Barrel life, how many rounds?

[WanderingSol07]

Looking to buy a gun. On the Zenith Firearms web site for the MC14 (a .380), they mentioned the barrel life was rated at 30,000 rounds.

I just started shooting this May, on a weekly basis, and in 3 months have shot 1,500 rounds (rental .22lr pistols). If I keep this up, I will shoot 6,000 in a year, 5 years would be 30,000 rounds. I don't feel like it is a lot, and usually want to go more often.

How long do barrels last normally? I assume larger calibers wear quicker? When the barrel is worn out do you junk the gun and buy another one?

Thanks,

Tim.

 

[russc2542]

Caliber has little to do with wear. barrel material, cladding, velocity, and cleaning are the major players with pressure, temperature, and powder/primer chemistry being right behind and a factor of them. The only time bullet size comes into play is in thousandths relative to the barrel, essentially how hard it pressed against he barrel walls. Sort of like the DOT number for mileage on tires, it's relative. If you don't take care of it, the best barrel in the world will be dead in 10k rounds. If you do take care of it, it'll be going strong for 60k+. Another thing to consider is what constitutes "worn out". To a pro precision shooter, ANY decrease in performance, even at 1000 rounds is "dead" while a "just for fun/plinking" gun is good until it's a smoothbore.

I have one for my wife that was imported by Chiappa. it's a clone of a Beretta 84FS with a Sig-style slide instead of the Beretta style open slide. close enough that Beretta mags fit and work great, barrel swaps IIRC, and the slide would swap with slight tweaking of the ejector (I didn't tweak the ejector to see if it'd function).

Can't speak too much on the reliability as my wife doesn't go to the range nearly enough. I'd worry as much about the rest of the gun lasting 30k rounds as the barrel. Sort of like the Hyundai commercials that say it looks like a Lexus, it's not a bad gun but it's not on the same level. Actually a darn good trigger for the price. Speaking of which, we got ours for about $300 OTD plus rebate with a bit of ammo from RK on one of their sales and it's a good buy at that price. At 350-400 MSRP I'd have to think hard about it. Also FYI, don't get it if you have big hands. My wife's 5-4 100lbs and a Beretta 84, in her hands, looks like a 92 in my hands (I'm 6-4 275lbs). the grip extends past my ring finger but not enough to get my pinky on it. on the other end, the beavertail is on the short side so the hammer smacks the web of my thumb. no damage, just a smack as it comes back but again, big hands.

A gun like this, which'd be hard to find parts for (other than Beretta bits) you buy a new gun when it's done. Your range trips will taper down some over time (if only because your budget curtails them) and you'll learn about guns and probably be ready to move on by then anyway.

In short, if you have small to medium hands and don't need HK durability, go for it.

 

[IndianaSoloMcfly]

If you do end up buying it let me know whatcha think.. im curious about the 13+1 .380's. Browning BDA, beretta cheetah, etc

 

[rvb]

my 9mm berettas started showing a noticeable loss of accuracy after 60k. my practice gun at 120k couldn't hardly keep on an ipsc head box at 15 yards any more.

I have a glock w/ about 30k on it, still shoots as good as day one. Bore has never been cleaned.

My 38super open gun has over 60k. Bore only cleaned a couple times, maybe a dozen passes with a brush ever... still awesomely accurate.

Don't worry about pistol barrel life. The gun/barrel cost pales in comparison to the ammo cost. Most pistols you can drop in or fit a new barrel if needed.

I think over-cleaning causes more damage than shooting (note, I almost exclusively use jhp). higher pressure / higher velocity rounds usually wear the barrel/throat faster (why rifles wear barrels out so much faster). A .380? I wouldn't even give a thought about bore life...

-rvb

 

[Leadeye]

Smokeless powder and cast lead bullets should make barrels last a really long time.

 

[venenoindy]

Looking to buy a gun. On the Zenith Firearms web site for the MC14 (a .380), they mentioned the barrel life was rated at 30,000 rounds.

I just started shooting this May, on a weekly basis, and in 3 months have shot 1,500 rounds (rental .22lr pistols). If I keep this up, I will shoot 6,000 in a year, 5 years would be 30,000 rounds. I don't feel like it is a lot, and usually want to go more often.

How long do barrels last normally? I assume larger calibers wear quicker? When the barrel is worn out do you junk the gun and buy another one?

Thanks,

Tim.

If can afford to wear out the barrel you can probably afford to replace it.

 

[bwframe]

...I have a glock w/ about 30k on it, still shoots as good as day one. Bore has never been cleaned...

Love this guy!

 

[88E30M50]

If can afford to wear out the barrel you can probably afford to replace it.

^^^ This ^^^

At the going rate of $18 per box of 50, it will cost you almost $11,000 to shoot 30K rounds through the gun. Chances are, even if you stick with that, the cost of replacing the gun will be peanuts compared to what you are currently spending. More realistically though, if you plan on shooting 30k rounds in the next 5 years, you'll most likely move on to a different gun as your skill level increases. I'd love to run any of my guns to 30k, but can't seem to get much past the 3k mark before jumping to something different. My highest round count gun right now sits just short of 4k through it. It's a CZ 75B Compact that got replaced in the carry rotation by a P01, SP01 Compact, P07, P10C and on and on.

 

[ChalupaCabras]

If you down grade the barrel life to 25K rounds ... you have spent $4,700 in ammunition (low cost re-manufactured ammo, ordered in bulk) to wear out the barrel of your $400 pistol... Of course you will almost certainly need to replace the extractor and major springs several times before you get to that point.


Reminds me of people who complain about the "short service life" of budget guns like the KelTec pistols being "only 5,000" rounds service life or the like ... yes, ONLY $900 worth of ammunition can be fired through your $250 pistol before it needs replaced....

 

[Goodcat]

I am in agreement with the cost crowd. Any rifle, or pistol shot enough to ware down the barrel deserves a new barrel. You have spent 10x more on ammo at that point that what a new barrel costs. If you just target shooting and not running 4-day classes 52 weeks a year, but the gun you like and if you ever feel accuracy is degrated, buy a new barrel. eBay will have most factory hand gun barrels unused for under $100 as people buy aftermarket barrels.

 

[cedartop]

Most people will never wear a handgun barrel out. That being said I replaced my G19 at 80,000. I shoot around 15,000 or so of 9mm a year. It takes a lot more work for me to get close to being good than it does most people.

 

[dtthomps]

Most people will never wear a handgun barrel out. That being said I replaced my G19 at 80,000. I shoot around 15,000 or so of 9mm a year. It takes a lot more work for me to get close to being good than it does most people.

80k wow I wish I had that kind of money to shoot ha ha. I agree with you though, most people will not wear out their barrels. To those who claim they do I would like to see pictures of their rifling.

 

[churchmouse]

Most people will never wear a handgun barrel out. That being said I replaced my G19 at 80,000. I shoot around 15,000 or so of 9mm a year. It takes a lot more work for me to get close to being good than it does most people.

I never seem to keep one long enough anymore.

 

[bwframe]

...It takes a lot more work for me to get close to being good than it does most people.

You are not alone in that sir.

 

[halfmileharry]

Most people will never wear a handgun barrel out. That being said I replaced my G19 at 80,000. I shoot around 15,000 or so of 9mm a year. It takes a lot more work for me to get close to being good than it does most people.

I USED to shoot about 1,000 rds per month when I went to a Glock from a good 1911. It took a lot of getting used to the different style of gun. It's second nature now and I'm averaging 400 rds a month now of Federal 115gr FMJ and 100 rds of Federal HST 135gr low recoil. My G19 likes it best of all the SDammo I've tried in it.
Sadly I must say I'll never be good again and I can almost smile with "adequate" shooting results. Age has it's advantages but it doesn't equate to skills in this case.

 

[Trigger Time]

You guys shooting 5k rounds or more a year should be hitting anything you're aiming at. And Harry don't feed me no b.s. because I know.your ass is a damn good shot you ain't fooling nobody pal lol.
I rarely have seen pistol barrels shot out but I did see a couple that I was aware of in the Army. Although we shot a lot more than most did. I'll just parrot what others have said because it's solid advice, buy on eBay from someone that switched to an aftermarket barrel
You guys shooting 15k a year are ****ing animals and yes I'm jealous

 

[churchmouse]

You are not alone in that sir.

Let me think about this for a moment......Did I not see you beating on some steel out across maybe 200 Yds. With a hand gun. No rest off hand.

 

[bwframe]

Let me think about this for a moment......Did I not see you beating on some steel out across maybe 200 Yds. With a hand gun. No rest off hand.

I might have hit once. RobbyMac hit every time he shot.

 

[cedartop]

I might have hit once. RobbyMac hit every time he shot.

"good" is such a relative term isn't it?