Barrel Longenvity...

mustad · 08-25-2005, 06:00 AM

Is there a longevity to rifle barrels?

If properly cared for and looked after, is it possible to put too many rounds through a rifle barrel?

I realize this is a stupid question, but it's been bugging me lately.

Cheers,

Dan

Vapodog · 08-25-2005, 06:36 AM

Layne Simpson claims to have a .220 Swift that has 5,000 rounds thru it and still shoots 1/2" groups.

I've never burned out a barrel but I have fouled some so much that accuracy was impeded.

I've also seen barrels totally burned out. Literally no rifling at all for several inches ahead of the chamber.

Clean your barrel at least every 50 rounds and don't shoot the barrel until it's so hot that you can't hold the gun with bare hands and holding on to only the barrel and you will also get a very long (possibly a lifetime) barrel life. Barrel life is easily in thousands of rounds and not hundreds.

08-25-2005, 07:51 AM

I burned out a 300RUM barrel. Accually two. What happened was. .75MOA was the norm, but then started shooting little by little worse. And then it was shooting 1.5MOA. So thru the bore scope, I had these small little heat cracks in the throat.

I bet I could have shot that gun another 400 rounds with adaquate hunting accuracy. But I ended up selling.

08-25-2005, 07:53 AM

Oh, I bet most poeople barrel are destroyed by cleaning more than anything. That was how I messed up the first 300RUM.

FastShootingCarts · 08-25-2005, 08:22 AM

Proper barrel cooling will increase the life of a barrel.

Deleted User · 08-25-2005, 08:33 AM

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Scott Gags · 08-26-2005, 03:51 PM

Case capacity will greatly affect the barrels life. 300 RUM, 30-378 etc will erode the throat at higher ratess than .308, 30-06 etc. Most standard cartridges will probably never show throat erosion unless they are allowed to get very hot. I dont know the ratio but would guess the .308 could probably shoot 2 to 3 times or more the rounds that a 300 RUM can.