Chapter 0 — Start Here
The most valuable data Borely will ever hold for your barrel is the data from your first 100 rounds. Not because those rounds are the most interesting — early barrel performance is often inconsistent as the throat settles — but because they establish the baseline everything else is measured against.
Setup starts before the first shot. In Borely, create your caliber first, then your barrel. Give it a name you will recognize in two years (“6.5 CM Match #1” beats “barrel1”). Set an estimated life in rounds — 1,500 for a 6.5 Creedmoor is a reasonable middle estimate, though your actual results depend on load, heat management, and powder choice.
Add your primary load to the load library with every detail you have: bullet, powder, charge, primer, brass, COAL, and CBTO if you have measured it. Before your first session, measure your CBTO-to-lands distance using a Hornady OAL gauge or similar tool, then record with your comparator and caliper — noting exactly which tools you used. This is your throat baseline.
Whether you run a formal break-in protocol is a separate debate, but the first three sessions are your baseline establishment period regardless. Log in each session:
At approximately 50 rounds, take your first post-baseline CBTO measurement. Use the same comparator and caliper you used on day one — the same insert, the same caliper, no exceptions. Record it in Borely’s Lands tab.
You are unlikely to see significant throat movement this early, but this gives you a second data point. Two points define a line — the beginning of your erosion trend. Every subsequent reading adds resolution to that trend.
At 100 rounds, review what you have: a velocity baseline, an ES/SD baseline, a throat baseline, and a cleaning history. This is your Day Zero data package.
Velocity stable within ±15 fps of your baseline. ES under 20 fps for a well-developed load. CBTO showing minimal movement from your original measurement.
The single most important thing Borely can do for you is make session logging effortless enough that you actually do it. Logging a session — selecting your load, entering velocity, adding conditions — takes under a minute. The payoff is asymmetric: a minute of logging per session compounds into years of diagnostic intelligence.
When your barrel shows signs of wear at round 1,200, you will know whether velocity has dropped 25 fps or 5 fps. You will know your cleaning intervals and whether they have changed. You will know where your throat was at round 100 versus where it is now. None of that exists without the habit, and the habit starts in the first 100 rounds.