Barrel life of .22LR?

[Dave R]

I have been shooting a LOT of .22LR lately. It just got me thinking...is there any way you can "shoot out" the barrel of a .22lr rifle? I'm thinking the pressures and velocities are low enough that it would take more than 1 lifetime to do.

With proper maintenance, barrel life is approximately forever?

My Marlin Model 60 is 24 years old, and as accurate as the day I first fired it. My Romanian .22 is even older, and just as accurate, if not more so.

 

[gun-fucious]

over exuberent cleaning has prolly trashed more barrels than shooting ever will.

my marlin 60 manual doesn't even recommend cleaning the bore



i would think 20,000 rounds would be MTBF

 

[H&Hhunter]

About 1 trillion rounds I think.

 

[Jim K]

The old guns were ruined by failing to clean the gun after firing black powder and by corrosive and ground glass priming. Today, I agree with gun-fucious that over-cleaning of the fairly soft .22 barrels is the main cause of wear. Stick to a bore cleaner and soft patches for a few passes after firing and reduce use of bronze brushes. With reasonable care, a modern .22 barrel should last many lifetimes.

Jim

 

[Hornet]

The only 22 I have worn out was a old remington single shot. The part of the chamber that is notched for the extractor has worn down so fare that it causes a slight bulg in the fired case.

 

[goon]

Alot of rounds.
My dad has a 60 some year old Remington 512 (?) that still shoots very well. It was totally unrivaled until I bought my CZ. The CZ will beat it, but there isn't a scope on it either. Me and my brother used to be able to hit empty 22 shells at 30 yards or so with it when we could see them. Excellent balance.
But to answer your question, alot.

 

[Zorro]

A Lifetime Plus

I have my grandfathers .22 Squirrel rifle, the blueing has turned into a browning, an OLD! Winchester M52.

Still can hit Walnuts with it at 100 yards everytime with Winchester Super-X Hollowpoints.

I expect in 75 more years it will still do the same.

Great Crow/Gopher sniper rifle!

 

[GD]

I bet I have over 15,000 rounds through my Remington 522 and it still shoots like the day I bought it used. Who knows the total rounds through it. I shoot 1 inch groups with it at 75 yards. I clean it every 1000 rounds (Since it is semiautomatic it is more sensitive to being dirty).

 

[shermacman]

I have my father's Winchester 75 bolt action rifle. He won the 1937 Oregon State Junior Shooting Award with it. He must have put several thousand rounds through it. I shoot with it constantly and conservatively have fired 100,000 rounds since I inherited it. It is no longer 'blue' but a lovely multi-shade of gun oil brown. I can shoot the eyes out of a squirrel with it at 50 yards...cuz I have! I have always been amazed at the thickness of the barrel in relation to the bore compared to larger caliber rifles.

 

[Al Thompson]

My coach had a S&W M41 with more than 140,000 rounds through it, still shot very well. I've quit cleaning .22 bores, usually just run an oily patch down them for corrosion control.

 

[RustyHammer]

I think my finger will wear out before my barrel will.

 

[HSMITH]

I don't clean 22 bores either. I have 2 diferent 22's with over 100K through each of them and they both shoot just as well as they did on day one.

 

[thumbtack]

I have Remington 241 that my grandfather gave me in 1979 and I know that I have put thousands and thousands of rounds through it. There is no telling how many rounds he put through hunting squirrels. It shots as good today as it did back in 1979 when I first got it.

 

[trapshooter]

I think the consensus is, none of us can count that high.

 

[Dave R]

Regarding cleaning the .22lr, I think its the only caliber I shoot where I do all my bore cleaning with a bore snake. I believe you can't just leave the bore alone for 000's of rounds, but no need to push a rod down it, either. 3 pulls of the bore snake with CLP or G-96 seems like a good cleaning regimen to me. Cleaning the action of a semi-auto is a little more normal.

 

[Art Eatman]

I have an old Shuetzen rifle from (Dunno fer sure) the late 1800s. It has been shot enough that the extractor is quite worn. Takes a lot of shooting for brass to wear out steel.

From a benchrest at 40 yards, you'll get bored and quit before your group size exceeds an inch.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

I have my Dad's old Remington TargetMaster in the safe. He received this rifle as a birthday present in the early 1930's. As this was the only gun in the house, and he had six brothers it has certainly seen its share of ammo. This does not include the thousands of rounds I put through it growing up.
In short I would tend to think far more .22s are ruined by rusting and pitting of the bore due to lack of care and maintenance than having been shot out.
Take Care

 

[sasnofear]

a .22lr rifle still needs cleaned EVERY time after its shot, other wise it will pit!

 

[Matthew_Q]

An old guy I met at a match once said he still wins matches with a .22 bolt action rifle that his older brother bought for $7 in about 1934.


Don't clean the bore. The waxing of the bullet gets settled in, and acts as a barrier.

 

[Art Eatman]

sasnofear, I imagine that climate has a lot to do with any bore-pitting. My wife's home-area in south Georgia gets some four to five feet of rain, annually, and yet I've had no problems with bores pitting. However, without regular oiling the outsides of guns definitely get a sheen of rust.

My desert area, with its seven or so inches of rainfall, makes rust-avoidance trivially easy. The biggest danger is a drop of sweat!

Art

 

[sm]

More concerned with chamber--in anything of any caliber. Next concerns are exterior from handling and storage.

 

[cratz2]

I admit I'm guilty of cleaning after every shooting. I wonder if a bore snake-type item with no brushes would do for rimfire rifles?

 

[gk1]

Most serious .22 target rifle shooters clean the bores of their rifles VERY sparingly. That doesn't mean they ignore them; just prevent rust, and all will be fine with the barrel. The exterior should be wiped down, and the moving parts should have the gunk removed, but there's no need to run a cleaning rod through a .22 barrel everytime you shoot it, unless you want to keep a barrel maker and a gunsmith in business.

George

 

[sasnofear]

now guys i could be wroung here so stop me if i am! (though im not

after shooting a .308, even just one shot would you pack it away or clean it...thats right yould clean it. now last time i checked .308 and .22lr both use powder.

.22lr uses powder, powder in the bore and chamber will 'eat' metal. now a .22lr and .308 metal part of the rifle is exactly the same thus will both be affected by powder the same. (7.62 uses more powder however princible is the same) basicly if you leave .22 and .308 fired and uncleaned they are both going to be damaged thus an effect on accuracy. you theory is correct for air rifles but not .22lr

just like a friend of mine with a .22lr is to lazy to clean his barrel = pitting!

so after use...clean your barrel EVERY time.

remember undercleaning is going to affect barrel ware more cleaning it after a session.

after all do you leave your .308's for ages b4 cleaning 2 stop barrel ware? i thought not!

Adam

 

[sasnofear]

ART- if rust will form on the outside of barrel is there some majic power stopping rust from inside of barrel? i think not, im sure theres rust there but you just cant see it, maby in sporting use u may not nottice different but in .22 comps you would!