I prefer this be done with my intended holster and 3 magazines. These are the only mags I want to use during break in for reliability tracking. Bad mags are much more common than bad guns. Any malf experienced during break in will be noted and I will mark the magazine in use during the time of the malfunction. I put 1 sharpie dot or knife notch on the base plate of the offending magazine every malfunction. This is the best method I’ve found for thoroughly vetting my carry magazines.
All 3 mags are loaded to capacity and fed into the gun from slide lock, using the slide stop only to seat the first round. Any failure to feed from that position will earn a dot/notch on the offending magazine. All magazines are used in the same order throughout break in
For Enigmas, I will blue or red loctite all screws before use.
I won’t clean or lubricate guns before the break in. Glock used to specifically call this out. They should be run at least 500rnd with the polishing compound that is applied at the factory (it isn’t lubricant). I always put at least 1k through them before cleaning and lubricating. This results in a smoother action for the life of the gun.
First rounds
Dot discomfort (DD) x4 @5yd. 5rnd per dot.
DD1- all circles are shot slow fire with minimal holster work. I’m learning the trigger at its heaviest and grittiest state. This is the time to precision zero the dot POAPOI at 5yd.
DD2- all circles engaged with 5 rnd from holster. Precision is primary concern. Speed doesn’t matter
DD3- all circles engaged with 5 rnd from holster. Focus on refining speed to first dot hit.
DD4- all circles engaged with 5 rnd from holster. focus on slide/dot tracking under recoil and refinement of efficiency in rapidly and precisely returning sights through recoil and during follow up trigger press.
1/2 printer paper blanks pasted opposite ends of a target backer or USPSA target @5yd. 6x magazines. Draw and fire a pair on each blank paper for speed. Split speed trumps transition speed. Many mags will fail more often with fast splits. Give the gun and mags opportunity to fail during these drills. Focus on pinky pressures driving to thumb root and max grip control.
Replace targets. 6 magazines worth of double bill drills shot at 3yd. Get heat in the gun. Press split speeds to breaking point.
B8B8 target 10yd. 4x 10-10-10 ‘the test’ for time/score
B8B8 target 25yd. Standard B8 drill. Shoot the first two for precision zero refinement. I prefer to hold dot on bottom of 9 ring (bottom of circle) this gives near perfect x hits at 25. I will adjust zero to this hold if needed. I DO NOT adjust the zero for exact POAPOI hits at 25yd. This zero provides eye box hits at 25 while holding dot on lips while giving POAPOI hits from 3-10yd. I can see compelling reasons for other zeros- do what your heart tells you.
These drills take you to 500rnds through a gun. I will repeat this a second time to get to 1k. Any mag that experiences ANY failure in this period is forever a training mag. Those that pass are suitable for carry.
Center fire guns will get wiped down, inspected and lubed after 1k. Rimfire guns, get the same protocol with full cleaning and lube every 200rnd. Rimfire mags should be cleaned any time the gun is cleaned.
DO NOT LUBRICATE SLIDE INTERNALS OR ANYWHERE NEAR SLIDE INTERNALS. EVER. EVER.