Wearing Out A Barrel
- Thread starter Nick B
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Never have. I think you will be broke and your hands worn out before that happened.
I'm working on it but not having any success.
Why the distinction?
Hot jacketed ammo will erode the forcing cone. It won't take long, either! If you shot a box or so once or twice a week, you'll need to address it within a year.
Talk to a silhouette shooter using the 686 with the old four position front sight and you'll hear about guys considering the barrel "toast" in one season.
(Been there, done that with a M29 and M27 within 2-3 yrs in the mid 80s... then,switched to cast bullets and lighter loads)
That means setting back the barrel and recutting the forcing cone.
When you set the barrel back, you lose a thread or two on the breech end, and have to compensate with the ejector rod.
After a couple of those jobs, the thought of a new barrel starts to make sense.
So, what difference does it make if you wear the barrel out at the breech, the muzzle, or somewhere in between?
Of course, you may just be speculating....?
If you're speaking hypothetically, I'd want to do a Ransom Rest test.
Jim
Hot jacketed ammo will erode the forcing cone. It won't take long, either! If you shot a box or so once or twice a week, you'll need to address it within a year.
Talk to a silhouette shooter using the 686 with the old four position front sight and you'll hear about guys considering the barrel "toast" in one season.
(Been there, done that with a M29 and M27 within 2-3 yrs in the mid 80s... then,switched to cast bullets and lighter loads)
That means setting back the barrel and recutting the forcing cone.
When you set the barrel back, you lose a thread or two on the breech end, and have to compensate with the ejector rod.
After a couple of those jobs, the thought of a new barrel starts to make sense.
So, what difference does it make if you wear the barrel out at the breech, the muzzle, or somewhere in between?
Of course, you may just be speculating....?
If you're speaking hypothetically, I'd want to do a Ransom Rest test.
Jim
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I have seen a lot of handguns that fired a lot of rounds and I have never seen a shot out handgun barrel.
The silhouette shooters are a different breed of shooter, always shooting the hottest ammo they can find or load themselves in order to knock down heavy steel targets at distances that most of us would reserve for a rifle. I have no doubt that they can wear out a barrel, but most of us don't shoot that much nor constantly shoot the hottest ammo the gun will withstand. Remember, these are the guys that beat many S&W Model 29, 29-2, and 29-3 revolvers out of time.
I can tell you that a Model 19 forcing cone can show a small amount of erosion before you get to 1000 rounds of 110 and 125 grain JHP magnum ammo, but my Ruger GP-100 shows no signs of wear.
I can tell you that a Model 19 forcing cone can show a small amount of erosion before you get to 1000 rounds of 110 and 125 grain JHP magnum ammo, but my Ruger GP-100 shows no signs of wear.
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It depends on your definition of "worn out" (loss of accuracy, severe erosion, cracking, or ?) but I have seen K frame .357s in which the first inch of rifling past the forcing cone was nearly smooth. Presumably that was not from light use of .38 wadcutters. Didn't know how accurate it was.
SuperMan
Member
I have seen one...a 25-2 that a friend bought about 1970... It had been owned by a bullseye shooter who apparently had put copious numbers of rounds of hardball through the gun before he sold it... After my friend discovered why the gun wouldn't shoot Smith put a new barrel on it for free...while he waited... You had to really look to see any rifling...that said the rifling dept for those 25s wasn't that deep to begin with...
I also burned out the forcing cone of a Model 53 .22 Jet with well over a 1000 rounds of Jet ammo....
Bob
I also burned out the forcing cone of a Model 53 .22 Jet with well over a 1000 rounds of Jet ammo....
Bob
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Protocall_Design
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I have worn out a couple of barrels shooting PPC. It took somewhere around 100,000 rounds. I didn't keep exact count, but was shooting 30,000 + rounds a season back then.
dmthomp32
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Those are crazy numbers but I believe them. I couldn't imagine what shooting 30,000 rounds feels like!
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I wish I could remember the exact figures, but I read in a gun magazine several months ago that the life of a rifle barrel was 7 seconds! Now before you call me crazy (you'd have to get in a long line anyway), the blurb stated the actual time a bullet spend in a barrel was measured in minutely small fraction of a second, and that it would take over 2000 shots to actually add up to that 7 second figure. I'd add that since rifle barrels are longer and generate more pressure and higher temps, it's impossible to correlate that 7 seconds with actual life of a pistol barrel.
Probable more like 9 seconds...
Probable more like 9 seconds...
SuperMan
Member
...it's not very hard to do especially if you are competing...
My friends and I used to practice IPSC and NRA Action shooting twice a week plus matches on the weekends... 3-500 rounds a practice session...and we had an indoor range so we could shoot 24/7/52...it adds up REAL fast...
I have a 4" 686 that's a little more worn than that. Probably took about 5-6000 rounds of 130gr .38 spl FMJs. Used to buy the ammo by the case in the late '90's to early 00's for IDPA, etc. as it was just about as cheap as loading them myself at the time. Accuracy is still acceptable out to 25 yards or so.
5-6000 rounds doesn't seem like a lot of rounds to wear a barrel made out of modern stainless steel .
Was that with jacketed or cast lead bullets ?
Dave T
Member
PPC has always meant 148g Wadcutters, either cast or swaged lead alloy. Only other possibility back when I was shooting it was the Service Gun class which shot 158g RNL ammo.
Dave
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Protocall_Design
Vendor
Mostly lead, but I shot quite a few jacketed as well, to try to find the most accurate load. In the end, good quality cast bullets were very nearly as accurate as JHP, and cheaper.
Birdgun
Member
Well, maybe some of us wear out our barrels....
Thanks for looking at my small attempt at humor.
God bless,
Birdgun
Thanks for looking at my small attempt at humor.
God bless,
Birdgun
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Isn't that copper coated steel jacketed? I tested jacketed bullets in wet sand to check for penetration and expansion. The lead was separated from the jacket which felt like steel shrapnel. I tested handgun andvrifle jacketed bullets with the same copper coated steel jacket.
I shot a lot of heavy loads in the past and never hurt a barrel accuracy wise. I shot 1,000rds in my 1972 mossberg 30-06 and to this day the accuracy hasn't changed. This old mossberg proves you don't need a high dollar gun for accuracy. This mossberg cost me $172 with a scope and sling in 1972.
I shot a lot of heavy loads in the past and never hurt a barrel accuracy wise. I shot 1,000rds in my 1972 mossberg 30-06 and to this day the accuracy hasn't changed. This old mossberg proves you don't need a high dollar gun for accuracy. This mossberg cost me $172 with a scope and sling in 1972.
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