Can you wear out a barrel?
 

I have a T/C Hawken .54 , I have had this gun for about 25 years and have only shot RB out of it. Can a barrel be worn out ?

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

If you put enough powder and ball through the rifle I am sure it is possible. Personally I have found that most of the time you find that the barrels you think are worn out are damaged due to poor cleaning habits.

If you are unable to obtain any kind of accuracy with a rifle barrel at all, then it is time to give it a real hard cleaning. I thought I wore out a .54 caliber Renegade barrel once. Found out it was poor cleaning habits. Take the barrel and give it a quick lapp job or take some J-B Bore Paste and scrub the devil out of it. Then see if the accuracy returns.

Since you have a T/C Hawkins you can replace the barrel with a Green Mountian IBS barrel. Or you can contact Thompson Center and see if they will take a look at it for you. First though, I would give it that good cleaning. It brought my Renegade back and I am still shooting that old devil.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

Thanks Cayugad, I will give it a try.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

Unless 10's upon 10's of thousands of shots are being run through a barrel, a casual muzzleloading enthusiast certainly won't wear out a barrel from typical shooting volumes...as a reference, I have a fairly new TC .54cal RB barrel, have shot about 1500 patched balls through it in the past 3 years, and the bore's hardly broken in, still looks like it just came off the production line, still has bluing inside the muzzle, etc

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

I'd tend to agree with this assessment. Black powder and subs just don't produce the heat and pressure necessary to erode even the relatively soft steel used for ML barrels. And patched lead roundballs, and lead conicals and plastic sabots for that matter, aren't going to produce any appreciable wear in many times the number of shots anyone is ever likely to fire through the gun. I would guess that 50K rounds or many more would not be unreasonable for total barrel life.

The three things that will kill a ML barrel are improper loading/cleaning techniques and equipment that round off the lands or score the bore, insufficient cleaning resulting in plastic or lead fouling buildup, and lastly, a bore that's not promptly and sufficiently cleaned and preserved, resulting in rusting and pitting in the bore. Black powder and Pyrodex residue are both very hygroscopic (they attract moisture from the air) and when exposed to moisture in even small amounts creates a very corrosive mixture that can severly rust a bore in a matter of hours. The best way to prevent this is to clean the gun ASAP with hot soapy water to flush out the residue completely, followed by a thoroughly drying and preserving the bore with a good preservative (I use CLP, very sparingly. A little goes a long way. Just run a dry patch/mop down the bore and snap a couple caps/primers before loading to clear any residue before loading). Other than those things, if properly cared for your barrel should last longer than your lifetime. If it's fouled with lead, give it a good cleaning like Cayugad said and it should be good as new.

Mike

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

I bet most will damage the barrel cleaning/swabbing/etc than with the actual pressure/heat/errosion of shooting. Espeically roundball. Its so soft.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

I had a T/C hawkin that would not hold a pattern.a gunsmith told me the barrel was wore out. I returned it to T/C and they told me the same thing. it was about 30 years old.

they sent me a brand new gun.the only thing I got back that was old,was the ramrod.it was marked and stripped.

the man at T/C said we have a reeeeeal good warrenity.they do.

if you think it is bad,send it back and they will replace it.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

Tree Climber I always knew Thompson Center's warranty was good but never figured it was that good. Thanks for posting. I have a lot of their rifles but so far they are all good shooters still.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

anytime Cayugad
I figure it's always good to know,if you find something good ; share it.

they have always been real good to me on there guns.

RE: Can you wear out a barrel?
 

Thanks Tree climber, I will do just that after I call them and see it they want the whole gun or just the barrel. I tried to email them , but they do not take emails anymore,so I will call or write a letter. I do not want a whole gun -I made this from a kit many years ago and spent many many hours on getting it the way I wanted. I am proud of how it came out. Just one of those personal things I guess. Thanks again.