How long do you expect guns, scopes, etc. to last?

Tommygunn said:

The greatest hazard to guns are POLITICIANS!!!

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-And boating accidents.

I shoot a lot, but the only guns I have damaged are a Glock 17 that I lost a frame rail on (Glock replaced the frame free of charge) and an AR15 that I have burned 3 barrels out on and had to repair/replace numerous other components. These are my "beater guns", along with a MILSPEC Springfield 1911 that refuses to die, and a couple of 22's. Compared to these guns, everything else is an "occasional casual shooter". Especially my boring hunting rifles- 1 box of ammo (at most) a year.

I remember a thread a long time ago about who has a firearm that's older than a hundred years. Somebody responded that they had a Fusil that had been made in the mid-1400s that was still operational.

Assuming that gun still exists it's pretty close to SIX HUNDRED YEARS old

I would guess my firearms and scopes to last somewhere around 50-100 years. How much wear can happen when they just sit in a residential security container?

My 1975 heavily used 870 trap gun has only the original stock and barrel left. My Krag, born fifty years before me is all there but it doesn't get used much any more. 1926 Model 52 is going strong. One M&P 38 is getting loose.
Unlike muscles, guns don't get stronger with use. Like muscles, they can breakdown from misuse.
I think the question might be, how can we make our stuff last longer? Don't abuse them, keep them clean, keep them adjusted, don't overload. Don't buy cheap crap.

Yeah. A lot to it to consider. And in any case its the rounds not the years. I have shotguns well over 100 years old that have just as much life left as they ever had since they weren't used.
Rifles I expect to barrel often. I actually started with a 257 Robert's as a teen which has the original remington barrel today but After that i had barrel burner rifles. I actually came to expect barrels to be bad by 1000 rounds. 257 wby. 30-378. 223wssm. 220 swift. 7mm ultra mag.....then I bought a 223 savage 12fv. First gun with a barrel nut design ( which i hate) so I could easily change my barrel WHEN I got below MOAish. And I shot. And I shot. And I shot. And I shot. And I shot. I killed three groundhog this week all over 300 yards. Took four shot but only because I was aiming for an eye and even though I saw him move his head to the left quarter second before the shot I still went through with the shot. Lol. Brain was too slow to register. I literally laughed out loud and called myself a name. Lol. So now I've decided that I just made poor cartridge choices. Lol. Ive spent more on barrels than most. Very few other parts to fix IME

Handguns I just fix parts and go on. I have a couple Sig that have pretty much ruined the alloy frame. Many thousand rounds through them and they have life left but I dont shoot them. Could even cerakote them and keep going I hear. Service handguns id be shocked if you couldn't get 100k out of any of them before a catastrophic failure (not a breakage but a slide/frame etc part that makes it cheaper to replace than fix. Id say many times that would be the norm. And parts are cheap on most service guns (except HK. Parts from HK are not cheap...and very rarely available from HK.)

Hunting revolvers ive had no issue with. I do not think a good redhawk/blackhawk/FA/BFR/xframe etc can be worn in any normal time frame. Again, im talking in need of replacement. Not a part broke. Flame cutting has been dealt with many different ways. Of course Parts can break in the first 2 minutes. Some guns have issues that may cause problems but they aren't typical either. Smith magnum revolvers can be shot loose with magnum ammo faster than i think they should . They used to quote around 200 dollars and it takes tens of thousands of dollars in ammo to get them loose. I haven't dealt with them in years but I'm sure it's went up a bit. Cheaper guns I really do not know about. People buy them and brag about how great they are but they still look new. Lol. A gun with use will not look new. I assure you none of the ones I have used a lot looked new.

Shotguns ive actually worked on more than anything. But locally they are used for squirrel/ rabbit...timberjack sports....pole vault... lol. They get abused. Ive seen shotguns used to weed whack,, Briar beat, probe brush piles to spook rabbit , prop fences, drag deer/ used for crutches, poked in water to stir up fish...... lol.
People do things with a shotgun that they wouldn't do with any other gun. Just the normal but quick operation of a pump action is one of the more violent things done to any gun. They rarely need replaced but parts breakage is pretty routine in those uses. Even the LEO I see will baby their handguns (even the mags) and rifles but just throws their 870/500 all over the place. Bang it all over the car.etc. The turkey and slug guns not so much. The O/U guns tend to last a lot of rounds but they also get used lightly just high volume.

I believe most quality Firearms will out last the owner. I try to buy the best quality I can and with the idea that it will be a firearm I like shooting often and fits perfectly for my shooting which I do often. I have a Beretta Nano now with about 13,000 rds through it in a year and a half and by the looks of the almost over built quality and parts, I suspect it will last as long as any Micro 9mm made. Certainly no plans to get ride of it. I have a Beretta Pico with thousands of rounds down range and thought it go bust many thousands of rounds ago but keeps on trucking. Never believed a Pocket gun could do this.
I have a few Mossbergs that I doubt I will wear out.
As far as scopes? I shoot a lot of Magnum Air Rifles. Some of these with the double recoil will eat just about any scope made. I have a UTG on one that has defied all others costing so much more. Go figure. But they are known for toughness in the Air Rifle world.

Some I expect to last for the rest of my life, others maybe not.
I have like 40K rounds on one of my 9mm 1911s so it may need some attention soon. (barrel/bushing). Still nice and tight though.
I have some of my fathers that lasted thru his life, and will last thru mine to be passed on.

LoonWulf said:

So one of those questions that pops into my head from time to time, is simply how long does the average shooter EXPECT their equipment to last(before major repair, or replacement)?

I dont expect anything to last forever, and while I dont intentionally damage my stuff, im rough on it. So my expected life span of an item is usually dependent on how much I spent, and how much use Ive gotten out of it.
A example would be my little taurus 692. Ive already put something like 200 full power .357s magnums (this number will go up as I just got set up to load .357 again), and 400-600 9mms thru the thing in about two weeks of official owner ship. If that continues I wouldnt be horribly upset it its shot loose in a couple years.
Like wise, Ive put about 200k miles on my truck, and if it decided to not start tomorrow (i would probably just fix it) id consider the 3500+maintenance and minor repairs, I spent on it well worth it....If id spent 35K(+ the regular maintenance) id be a little miffed.

Thats just me, so I was curious what other folks think, and how they judge an items expected life span.

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As a minimum I expect my barrels to last 6000 rounds.

Receivers - 60,000 rounds minimum

Scopes, until they don't, but if I think one failed due to poor quality (fogging, mildew, etc), I probably won't be buying that brand again.

a long time, and a lot of rounds. if you shoot something out, the ammo cost and range fees far outweigh the cost of a replacement gun, so ....

I was shooting my arsenal rework P08 with forced matched numbers at a range 2 years ago, also allowing my shooting friend and the range gunsmith fire a couple mags each. The only item that *might* be a concern is firing pin becoming brittle and whether that assembly are was forced matched as well.

My C96's have too much potential of causing big headaches if something that's normally a maintenance part needs to be replaced, perhaps setting a semi Indiana Jones type quest in motion for something that would undoubtedly be quite costly to acquire these days.

Those C96's are my only "safe queens" and quite rationally so, but they're only a little older than some of my P08's that fit my hand so extremely well. I've shot all my P08's along with the other members of my handgun accumulation at the range included in that age group, and newer / younger. I've absolutely enjoyed them all but my TT33 the least for what it does to the web of flesh between my thumb and index finger - but I still have it and it takes it's turn in rotation (with masking tape over that area of my hand). I'm confident if I had period correct winter gloves for it I'd be able to forgo the masking tape.

I expect my great grand kids to be using my firearms. I dont use scopes. Might change later in life. Eye's are starting to fail me slowly.

As gun guys and gals we look at the expensive of purchasing a firearm as the main cost.
If you shoot your firearms often then the ammo is the expensive part.
Example a new Glock 9mm may cost $600.
Ammo at $0.20 a round that is only 3000 rounds and that firearm should go 10 times that or 30k easily.

WisBorn said:

As gun guys and gals we look at the expensive of purchasing a firearm as the main cost.
If you shoot your firearms often then the ammo is the expensive part.
Example a new Glock 9mm may cost $600.
Ammo at $0.20 a round that is only 3000 rounds and that firearm should go 10 times that or 30k easily.

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Exactly! I tell all my non-gun friends who are considering buying a gun that same thing. Few understand though.

Simple put, I expect them all to last forever. I see no reason for a gun or scope to fail so that it cannot be repaired. I do not get to shoot enough to wear out a barrel. I have added guns and sold guns but somebody is shooting the old ones forever too.

If they all last as long as my 1873 Springfield (mfg 1883), I'll be happy (and long gone).

Shooting almost exclusively lead bullets, with minimal maintenance and no outright neglect, I expect all of my Ruger and S&W revolvers will last at least a couple generations.

The "ammunition crisis" has gone a long way toward extending the life of my firearms...

I expect the bore of a centerfire rifle to last for three thousand rounds of slowfire, except for the badly overbore cartridges like the .257 Weatherby. I expect bolt actions to last essentially forever.

I expect a revolver to go for at least a hundred thousand rounds of cast bullets with mid-level cartridges. The big magnums will cut that down by quite a bit, but frankly, I'm never going to shoot those enough to find out by exactly how much. Jacketed bullets also will wear out barrels quite a bit more quickly, but again, I just don't shoot enough of them to know.

I expect the bores of .22s to go forever, with lead bullets. Same with the actions of .22 revolvers.

I don't have enough experience with semi-autos of any stripe to have useful information about them.

Lastly, my experience with scopes is that if they are going to break they will do it quite early on. If they last a hundred rounds, I expect them to then last a hundred years.

LoonWulf said:

Like wise, Ive put about 200k miles on my truck, and if it decided to not start tomorrow (i would probably just fix it

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It ain't the age, it's the miles (no kilometers here)
So, I guess it makes a difference whether we're measuring in regular years, dog years, regular miles or Jeep miles. I'm pretty demanding of my stuff, and while the Cherokee doesn't owe me a thing, all of my guns still do. Tools are the same way. If I invest the money to get something of "known quality" I expect it to last as long as I need it to work.

Most of my surplus rifles and pistols are 50 to 90 years old and all are functional. A few required small repairs when I acquired them, but work perfectly now. Age does not impact their function. Not too long ago I got my brother's hunting rifle out of storage where it had been for over 25 years. Loaded and fired dead on, literally no change in zero. I expect the same for all my firearms at this point.

LoonWulf said:

Thats just me, so I was curious what other folks think, and how they judge an items expected life span.

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I tend to spend money for quality so I expect guns to last for years (5+) before I need to repair them and I figure they'll last my lifetime if cared for and repaired when needed.

Cleaning and lubing will only last a firearm so far. Parts wear and break, especially springs. The long term reliability of the firearm is the ability to find or make spare parts when they fail. In the absence of a company setup for long term such as Walther and Beretta, you will need a competent gunsmith that can make spare parts.