How many rounds thru until barrel replacement?

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    Boss94

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 15, 2013
    6,945
    We had a few at Beretta that we swamped out the barrels at 75000 rds. we had a old test mule there that had over 125000 rds through it and was still running strong when I left there.
     
    Boats

    Boats

    Broken Member
    Mar 13, 2012
    4,109
    Howeird County
    atblis said:
    Friend had a Springfield GI in college. Winchester white box was dirt cheap at Wal-Mart. That thing got g********* at the range all the time. Bump fired a good bit too. The barrel did wear out but I don't actually know how many rounds were fired through it.
    Click to expand...

    was the barrel actually worm out, or was the spaces between the rifling just filled in with copper? Just asking because bump firing due to crud or worn spring at firing pin sounds like lack of maintenance

    I only ask because I have a 1911 with over 60k through it....still shoots better than I can
     
    L

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,726
    Boats said:
    in my experience, it is velocity that kills barrels, not really round count, as evidenced by how quick a .17 remington will kill a barrel vs a 1911 with tens of thousands of rounds through it.

    Pistol rounds (with few exceptions) don't get to the velocities that will wear out a barrel.

    Seems the effort would be better spent ensuring your pistol barrels don't get rusty or loaded with copper or lead.
    Click to expand...

    Velocity and heat. Pressure is a reasonably good proxy for heat.

    The throat will get eroded from the heat. The lands and especially the mouth will get worn away from velocity (it is going the fastest at the end of the barrel. Used to be sometimes with early smokeless rifles they would sometimes cut back the barrel and make a carbine to make it usable once it was getting shot out rather than rebarrel in. Not a super common practice).

    Anyway, my understand is short of some crazy barn burner you are looking at tens of thousands of rounds. Maybe longer. I’ve heard tell of 9mm pushing 40k, 50k rounds down the barrel and still shooting fine. Probably a little loose if you are talking a browning action or similar, but still shooting fine.

    Going to wear out springs long before the barrel. I don’t think Glock even has a replacement schedule for barrels. But they do for other parts measured in thousands of rounds...

    Compared to something like a .308 which is on the order of 5-8k before accuracy will start to suffer. .223 is about the same. Now you can probably get 2x that before it gets particularly loose. I know 6.5 Grendel is in the 8k range IIRC.

    Get to something like .22-250 and now you are taking 1-2k rounds.

    You might burn out a barrel if you are shooting bimetal jacketed 9mm +p Ammo (if such an animal exists) through an AR9 with a registered machine gun lower and a VERY tall stack of drum mags. Maybe by the time you hit 10k rounds you might be thinking about a new barrel.
     
    D

    delaware_export

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 10, 2018
    3,208
    If you have an older gun, and there is a reasonably priced barrel for it available, and funds... I’d say pick it up.

    I still kick myself in the butt for not buying extra barrels on a couple of guns I have where they were inexpensive/reasonable, and more importantly, available.

    Buy it if you can do so comfortably. Imho
     
    Harrys

    Harrys

    Short Round
    Jul 12, 2014
    3,420
    SOMD
    I have owned my KHAR CM40 for 15 years. Last year I replaced the striker block and ejector springs. The lower is composite and the upper is SST. Bet estimate in 14 years I have put over 4,000 rounds through it and the barrel is still in great shape.
     
    alucard0822

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,690
    PA
    Jimbob2.0 said:
    This- Barrel is one of the last things to worry about. Get spare recoil springs, locking blocks etc. Though that said never hurts to have a spare barrel around just incase.
    Click to expand...

    IMO if you like the pistol, and are worried about it wearing out, then take good care of it. replacing the barrel only, especially at some arbitrary round count is like swapping an engine in your car at 100K miles, and ignoring every other part. I would keep some spring kits, maybe even FCG parts before keeping a spare barrel. More than likely by the time the barrel wears out, you will have to address the lockup surfaces, slide and frame fit too. Thankfully a Quality pistol that has been taken care of will outlast the lifetime ammo budget of the vast majority of shooters.
     
    L

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,726
    alucard0822 said:
    IMO if you like the pistol, and are worried about it wearing out, then take good care of it. replacing the barrel only, especially at some arbitrary round count is like swapping an engine in your car at 100K miles, and ignoring every other part. I would keep some spring kits, maybe even FCG parts before keeping a spare barrel. More than likely by the time the barrel wears out, you will have to address the lockup surfaces, slide and frame fit too. Thankfully a Quality pistol that has been taken care of will outlast the lifetime ammo budget of the vast majority of shooters.
    Click to expand...

    This, definitely.

    At this point I've got at least one spare part for basically everything on an AR-15 IIRC (in many cases, 2 spares and in some cases 3 or 4 for some easy to lose little bits).

    For Glocks I don't have replacements for ALL OF THE THINGS, but I do for most of the common stuff. that isn't including the pieces for a full size and a compact build depending on what comes out of the ghost gun bill (hopefully stays in a desk drawer). Or I'll get serialized frames at some point. Either way, I am building a couple more glocks here at some point.

    But on top of that, I've got a spare striker, a couple striker springs, I think 3 or 4 spare recoil guide rod/springs and a few other miscellaneous replacement parts. I am not super paranoid about parts availability for other platform, but I happen to have several of both Glock and AR platform.

    Nice to have a spare on hand rather than needing to order something and wait if it ever does break, get lost or wear out (some of those little springs can fly FAR when disassembling completely). On top of that, in the back of my head is that small chance MD or Feds will pass some stupid bill that makes even replacement parts need a background check and have to go through an FFL or something like that. Which would make the unavailability of parts for common stuff we are suffering now look like NOTHING.
     
    A

    atblis

    Ultimate Member
    May 23, 2010
    2,031
    Boats said:
    was the barrel actually worm out, or was the spaces between the rifling just filled in with copper? Just asking because bump firing due to crud or worn spring at firing pin sounds like lack of maintenance

    I only ask because I have a 1911 with over 60k through it....still shoots better than I can
    Click to expand...
    I mean this though with only 7 rounds...
    https://youtu.be/BOnOlLM9EYQ

    I'll seem to remember him telling me that there was some rifling missing but this was 15 years ago and honestly I don't remember at this point. It's quite possible a decent amount of Wolf was put through it as well.
     
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