What is the proper way to break in your gun?

shoot it.
There are many schools of thought.
Krieger has a method for their barrels.
Accomplished shooter and gunsmith Derrick Martin suggests just shoot it.
I think cleaning and shooting between shots is a waste of time, ammo and barrel life - you could be practicing.
However, I'm not saying go and do a mag dump.
Most "custom" barrels are hand-lapped; eliminating a lot of the machining burrs etc., there is really no need to break-in as they already have been.
I find that on Wilson AR barrels, the gas port has a small burr that is gone when I send a few bullets down. I never had a Krieger or custom chambered or drilled AR barrel yet. I read that John Holliger of White Oak Precision will drill the port on a land backed up by a bullet to eliminate the burr. I believe Compass Lake does this as well. Of course, that takes a bit more time but if you are a High Master shooter like John every little thing matters.

What kind of gun and barrel?

Chrome lined barrel, I would just run a couple patches to clean the crud and shoot.

A custom/precision type barrel, whatever the manufacturer recommends.  I don't have a rifle like that, so all mine have just been quick clean and shoot. 

One of my barrels, I went straight into load development.   One I did a shoot and clean till no copper.  No difference in accuracy between either.  The shoot and clean took about ten rounds for my Bartlien barrel, so for other brands or factory, many more rounds might be necessary.  Factory barrel may never see a cease of copper.. 

Just shoot,  clean when you are done. Of course YMMV.

What kind of gun and barrel?

Chrome lined barrel, I would just run a couple patches to clean the crud and shoot.

A custom/precision type barrel, whatever the manufacturer recommends.  I don't have a rifle like that, so all mine have just been quick clean and shoot.

i was just wondering if there was like a general rule of thumb to break in your rifle/pistol.
all my firearms ive just been shooting n cleaning,
but the barrel on my AR is chrome lined, only fired about 200 rds so far and cleaned after every outing, hopefully ill be alright...

One of my barrels, I went straight into load development.   One I did a shoot and clean till no copper.  No difference in accuracy between either.  The shoot and clean took about ten rounds for my Bartlien barrel, so for other brands or factory, many more rounds might be necessary.  Factory barrel may never see a cease of copper.. 

Just shoot,  clean when you are done. Of course YMMV.

shoot it.
There are many schools of thought.
Krieger has a method for their barrels.
Accomplished shooter and gunsmith Derrick Martin suggests just shoot it.
I think cleaning and shooting between shots is a waste of time, ammo and barrel life - you could be practicing.
However, I'm not saying go and do a mag dump.
Most "custom" barrels are hand-lapped; eliminating a lot of the machining burrs etc., there is really no need to break-in as they already have been.
I find that on Wilson AR barrels, the gas port has a small burr that is gone when I send a few bullets down. I never had a Krieger or custom chambered or drilled AR barrel yet. I read that John Holliger of White Oak Precision will drill the port on a land backed up by a bullet to eliminate the burr. I believe Compass Lake does this as well. Of course, that takes a bit more time but if you are a High Master shooter like John every little thing matters.

thanks for the info guys...

First, I do a full dissassembly, clean, and lube. Then I take it to the range, where it gets no special treatment. I do keep notes, and also check screw tightness several times, but other than that I don't have any special procedures. It also gets a full disassembly, cleaning, and inspection after its first day. Congratulations! Broken in!

Don't forget the ear to ear grin, the most important part of the break in. 

Clean, shoot, and shoot some more. From what I've heard, it's best to use regular loads at first to break in the cycling then move on to +P if you want.

Clean, shoot, and shoot some more. From what I've heard, it's best to use regular loads at first to break in the cycling then move on to +P if you want.

Ahh. Yeah, I just assumed he was referring to long guns.

For semi-auto handguns, I'll try to run at least 1000 rounds of training ammo, 115 gr FMJ for my 9mm and then I'll run a box of HP to test for function and POA/POI.

All of my ARs, I just cleaned the gunk off, ran some patches and then ran the gun at the range with no cleaning until I am at home after the range session.  That's what I'll be doing with my new AK and may not clean until I reach regular intervals. 

I don't beleve chrome lined barrels need or benefit from the shoot one, clean, repeat, then shoot a few, clean, repeat procedure.  If I ever get a custom barrel from my Rem 700, I'll just do what the barrel manufacturer recommends. 

IIRC, it's about 50/50 as to whether or not you need to do the shoot/clean/shoot a few/clean method.

One of my barrels, I went straight into load development.   One I did a shoot and clean till no copper.  No difference in accuracy between either.  The shoot and clean took about ten rounds for my Bartlien barrel, so for other brands or factory, many more rounds might be necessary.  Factory barrel may never see a cease of copper.. 

Just shoot,  clean when you are done. Of course YMMV.

I have a SS Shilen barrel on my varmint AR.  That barrel was purchased with the intent to shoot 70+ gr bullets.  On the initial shooting the best groupings are with 62 gr bullets with even 55 gr bullets out performing the 70+ grain ammo.  I noticed that even in the initial shooting you can see the barrel evolve away from the 55 gr bullets and favor the 62 gr.  I haven't shot it in forever and am thinking eventually it will start to favor the 70+ gr stuff away from the bulk loaded 62 gr bullets I was shooting.

The guy who makes my barrels for me recommends for the first 25 rounds run the patch or bore snake thru every shot. Then for the next 25 shots every 5th shot then the next 100 rounds every 10th shot. After that every 25th shot till you reach 500 rounds.  We did that on our 762x39 AR15s and we are getting 1" groups with Tula Ammo.
In the process of making some 762x39 ammo with brass. Hopefully we can get it under .5"?  Both the stainless 18" barrel and the 4130 steel barrel are doing good.

I've got about a few hundred rounds through my AR already, and cleaned after every outing, would it be pointless if i wanted to do the shoot & clean after every shot method? will bring back any accuracy i may have lost by not following that method from the start?

I've got about a few hundred rounds through my AR already, and cleaned after every outing, would it be pointless if i wanted to do the shoot & clean after every shot method? will bring back any accuracy i may have lost by not following that method from the start?

too late for that. The reason you clean it the first shots it to get rid of any excess metal left in the bore from getting pressed into the bore.  Every time a bullet goes down whatever metal particles are in the bore get pressed into the bore causing metal buildup or it gets impressioned into the barrel.  which could create pits in the future.

too late for that. The reason you clean it the first shots it to get rid of any excess metal left in the bore from getting pressed into the bore.  Every time a bullet goes down whatever metal particles are in the bore get pressed into the bore causing metal buildup or it gets impressioned into the barrel.  which could create pits in the future.

Also, if his AR is a chrome lined barrel, it wouldn't really matter either way.  If he has a custom cut barrel, then maybe.  But as you said, too late for that now since he's already run a good amount of rounds through the gun already.

I've got about a few hundred rounds through my AR already, and cleaned after every outing, would it be pointless if i wanted to do the shoot & clean after every shot method? will bring back any accuracy i may have lost by not following that method from the start?

If you have a chrome lined barrel, or even a mass produced SS barrel, I wouldn't worry.  If you aren't satisfied with the performance of your gun, you can always look into replacing the barrel.  But I would also look into match ammo, or even handloading if you're trying to work on more precision shooting. 

Ok I see, thanks for all info guys 

If you are having accuracy problems, have a smith take a look at the crown, bore, and chamber area, with a borescope,  first before changing anything out.  Re-cut a damaged crown or cleaning a carbon ring buildup would be a lot cheaper than a unnecessary barrel replacement.

The subject of barrel break-in is much debated.   Some say it's a complete waste of time and hastens the wear of your barrel while others say that it's absolutely necessary. See, http://www.6mmbr.com/gailmcmbreakin.html

I wrestled with this issue when I purchased my first hunting rifle. Lots of people go through the same exercise of researching the pros and cons of cleaning the barrel after each shot and come away confused. Many simply end up doing it because everybody else did it. It brought to mind a similar issue I wrestled with a while ago dealing with the effects of waxing and polishing the hulls on racing yachts to increase speed. I read scholarly articles that involved mathematical formulas relating to coefficient of friction and so on. Many of the top racers in the yachting community scrubbed the idea of polishing the surfaces of the hulls and sandpapered them in a cross-hatch fashion based on some other theory dealing with friction. Others followed not knowing whether this method actually enhanced the speed of their yachts simply because the winning team did it,  the next guy did it or because they figured "it couldn't hurt" by doing it. I tend to be practical when it comes to practice and application and try to follow a course of conduct that yields proven results, not theoretical ones.  When it came to barrel break-in procedures, I concluded that until I found definitive proof that breaking in your barrel by cleaning it after every shot yielded empiracle, measurable results in accuracy or barrel longevity, it  would be complete waste of my time and money for me to go through the exercise and ended up simply shooting my new rifle without going through a break-in procedure.

Also, German Salazar's break in procedure. 

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/equipment-barrel-break-in.html