Will Conicals Wear Out Barrels Faster?
06-04-2011, 05:35 PM
#21
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Montana
Posts: 581
Which is fine. But like I said it depends on the centerfire load and the caliber. For the average guy u'll never see it. However when your dealing with WildCat calibers its a different story. I have a friend that shoots nothing but wildcats and you can clearly see the barrel wear down. Even pro shooters will replace barrels every year. Just depends what you shoot and how you shoot it. For most of us on the fourm we will never see the day a barrel is worn out from us shooting it.
06-05-2011, 12:42 AM
#23
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Central Connecticut
Posts: 766
I've tried to look into it from an objective standpoint.
I have found mention of some of the different barrel steels used and their qualities.
Some traditional guns are made with softer steel because it's less brittle and more forgiving to the tooling.
There can be wear at different ends of the bore caused by different reasons.
At first the rifling can lose its "gilt edge".
Each conical can have different dimensions in relation to bore size.
Mad Monk mentioned that,
Back in the mid-1980's Sam Fadala wrote several articles titled "The Patch Is Not A Gasket".
The wearing away of the metal involves very hot gases loaded with incandescent solid particles blowing around the patched ball or the elongated projectile as it first begins to move in the bore.
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/...?topic=5166.15
The wearing away of the metal involves very hot gases loaded with incandescent solid particles blowing around the patched ball or the elongated projectile as it first begins to move in the bore.
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/...?topic=5166.15
In my .54, it was like night and day, as to accuracy of patched vs un-patched. Velocity increased likewise by about 100'/sec, but in fairness possibly pressure was up also, due to better initial seal of bullet in barrel. I believe as others have stated in print, there are many advantages to using the paper patched bullet, over the basic grease groove style. Accuracy, velocity, lower barrel wear, less critical lead alloy requirement, are some points that I like.
http://members.shaw.ca/bobschewe/
http://members.shaw.ca/bobschewe/
A barrel is only going to wear in the range of .0001 at a time which isn't going to be noticeable to anyone except those with specialized equipment. That's just slightly different than saying that there isn't going to be any wear at all. But what I guess can be fair to say is that every gun will wear differently based on a variety of factors.
There are folks that are still firing conicals in Civil War era guns. Of course they aren't shot out and their steel isn't even as modern as we have today.
Here's an interesting quote from Lilja barrels:
...These numbers are based on the use of stainless steel barrels. For chrome-moly barrels I would reduce these by roughly 20%.
The .17 and .50 calibers are rules unto themselves and I'm pressed to predict a figure.
The best life can be expected from the 22 long rifle barrels with 5000-10,000 accurate rounds to be expected. We have in our shop one our drop-in Anschutz barrels that has 200,000 rounds through it and the shooter, a competitive small-bore shooter reported that it had just quit shooting.
Remember that predicting barrel life is a complicated, highly variable subject. You are the best judge of this with your particular barrel. Signs of accurate barrel life on the wane are increased copper fouling, lengthened throat depth, and decreased accuracy....
http://www.riflebarrels.com/faq_lilj...htm#advantages
The .17 and .50 calibers are rules unto themselves and I'm pressed to predict a figure.
The best life can be expected from the 22 long rifle barrels with 5000-10,000 accurate rounds to be expected. We have in our shop one our drop-in Anschutz barrels that has 200,000 rounds through it and the shooter, a competitive small-bore shooter reported that it had just quit shooting.
Remember that predicting barrel life is a complicated, highly variable subject. You are the best judge of this with your particular barrel. Signs of accurate barrel life on the wane are increased copper fouling, lengthened throat depth, and decreased accuracy....
http://www.riflebarrels.com/faq_lilj...htm#advantages
Last edited by arcticap; 06-05-2011 at 01:09 AM.
06-05-2011, 06:30 AM
#24
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Montana
Posts: 581
True, my bad. But that does show that it takes a hell of alot of pressure and speed to wear down a barrel. Something that most muzzleloaders if not all can not achive.
