Firearms Stack Exchange Archive

Pistol break-in

I’ve read in a few posts about a break-in period for new firearms. Can someone explain the purpose of this?

I tried relating it to when I got my first motorcycle. I was told to break it in rather gently, keep the rpm’s under some value. The idea was to hone in the cylinders yada yada yada.

I tried to apply this thinking to a new pistol, but cant see this happening. It’s not like I can fire the first 500 rounds “gently”.

So my question is:

  1. Is there such a thing as a break in period for firearms?
  2. How is it done?

Answer 1186

Pistol break in is really just the period before you can expect full reliability from your pistol. Often times a factory-fresh pistol has some rough spots or a course finish in areas that will smooth out with use. (Normally after the first 200-500 rounds). During that period you might experience a few feeding or extraction problems that will go away on their own as the pistol is used. You don’t need to treat it extra gently, in fact the best thing to do is lubricate it well (do not remove the factory lube on Glocks) and go shoot it.

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