45-70 Barrel life W/cast

[Jeffery8mm]

I have a NEF 45-70 that I shoot cast only through. I shoot a lyman 330gr with 46gr of IMR4064 or 13 gr of unique. Will I ever wear this barrel 22" out?? I prolly shoot 400 rounds per year on average in the rifle. Just wondering If I need to buy another barel to put up for the future. [good excuse to buy another gun;-)]
Thanks for the info

J8

[AnthonyB]

J8; I can't offer an informed response but wouldn't worry about it unless you are under 10 and expect to keep shooting at the same level until you are 150 or so.....
Tony

[JudgeBAC]

I'm not sure you could wear out a barrel using cast boolits. You could do some damage with the wrong powder but I'm not sure you would with a cast boolit.

[stubshaft]

You don't NEED to buy another barrel.

You hafta find another excuse for a new gun though.

[Doc Highwall]

The only danger is if you do not flux your alloys like reclaimed range lead the has a lot of silicates/sand in them. If you flux good you will never wear your barrel out in two life times.

[shooter37]

I shoot BPCR using Swiss black powder and 540 gr. cast bullets. I have kept a log of total rounds fired in one of my Shiloh Sharps and as of today it has logged 5227 rounds. I can see no discernible wear and the rifle shoots like new. Some of the folks I shoot with have well over 10K rounds thru their rifles and still going. If you can wear out your barrel it will be from cleaning it not shooting......

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Have fun and shoot to your hearts delite...you will never need to worry about your 45/70 BBL. it will be good for your kids & theirs as long as you clean your weapn, especially with BP with cast boolits...You are good to go...

[hickstick_10]

there are rifles with good barrels still shooting from the time when rifling was implemented.

not to mention the thousands of guns still working from the time since self contained cartridges became the norm.

you wont wear out that barrel, your welcome to try

[Le Loup Solitaire]

You will not wear out your rifle barrel with cast bullets and there is no need to buy a backup barrel. Keep your casting tools as clean as you can and your rifle barrel as well. LLS

[Dframe]

Your grandson will probably still be shooting that barrel and wondering if HIS grandson will too!

[gray wolf]

No he may not wear out his barrel--but what about throat erosion from hot powder gasses?
Will he have to have the barrel set back ??
I ask cause I don't know.

[Bwana]

I stopped counting at about 3000 rounds (90% moly coated jacketed) in my NEF 45-70 and the bore looks like new except that it shines like a mirror when cleaned. As far as throat erosion, these rounds were mostly 2900-3000 ft-lb loads and the throat looks fine. The pressures just aren't high enough to cause erosion and you don't have the funneling effect because it is straight sided.
Here is a helpful hint: take off the butt plate/recoil pad and fill the through hole with shot. This will cut down on recoil while at the bench and then, if you want to, take the shot out when you go hunting.

[Doc Highwall]

With lighter/smaller charges and lower pressures combined with soft lead the barrel should last well over 100,000 rounds. Just think how our guns with lead boolits compare to the standard 22Lr as far as velocity and pressures. High velocity 22's are in the 20,000 psi range and take a look at the number of rounds that a smallbore shooter shoots in their 22 target rifle. I think the greatest danger to our guns is improper cleaning methods like not using a bore guide and proper brushes and jags and patches. I will give you an example, how many times have you seen a person put a patch on a jag and it fit too tight and they just used more force to push it through, wrong either get a thinner patch or a smaller jag. One trick I have learned is instead of spearing the patch in the middle is to spear it off center. Some times the patch is too loose and I will double them up until I either get a larger jag or thicker patches. As far as bore brushes I like the phosphor bronze best, stay away from the stainless steel brushes unless you have a chrome bore, and don't go cheep here jags and bore brushes and bore guides are a lot cheaper than a new barrel or gun.

[DLCTEX]

How do you set the barrel back in on a NEF?:p

[HORNET]

The shuetzen shooters with the soft steel barrels used a century ago used to document tens of thousands of rounds (like 30,000-40,000) with the relatively low temp/ low pressure loads that they use and still consider them competitive. As Doc Highwall said, you're more likely to wear that .45-70 barrel out from cleaning than shooting. You might be able to wear your shoulder out from shooting it......

[Jeffery8mm]

Thanks SO much guys. Guess that goes the same for the 44, and the 308, and the 30-30, and the 30-06, and the .357 and the......... you get the picture!!! This is most welcome news!!!
Thanks
Jeff

[mpmarty]

Not necessarily the 308. Bottle neck cartridges tend to erode the throat with gas checking and eventual cutting. Even with mild loads and cast boolits.

[Bwana]

mpmarty is correct. I have burned out the throat of a NEF 30-06 and .223 with about 2200 rounds through each, jacketed bullets, and not waiting for them to cool down under a 100 degree sun.

[9.3X62AL]

I would submit that cast boolit loads in bottle-necked rifle calibers likely do much less throat erosion per rounds fired than full-tilt jacketed loads, owing to their usual lower pressures and resultant heat being less injurious to barrel steels.

My Ruger #1 in 45-70 has at least 4,000 rounds through it to date, and the only appreciable wear noted so far is to it's owner's right shoulder, which has on occasion collided with his left shoulder under influence of recoil from Ruger-level loads.

[qajaq59]

My guess is the barrel will get far more wear from cleaning then from shooting cast lead.

[10 ga]

The greatest danger to your barrel is the US government. First time I saw the videos from Australia I was actually physically ill. THEY might destroy it, you will not wear it out with cast boolits. 10 ga

[Char-Gar]

Heat and pressure from the gas are the principal culprits in barrel wear. With equal heat and pressure, cast and jacketed bullet will wear a barrel at the same rate. The reason cast bullet mostly give better barrel life, is they mostly are shot at lower heat and pressure.

Alloys that contain high antimony content will wear a barrel faster than alloys without high antimony content.

We are talking smokless powder here. Black power works in another realm of existance.

[Marlin Hunter]

We are talking smokless powder here. Black power works in another realm of existance.

Rust?