Barrel life for pistols.

[22/17 SHOOTER]

Gentleman.
I'm so used to shooting rifles that i still have basic questions about pistols.
In general, what is the barrel life for most of them ?

My new pistole, Sig P250 has the barrel where wall thickens is maybe .093 inch. It looks like really fat soda straw. I wonder how many rounds do i have before the need for another one surfaces.
I know this is pretty typical for most of the pistols, i saw plenty for 1911 style guns, Glocks and so on. Lesser pressure and velocity my have something to do with it but i can't stop wondering about it.

So what is the round count before i have to get the new barrel ?

TIA,
Cezar.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Your barrel will likely last 50,000 rounds or more unless horribly abused. It depends a bit on the cartridge and material. The Sig will have a hammer-forged barrel (good) and I'm sure a good quality steel.

OEM Glock barrels seem to go 50k no problem and 100k in the few documented instances of that round count, in 9mm and 45 ACP. Something hot like 357 SIG would probably cut life a little, maybe 10%.

 

[wow6599]

What caliber is it?

 

[22/17 SHOOTER]

.45 ACP, sorry.
50 000 rounds ? Than i'm covered to the rest of my life.
Cezar.

 

[Z-Michigan]

45 ACP is really easy on barrels due to the low pressure and low velocity. Fair chance it'll go 100k+. Don't worry about it.

 

[wow6599]

If you wear out that Sig barrel in .45 ACP, then you have more than enough money to buy a dozen replacement barrels...........

 

[22/17 SHOOTER]

What about .357 SIG ?
I'm thinking about getting another P220 in .357 SIG if i can find one.
Yes, i'm hooked ;-)
Cezar.

 

[wow6599]

This isn't a surgical rifle we're talking about..........just go shoot the thing.

 

[rcmodel]

Consider that most centerfire rifles burn 50 - 70 grains or more powder each pull of the trigger.
And the bullets are whizzing down the barrel at over 3,000 FPS.
That generates a tremendous amount of heat, and thats what eats up rifle barrels.

Now consider most pistol calibers burn 3.0 to maybe 10.0 grains at the most, and the bullets are only going 1/3 as fast or less then the rifles.

Bore erosion from heat & friction are so minimal in a pistol as to make worrying about barrel life meaningless.

rc

 

[MrAcheson]

And most rifles have narrower bores than pistols so you've got all that heat spread over a relatively small surface because of the smaller bore diameter.

 

[Japle]

I've got some 1911 .45s with over 20,000 rounds through them. The barrels look new.

 

[raz-0]

Shortest barrel life I've seen on a pistol is 20k.

Longest life I've seen reported while still seeing reasonable accuracy (self-reported by user) - 120k.

I think in most cases where you see a round count under 50k, there was either something not quite right about the barrel, or you are paying to fix other wear items in terms of fit, and why pay to have a used barrel re-fit at that point?

 

[ForumSurfer]

Shortest barrel life I've seen on a pistol is 20k.

Wow, that seems short. What was that with? Was it abuse? Did the guy store it in a mud puddle when he wasn't shooting?

 

[Remo223]

Interesting. I didn't even know it was possible to wear out a handgun barrel.

 

[LightningMan]

If you were shooting a 5.7x28mm FiveseveN Herstal then 20,000 rds. is about it, so I've been told. Then again you are shooting a small caliber .223 round at near or above 2000 fps. The SS197 ammo is around 1700 fps while some of EA ammo is approaching 2600 fps. so it depends on what ammunition your using. LM

 

[REAPER4206969]

You will never wear out the bore of a common pistol barrel.

 

[NG VI]

Not unless you are Jerry Miculek or Dave Sevigny.

My guess is that the locking areas of the barrel would wear down to the point that you would have to stick to low-powered loads before the bore saw any function-affecting wear, and that would probably take an awful long time.

Pistol components, with the exception of springs, tend to last an extremely long time.

 

[1911 guy]

I'm not sure if it's a .45ACP thing or a 1911 specific thing, but i have several 1911s that have virtually no rifling left in the first inch or inch and a half of the barrel. There has been no decrease in accuracy. Two to three inch groups offhand at 25 yards. Good enough for me, but not for a competitor.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Pistol components, with the exception of springs, tend to last an extremely long time.

Actually a lot of aluminum-framed pistols will crack their frame in the range of 10,000 rounds, especially aluminum 1911s. Beretta and CZ boast about their alloy military pistols (Beretta 92/M9 and CZ P-01) going 30,000 rounds before failure. Yippee! Good steel and polymer frame pistols are likely to go >100k rounds on the frame.

 

[NG VI]

Actually a lot of aluminum-framed pistols will crack their frame in the range of 10,000 rounds, especially aluminum 1911s. Beretta and CZ boast about their alloy military pistols (Beretta 92/M9 and CZ P-01) going 30,000 rounds before failure. Yippee! Good steel and polymer frame pistols are likely to go >100k rounds on the frame.

Hah, and people always post concerns about their poly frames breaking. I'm betting some of the more rugged poly frames will outlast even a heavy duty steel frame. USP, I'm looking at you, 9mm/.45 Glocks, looking at you, maybe the others too, the Ruger P-series polys, FNPs especially because of the replaceable frame rails.

30,000 is about what the CZs last through? Good to know they are above average, all the alloy pistols I ever bought were CZ.

 

[newbuckeye]

Glock did a 100,000 round stress test years ago on a Gen 1 G17. The only thing they replaced was mag springs. That sig has to be at least half as good. Go shoot it and have no worries.

 

[Z-Michigan]

30,000 is about what the CZs last through? Good to know they are above average, all the alloy pistols I ever bought were CZ.

That data is from CZ and it's only for the P-01, which is a newer design with "refined materials and processes." I'm not aware of any data for other CZ alloy pistols. Of course most CZ pistols are steel frame anyway.

 

[raz-0]

Wow, that seems short. What was that with? Was it abuse? Did the guy store it in a mud puddle when he wasn't shooting?

It was mine. It was an M&P in 40. The barrel was to the loose side of tolerances to begin with and it had one land that, as the barrel wore, started cutting into bullets more and more aggressively to the point that other than loads using a harder jacket material would suffer serious accuracy issues. Plated bullets would have the plating cut through completely and it would basically destroy moly coated lead. It affected accuracy and reliability, so I consider it "worn out" as it did not do that when new. But even form new, it built up crud in that land/groove area faster than anywhere else, so I assume it always had something wrong with it.

Another one I had was a springfield TRP operator. The barrel isn't shot out, but about 25k rounds in and the slide to frame fit is becoming getting bad, there's a bit of barrel hood deflection, and it's accuracy is starting to degrade. The rifling is fine, but I don't think the barrel was fit that well from the start, and the slide was on the soft side to begin with. It's probably got another 4-5k before it REALLY needs some TLC, but I wouldn't put the money into having a smith beat those parts into submission. I'd have them do it on a new barrel and slide.

 

[22/17 SHOOTER]

OK gentleman, thank you all for the good news.
The way i shoot this pistol should last me a life time. I'm just a regular guy who likes guns but i'm not in military or any kind of law enforcement so if i get to the range once in a month i'm happy. Say 200 rounds per month, 2400 per year ( if that much ), this gun will outlive me by far.
Just yesterday i had a chance to shoot at bowling pins and milk jugs. I was really surprised how well i did. Fun, fun, fun, 250 rounds down the pipe, not a single jam.
And the effects of hollow points on the water filled milk jugs are spectacular.
Thanks again,
Cezar.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I doubt if you could afford enough .45 Auto to shoot out the rifling in your barrel. Some "overbore" rifle cartridges can indeed erode rifling and suffer a degradation of accuracy, but the .45 moves at less than one fourth the speed of those.