsible for the energy that is used to cycle your platform whether it be a pistol or a shotgun. Excessive use of steel cased ammunition can cause harm to your firearms chamber. We recommend quality brass ammunition. For our pistol models, the 1911 in particular, we recommend round nosed (BALL) ammunition. Using defensive ammunition could cause feeding issues so stick with ball until the pistol feeds reliably throughout the break in process. In the case of shotguns, you will need to note the FPS of the shells you are buying. For the break in period, we recommend no less than 1250 FPS and 1 1/8 shot. You will also want to pay attention to the quality of shells that you buy. Value brand shells tend to be softer and can cause issues amongst any magazine fed shotgun. A shell with a good strong plastic is preferred. Remington Nitro is great example of a robust shell. Failure to use ammunition as defined above will certainly result in poor function during this initial period of ownership. We also mentioned Gas Settings. Many of our firearms come with an adjustable gas regulator. Read thru your owner's manual to learn how to properly adjust the system. Overpowering your firearm can result in expedited wear and tear on your firearm. This abuse can result in a voided warranty. So please be careful.

Many of our firearms are manufactured to use lots of aftermarket magazines. Until the break in is reached you should stick with factory mags. This will help eliminate extra variables when trying to diagnose possible issues IF they arise. Load your magazines the way they are intended to be loaded. Bending the feed lips or adding excess pressure to them can result in less than satisfactory function. Press the round down before sliding in the next. Never use the feed lips as leverage while loading. Keep your magazines clean and well maintained. Do not attempt to clean your magazine without disassembling it first. Doing so can leave excess oil that will result in build up of debris inside the mag. This will surely impede the function of the follower.

Lasty, and most importantly, is recoil management. 99% of the issues that arise with a firearm malfunctioning is a result of operator error. Most people do not like to hear this part, but it is true. Without recoil management the bolt cannot gain enough speed to fully cycle. You must provide the inertia against the direction that the gun wants to move to allow the moving parts to produce the momentum it needs. Even an intermediate gun owner can run into this issue. Recoil management is crucial to the operation of any gun, ESPECIALLY in its beginning stages of breaking in. For a semi-auto firearm to function, the user MUST be able to absorb the recoil of a fired gun. This is achieved by a good grip, proper stance and generally just leaning into the gun. When firing, your gun tends to move up or backwards. The trick is to keep the gun level and absorb the recoil with your grip or shoulder. If your gun is pointing above your target at any point when firing, you are most likely not absorbing enough recoil. Just the same is true if your firearm is pushing you backwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmnLA2DuYJs