Rifle barrel life?

[caseyboy]

Is it possible to "wear out" a rifle barrel shooting checked and lubed boolits? Assuming good fit, etc. I would guess that what we shoot has the same wear on a barrel as a 22lr does. Any comments? Not looking to stir the pot, just some discussion.:bigsmyl2:

caseyboy

[btroj]

Define life? A hard core bemchrest shooter might replace a cast bullet barrel after say, 5,000 rounds? Who knows, depends on how fast the throat goes. The heat of the powder gas is a big part of throat life, not just abrasion by the bullet. These are people who worry over a thousandth of an inch in group at 100 yards too.
Bullet alloy makes a difference too. Higher antimony can cause a bit more wear. Pressure also can make a difference.
For a casual shooter I doubt you wold ever wear out a rifle with cast. The wear will make such a small difference that you would never notice it.

Think of it this way. A small bore shooter will replace a barrel in a 22rf long before a plinker would. Same wear, different accuracy requirements.

Brad

[Hickory]

If you're over 40 don't worry about wearing
out a barrel with gas check boolits.

You'll probably wear it out quicker with a cleaning rod.

[old turtle]

Barrel wear is usually caused by hot gases cutting the throat or forcing cone. with cast boolits and light loads (even with fast burning powders) this erosion is very slight. I would guess it would take 10 to 20 thousand rounds at least. Even jacketed boolits do not wear the barrel very much. Many highpower shooters have a thread cut off their barrel and the chamber recut. I have a Mod. 70 target which has had at least 5 thousand rounds through it and as yet still accurate

[gnoahhh]

I wouldn't worry about it, especially if your at the stage in life when you don't buy green bananas!

[caseyboy]

I am not overly worried about it at all. Someone tried to convince me that it would not wear ever. I found that hard to believe. Hot gases and all. I can see the throat wearing, and a quick fix is a slightly larger boolit. A some point, the larger boolit fix won't chamber anymore and it is time for a new barrel. Something for my grandkids to worry about I guess.

[runfiverun]

some of my rifles could do with some throat erosion.

[deltaenterprizes]

I can see the throat wearing, and a quick fix is a slightly larger boolit. A some point, the larger boolit fix won't chamber anymore and it is time for a new barrel.

IF that ever happens, you just set the barrel back one turn.

[Harter66]

I read somewhere (recently beaten for inacurate recall) many years ago that a typical bbls life was 30 seconds with plated steel jackets and a little more for copper jackets. Keeping in mind the bullet is in the bore for all of what .0007 seconds. Ok that's a guess about lapse time in a 24"bbl at 2800 but it isn't very long. With cast only probably well over that 42,000 rounds.

My calculater has been wrong before.

[caseyboy]

That actually makes sense. Barrel life is in seconds. I imagine there is more friction between a harder unlubed j-bullet. That friction would cause heat which is bad for steel. Our lubed soft PB boolits just don't produce near the same friction.

[405]

My crs is also having a flare up :) but I remember reading a test report many years ago on the expected lifespan of a 22 rf rifle bore. A mechanized loading and firing system was set up and fed ammo. I think over a million rounds were fired and then the bore checked for wear. The bore was not cleaned during the test. Little or no wear was measured.

[1Shirt]

A good friend of mine has the desire to leave to his relatives, all of his rifles------with shot out bbls. Not a bad aspiration in my book!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[45-70 Chevroner]

I read somewhere (recently beaten for inacurate recall) many years ago that a typical bbls life was 30 seconds with plated steel jackets and a little more for copper jackets. Keeping in mind the bullet is in the bore for all of what .0007 seconds. Ok that's a guess about lapse time in a 24"bbl at 2800 but it isn't very long. With cast only probably well over that 42,000 rounds.

My calculater has been wrong before.

Thats a very interesting thought. That means that at my age(almost 70) if I buy a new center fire rifle now and shoot nothing but cast in it, and considering that 42,000 rounds would be about the point where you would even notice any discernible wear, it will probably last about 120 seconds. That will probably be about 3 times longer than the rest of my life. and thats assuming that I will be able to shoot at least 5000 or 6000 rounds a year (not going to happen). Sounds like a lot of rambling but what can you expect from an old man.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I read somewhere (recently beaten for inacurate recall) many years ago that a typical bbls life was 30 seconds with plated steel jackets and a little more for copper jackets. Keeping in mind the bullet is in the bore for all of what .0007 seconds. Ok that's a guess about lapse time in a 24"bbl at 2800 but it isn't very long. With cast only probably well over that 42,000 rounds.

My calculater has been wrong before.

Thats a very interesting thought. That means that at my age(almost 70) if I buy a new center fire rifle now and shoot nothing but cast in it, and considering that 42,000 rounds would be about the point where you would even notice any discernible wear, it will probably last about 120 seconds. That will probably be about 3 times longer than the rest of my life, that would be comparing life with barrel life. Thats assuming that I will be able to shoot at least 5000 or 6000 rounds a year (not going to happen). Sounds like a lot of rambling but what can you expect from an old man.

[303Guy]

I wore out my 22lr. Or someone did anyway - at the muzzle! I discovered this wear when I fitted a badly made suppressore and it started shootin c@#p. I measured the muzzle, found it to be funnel shaped, cut off and recrouned the end bit and put on a decent suppressor and that was that. Very good accuracy. It could only have been cleaning rod damage. This gun, a tubular magazine Remington sportmaster could not take a rod from the breach end. I used a bore guide and didn't clean it often so it must have been my cousins who had it before me.

[PAT303]

I have found my cast boolit barrels get better the more I shoot them. Pat

[Bass Ackward]

Barrels can be ruined rather quickly for a certain size cast or for jacketed bullets. Just depends on how you size and shoot.


At Mountain Molds, Dan tried HV (higher pressure) work on a 30-06, 700 Remington barrel and found that it shot better with larger diameter bullets that filled his case neck. Dan was a choker.

I think he started at .310. By the end of his trials, he was using a .317 bullet and the taper down to .308 was "several inches" long. Totally ruined for jacketed and he bought an ER Shaw barrel to replace it.

His trials used to be posted on his WEB site for all to read.

[frkelly74]

I wore out my 22lr. Or someone did anyway - at the muzzle! I discovered this wear when I fitted a badly made suppressore and it started shootin c@#p. I measured the muzzle, found it to be funnel shaped, cut off and recrouned the end bit and put on a decent suppressor and that was that. Very good accuracy. It could only have been cleaning rod damage. This gun, a tubular magazine Remington sportmaster could not take a rod from the breach end. I used a bore guide and didn't clean it often so it must have been my cousins who had it before me.


That is a very good point. I have contended that it is not the shooting that wears out a barrel but the cleaning. My 22 from my younger days is also a good example of damage to a bore from a cleaning rod. And look at all the milsurps with counter bores done to "correct" muzzle damage.

[NHlever]

One will wear out most rifle barrels more quickly by cleaning them without a lot of care than they ever will shooting cast bullets. Actually, I had an old saddle ring 94 Winchester some 50 years ago that came to me for $10. I put thousands of cast bullets through that bore, and it looked better when I sold the gun ( like to have it now) than when I bought it. I was shooting both plain base (Lyman 3118), and gas checked (Lyman 311316U, 311291) through it. Most of my shooting was with the 3118, and used light charges of powder, but my deer / bear / boar hunting loads were full power factory 30-30 equivalant.

[Moonie]

Well I do know the guy that made the 6.8 SPC barrel on my AR said if anyone EVER wears out one of his barrels he will replace it for free...

I'm good with that, but not taking it as a challenge lol

[Euan]

Is it possible to "wear out" a rifle barrel shooting checked and lubed boolits? Assuming good fit, etc. I would guess that what we shoot has the same wear on a barrel as a 22lr does. Any comments? Not looking to stir the pot, just some discussion.:bigsmyl2:

caseyboy

I have put a bit over 20,000 cast gas check rounds through my CZ527 22 K hornet. And it still shoots better than I can hold.
cheers Euan.

[mpmarty]

I never clean a 22 from the muzzle. If I cant get a rod into the breech end I use a pull through. When I competed in .22 rimfire matches in school the coach always said the only wear a .22 gets is from cleaning.