The first order of business with this system was to see if it had good accuracy potential and enhance that with a proper break-in. The second order of business was to get this thing to shoot soft. We needed to know if these rings would hold up to the sharp recoil of a 300WM, and if the optic would hold a zero. Everyone has a preferred break-in procedure. Some people advocate just shooting a gun and only cleaning it…eventually. Others advocate a specific shoot and clean process for the break-in. I am very much an advocate of a specific shoot and clean break in process. I have used the process on other rifles, and it has never failed to turn out guns that are more accurate than similar peers. I shoot one round and then clean. I do this three times. I then shoot three rounds, then clean. I repeat this three times. I then shoot five rounds and clean, repeated three times. I let the barrel cool to ambient temperature while I clean. This process makes for awkward “groups” when starting out, but things tighten up very quickly. I wanted to do all of this well in advance of putting the rifle to JuneAnn’s shoulder. I want the rifle to be soft when she shoots it. Starting out, I was super rusty. I have neglected my range time of late. But, let’s not kid ourselves here, the muzzle blast from the 300WM was beating me up a bit, as was the significant recoil. I used to shoot a Sako TRG-41 in 338 Lapua Magnum, and i am a really thick dude, so physically I can handle recoil. But the muzzle blast was making things difficult. I was able to put together some marginal groups and adjust the scope a bit while going through the break-in process. I wanted to experience what, if any, reduction in recoil the Backfire recoil pad offered. So, toward the end of shooting I did the easy swap and put on the Backfire “Backstop” pad. If you have problems with heavy recoil, this is something that you should look in to. I was gobsmacked at how much kick was taken off. It was night and day difference. A 300WM has between 30-35lbs of recoil pressure. Once the pad was replaced, the recoil felt like shooting my M1A1 308 which has about 17lbs of recoil. The difference was so dramatic that I was able to group a 4 shot group with the first shot being a flinch flyer.