Barrel Life Expectancy

[ArfinGreebly]

Forum search turned up pretty much nothing, so let's ask:

I have a pair or Marlins: one is a 336C (.30-30), the other a shiny new 1894C (.357).

What kind of barrel life can I expect from the 336C?

• I expect to be shooting primarily 150 gr silver tip and probably some 170 gr as well. I will occasionally shoot Accelerator 55 gr and a bit of Hornady LeverEvolution 160 gr stuff, as I can afford it.

What kind of barrel life can I expect from the 1894C?

• I expect to be shooting primarily .38 FMJ ball and semi-wadcutter for plinking. For field work, probably .357 JSP for most stuff. I may also shoot some hard cast, depending on my enthusiasm for cleaning.

I have this vague feeling that I ought to be able to expect six figures from both rifles, but I imagine there are shooters here that have a better idea with some actual experience behind it.

What say you?

 

[Nhsport]

Seems to me that any 30/30 I have seen with a "bad" barrel really only had a buggered up crown from poor cleaning technique

 

[dmftoy1]

I'd bet you run out of money before you wear out the barrels on either of those guns if you're shooting factory ammo .. .even if you reload it would take a very high number of rounds and I think you'd be hard pressed to find enough range time. (Unless you're profession is a shooter of some sort. )

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[aka108]

With decent care, both rifles will probably last a lifetime.

 

[GRIZ22]

Cast bullets put a lot less wear on the barrel than jacketed. I've heard it said that you can't wear out a barrel with cast bullets. I use a hard cast 200 gr bullet to keep velocity down and energy up. Either way I think it's going to be a long time before your barrel wears out.

 

[salty]

I have never seen a 30 / 30 with a worn out barrel from shooting - I have seen old 30 / 30 rifles that have been abused, not cleaned and other related trashing but not shot out. The 357 would be a guess but after you shoot 10,000 rounds in it let us know what you think.

 

[rangerruck]

neither of those roundsare considered hot or overbore by any stretch. I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[dfaugh]

Well you MIGHT wher out the barrels someday....but more likely you're great, great, great grand children would have to worry about it. Unluss you fire thousand of round a year, you won't cause significant wear (assuming decent occasional cleanings.

 

[BigFatKen]

Winchester used a Model 12 to test one million shotgun shells. They retired it when it was worth more as a collector piece. The lead did not do anything and if your rifle is cleaned your grand children's kids can fight over great great grandfather's old gun that still shoots well.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Let Me Extend The Question

Thanks for all the input so far.

I look forward to having grandkids squabbling over the Marlins.

I'm also looking into getting a BLR in .308 (Browning Lever Rifle).

Never had a .308, so I have no idea (again) what to expect from it. Probably looking primarily at FMJ or JSP to begin with.

I think I read somewhere that "hunting rifles" (typically bolt guns) in the medium and large calibres have shorter barrel lives (figure of 10,000-20,000 rounds comes to mind).

Did I simply remember this wrong, or do barrels live shorter lives as pressure gets up there?

 

[ajax]

Your childrens children will be shooting those guns long after you've become worm food.

 

[griz]

Barrels in "hunting calibers" (308, 270, etc) will last maybe 3 to 7 thousand rounds. Consider the cost of the ammo is a lot more than the cost of a new barrel, it's not something to lose sleep over. Some of the big bottle rounds can be worn out in less than a thousand rounds, but that's still a lot of shooting.

And these estimates are assuming normal cleaning and a "life span" limited by accuracy. The gun will still work, group size just gets much bigger.

 

[gezzer]

The ammo costs to wear out the BAR or Marlin 336 barrels will be extraordinarily higher than the cost of a new rifle or barrel. When you can afford the ammo to wear them out you can afford to replace the barrels. Have fun and don't worry about it.

 

[rockstar.esq]

To pause a moment to define "worn out". To some this'll mean that the chamber throat has eroded to some predefined limit like the surplus M1 Garands.

To target shooters "worn out" doesn't have much implication for safety so much as a detrioration in accuracy. For these folks, the quota will be lower.

With all due respect, most lever actions can't group well enough to merit the target shooter definition of "worn out". Hence the replies that it'll last forever.

The chamber throat does wear with higher pressures and thier accompanying hot gasses. There aren't many hard and fast ratios for this but it's generally held that exceeding conventions of projectile size to powder charge will cause excessive pressure, heat, and erosion. Aside from the occasional varmint round, most overbore cartridges are heavy magnums that don't get shot at anywhere near the frequency of thier lower recoiling brethren.

The .308 Winchester is a high power cartridge that is fully capable of wearing out a barrel in either a lifetime or a short range session depending entirely on rate/ duration of fire. For this reason many machineguns so chambered are equipped with quick change barrels because they'll likely wear out from protracted use. For the hunter who takes a total of 20 shots a year, the .308 Winchester will last several lifetimes. I own a Savage 10FP that I shoot approximately 700 rounds through a year. With one year down it's still shooting great. One advantage to the Savage rifles is that I can swap out my barrel at home with a few cheap tools. I'm expecting something like 3000 rounds through mine before it'll need a new barrel but that's still several years away.

 

[superhornet]

30-30--------6,543.5 rounds, .357-----7389 rounds.

 

[griz]

6,543.5 rounds? I felt sure it would have fired that last half a round.

 

[JohnKSa]

The accelerator rounds will probably wear the barrel a good bit more than the standard 30-30 rounds.

 

[wanderinwalker]

To target shooters "worn out" doesn't have much implication for safety so much as a detrioration in accuracy. For these folks, the quota will be lower.

With all due respect, most lever actions can't group well enough to merit the target shooter definition of "worn out". Hence the replies that it'll last forever.

This is entirely true. I have to remind my coworkers when I talk of "skun" barrels on AR-15s, I mean barrels that won't hold the X-ring any more, not a rifle that is unsafe to fire or unsuitable for less serious things (like popping soda cans, rocks, making noise, etc.).

I'd expect the .357 to go 100,000+, especially if cast bullets are used. The .30-30? Not so sure, like the others, never seen one "shot out". Seen a bunch that wouldn't group to my standards, but more than adequate for deer hunting and certainly pie-plate at 100 yards accurate.