What do you think the average life of a rifle barrel is?

[Guest FroggyOne2]

Here is something to ponder and I am curious what people think is the average life of a barrel is.

[Jonnin]

Its going to depend on who made it and what type of ammo is used and so on. I have a couple of guns that still make amazing groups with many thousands of rounds down them. My makarov has digested at least 5 orders of 1000 rounds, at least 500 reloads, and then there is the "box at a gunshow" here and there over the past 15 years or so... and it can still hit the black part of a 25 yard slowfire target at 25 yards, and if it does not, its the shooter. My ruger mark 2 was bought used and easily it has 200 rounds per week average last year alone. It also still groups up as well as it ever did. Most of my other guns have a lot less through them but even those have 1-2k in some cases. I have never even seen the slightest bit of wear in any of these barrels during cleaning or whatever.

I think your poll answers are not very helpful, and also would say that 9/10 barrels that have gone bad have done so due to either the crown being beat to death from physical abuse of the gun or from shooting some sort of ammo that was hard on it, perhaps corrosive, or shotshell in a rifled barrel, or other stressful things (super hot reloads or defense ammo in bulk?).

Edited January 12, 2012 by Jonnin

[Caster]

Some rifle barrels may never wear out. Properly cared for, a rifle barrel that only sees lead boolits may never see appreciable wear. I know of older gentlemen who shoot BPCR and have well on past 10K through a bore that looks like it was cut yesterday. AND that's shooting BP that is corrosive. Proper care and quality ingredients. A good high quality barrel, fed clean ammunition, cleaned properly [and not by bubba with a steel bore brush either!] will last a very long time. If not, you are doing something wrong or you are behind either a F/A or a throat burner like a .220 Swift.

The last Yugo Mauser I owned was an arsenal refurbished one with a new barrel. I quit counting after about the 8th or 9th case of Turkish ammo [1400 rnds per case] and it was still VERY accurate when I sold it.

I have an Ishapore rifle with a pristine bore that I ONLY shoot boolits that I cast. I shoot a couple hundred a month, and it will be here when my ashes have long been scattered.

[Guest nysos]

I'd say your pole is a bit on the low end, 4,000 way on the low end for a quality firearm/barrel.

[Jonnin]

Caster has the right of it, when I said corrosive ammo was an issue the real issue is failure to clean up afterwards, not the act of shooting such. Also a good point on the really hot stuff... some calibers are more abusive than others. You can read about WWII machine gun teams that had to replace the barrels very frequently during very heavy fighting, the constant stream of ammo and the excessive heat buildup ruined them quick.

[TMF]

With my work gun when I was in the Army I put well over 4,000 rounds through my M4 in a three week time span and it was fine. That rifle in particular had at least 15,000 rounds through it before I switched jobs and got a different rifle. It remained accurate to at least 300m.

[mikegideon]

Depends on the use of the rifle. A benchrest gun in some calibers is probably closer to 1500 than 4000. If you're not going for extreme accuracy, it's way over 4000.

[Dolomite_supafly]

You are probably going to see more damage from aggressive cleaning than from it being fired. It also depends on the caliber because some are known barrel burners. most cases though it is only the throat that gets burned out and a chamber setback fixes that. Most calibers are going to last a very, very long time.

Overseas our Afghan counterparts had Ak's that were produced in the 50's. They were shot a lot and not cared for that well over their lifetime. But even with that they could hit man sized targets 7 out of 10 times using iron sights. Looking down the barrels you couldn't tell that they had been shot a lot. Their barrel cleaning technique was to use a shotstring with knots in it that had been dipped in oil. They pulled it throguh the bore and called it good.

There are some AR's that are rented during training courses that literally have 40K+ rounds through them and they still shoot under an inch at 100 yards. And those guns are generally not cleaned unless they exhibit a relaibility problem.

Dolomite

[gunrunner32]

I would have to go with, it all depends on the material used to make the barrel, style of shooting and ammunition used. I've got an AR15 with just shy of 4k through it and no changes in accuracy. I've seen barrels go out around 6-8k but that was because they were not properly maintained and repetitive shooting on auto or bump firing them caused them to go out sooner than expected. The MK18 that Daniel Defense makes is supposed to get 25-30k if it's a DD barrel. When they got the SOCOM contract, the contracted out for barrels and some folks got a Colt barrel I their MK18, DD told me those barrels would be lucky to see 15k before accuracy started being effected. I've seen a 300WM lose grouping accuracy after 3k, while my Rem700 has a round count of close to 7800 and it still holds MOA.

[Westwindmike]

5 Seconds!

[Caster]

I challenge anyone to [properly care for and clean mind you!] shoot out a .22LR barrel. Like I said, taking care of it, is it really possible? There are .22's out there, I would bet money have round counts past 100K. If they weren't abused, I bet they still shoot great.

Barrel life shouldn't be something you should be focusing on anyway. Recoil springs, extractors & extractor springs, even magazines and magazine springs will likely give you issues before the barrel will. Well, at least in auto loaders.

IF barrel life is an issue with you [anyone] there's two things to consider: A> You're doing something wrong or B> You are shooting such a high volume that it should be obvious that barrel replacement is going to be on your list of expenses.

[mikegideon]

OK Froggy, back to you. What's the lowest round count that you have replaced a barrel?

[Guest twpayne75]

Think your poll is a bit off.

Any POS barrel shooting any load with any amount of abuse should be able to withstand 4000 rounds. Thats just broke in for anything worth having.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

OK Froggy, back to you. What's the lowest round count that you have replaced a barrel?

2200 rounds

West Wind Mike is on the right track..

[mikegideon]

2200 rounds

West Wind Mike is on the right track..

That must have been a really cheap barrel . Was it Chinese, or something?

Yeah... I figured to were playing with the time in the barrel thing.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

LOL.. It was a Krieger barrel and a 7mm RSAUM. You know that many will say that bullet count wise, that the average life of a 6.5X.284 is 800 rounds, .243 800 - 1200 rounds. My newest .223 is only expected to have a life of 2200 rounds as well. But time in the tube added up to the amount of rounds fired is what I was getting at, average .308 will have a true accurate life of about 4000 rounds.. take the time of travel in the barrel works out to an average of about 5-6 seconds of time life of a barrel. Some will last longer, some will last less.

[Caster]

uhh really? I worked with a guy who build a 6mm-284 and shot it much more than that. That thing was a bit over the top, but it was seriously accurate.

My wife's first rifle, bought it herself, was a used Savage 110 in .243. She shot it better than a 1k the first year she had it. It was still a nice rifle when she sold it 3 years later.

Wow. You seem to have some seriously sorry luck Froggy.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

You shoot like I do and you would have the same amount of luck.

[Guest twpayne75]

LOL.. It was a Krieger barrel and a 7mm RSAUM. You know that many will say that bullet count wise, that the average life of a 6.5X.284 is 800 rounds, .243 800 - 1200 rounds. My newest .223 is only expected to have a life of 2200 rounds as well. But time in the tube added up to the amount of rounds fired is what I was getting at, average .308 will have a true accurate life of about 4000 rounds.. take the time of travel in the barrel works out to an average of about 5-6 seconds of time life of a barrel. Some will last longer, some will last less.

Just out of curiousity, what do you consider wore out? Never used Krieger. But I have used Shilen, Hart, White Oak , Lilja and a few others. They were all able to achieve sub M.O.A. groups well into the thousands of rounds. Have had ARs that were obviously not match grade, but the groups didn't really open up much after 10,000 plus rounds.

Edited January 12, 2012 by twpayne75

[Caster]

But time in the tube added up to the amount of rounds fired is what I was getting at, average .308 will have a true accurate life of about 4000 rounds.. take the time of travel in the barrel works out to an average of about 5-6 seconds of time life of a barrel. Some will last longer, some will last less.

That's a unique way of looking at it. Kinda like a top fuel dragster engine only turns about 700-800 revolutions from green light to finish line. Don't see how that knowledge helps any though.

[Caster]

You shoot like I do and you would have the same amount of luck.

??? According to your calculations for barrel life, all but two of my guns needed a barrel change a long time ago. Of those two was a Glock I got for christmas and an AR I finished up last month. I may not shoot as much as you, but My most accurate rifle is a CZ in .223 and it has had well over 3K through it and it still manages quarter sized groups or smaller @ 100 yards.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Caster

[Guest FroggyOne2]

Just out of curiousity, what do you consider wore out? Never used Krieger. But I have used Shilen, Hart, White Oak , and a few others. They were all able to achieve sub M.O.A. groups well into the thousands of rounds. Have had ARs that were obviously not match grade, but the groups didn't really open up much after 10,000 plus rounds.

When a rifle that I use starts to exceed 1/2 MOA, it is worn out. It must maintain verticle disspersion.. my current midrange .223 holds 1.5 inches of verticle at 600 yards. My .308 holds 8 inches of verticle at 1000 yards. When both of those guns reach 4000 rounds, I will pull the barrel and be putting a new one on them.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

That's a unique way of looking at it. Kinda like a top fuel dragster engine only turns about 700-800 revolutions from green light to finish line. Don't see how that knowledge helps any though.

Yes it is a unique way of looking at it.. it is deff out of the box.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

??? According to your calculations for barrel life, all but two of my guns needed a barrel change a long time ago. Of those two was a Glock I got for christmas and an AR I finished up last month. I may not shoot as much as you, but My most accurate rifle is a CZ in .223 and it has had well over 3K through it and it still manages quarter sized groups or smaller @ 100 yards.

I have not shot at 100 yards in years, 14 to be exact.. except with a .22lr. At minimum, shooting is done at 200 yards and that is just find a node in the barrel, after that, testing is done at 600 yards.

[Caster]

When a rifle that I use starts to exceed 1/2 MOA, it is worn out. It must maintain verticle disspersion.. my current midrange .223 holds 1.5 inches of verticle at 600 yards. My .308 holds 8 inches of verticle at 1000 yards. When both of those guns reach 4000 rounds, I will pull the barrel and be putting a new one on them.

Be sure and list them for sale here. One of us will finish burning them out if the price is right;)