Breaking in a pistol

deadman jolt

Taking delivery of my smith & wesson mp45 today. This is my first gun (of my own). New. What do I do now to break it in properly?

Steel Angel

First thing to do is clean the barrel. The grease manufacturers use to protect against corrosion during storage and shipping isn't the kind that cleans up dirt. In extreme cases, they use too much and it can block the barrel until you clean it.

After that, it's just a matter of working the mechanics. Dry fire, work the slide, etc. (make sure there's no magazine inserted and the chamber is empty of course) plus taking it to the range. A few hundred rounds of ball/FMJ ammo should be enough to break it in and let you know if there are any glaring defects. M&Ps are supposed to be reliable things so there shouldn't be a big break in period.

Zyrelax

Seconded on the putting ammo through it. 10 boxes of Winchester White Box, or your favorite plinking ammo will help you work out the kinks. Also, you could invest in some snapcaps/dummy rounds to practice loading and chambering and otherwise familiarize yourself with the gun's operation.

1ddqd

Definitely shoot some through it - get a good oil cloth too, because with all the oil that the manufacturer puts on it its going to be DIRTY. There's one at Wal-mart for like $3 - good for fishing rods, guns, children, whatever.

Also, make sure to pick up some oil as well, I bought an aerosol can, jumbo sized, for like $7.

Caustic

Don't know if you bought a holster or not, but if you did you will need to break that thing in like crazy.

PeekingDuck

Be careful about dry firing some guns. If they have a magazine disconnect safety, it can damage the gun. I don't believe the M&P has this issue.

1ddqd

You can dry fire a gun all day long - unless it has what PeekingDuck stated OR if it's got a revolving firing pin - you'll need a snap cap for that. Just google the gun you want to dry fire and check it's site; unless it's a Smith and Wesson older model you shouldn't have a problem.

Cylarana

I just put about 1k of ammo through pistols to break them in. I don't do it all at once (the thought of doing that with my snubby .357 makes me wince), but I do it over about 3 sessions of 300-350 rounds each. I usually go with cheap ammo for the break in period too, cause no reason to spend big bucks on it right then.
First, clean using a standard cleaning procedure and some solvent, that'll get rid of the cosmoline or whatever it is they use. Then dry, then oil. Then fire a crapton of ammo through it, and there ya go.