buying a used barrel?

kmw1954

kmw1954

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Out for opinions is would you purchase a used rifle barrel? Yes, No, reasoning?

Was offered for sale a used rifle barrel that has supposedly only 100 rounds down it. Don't know the seller personally so barrel history is suspect in my view. Took a chance on one once before and it worked out well as I am still using it.
 
If I was building a so called "tack shooter" probably not, but for a knock around rifle that I built for giggles, sure. I buy used rifles, pistols and revolvers more often than new, so why not a slightly used barrel?
 
Would be helpful to know the type of rifle the barrel is for and your intended use. For hunting rifles (and some target rifles) buying used isn't a terrible idea if you have some history on the source gun. It's not too uncommon for people to buy a new rifle as the basis of a custom just for the action, especially so if they want a unique chambering. The factory barrel may have little or no use & honestly a lot of factory barrels made today are quite good (accuracy, finishes are different story!).
 
What I am looking for is a move up from 223 to 6mm. Right now I am completely set up for the 223 and a move to a different cartridge would then require, Barrel, brass, bullets, different powders than what I am using, all new reloading tooling. Quite an investment to just punch holes..
 
The cartridge matters.

Some cartridges will burn out a barrel in under 1000 rounds. Others should be good for as much as 10,000 rounds. Smaller caliber cartridge that burn a lot of powder in relation to bore diameter tend to burn up barrels a lot faster. 243 for example is based on the same case as 308 and uses roughly the same amount of powder. A 308 is known for long barrel life. 5000-10,000 rounds. Some 243 barrels are gone at under 2000.
 
Many of these folks are shooting some form of 6mm. On of the guys is going thru 2 barrels a year. So yes I understand that aspect.
 
If you're not concerned with gilt edge accuracy, and it's in a chambering that's not exactly a barrel burner, and it's for a platform that isn't terribly hard to rebarrel, go for it.

Pretty much any AR15 barrel in visually good condtion, I'd roll the dice on. Savage type barrels, depending on the chambering, I'd gamble on too.
 
A big part of my answer would depend on how much you have to pay to get it installed. If I were doing it myself or getting it done cheap, maybe take a gamble. If you’re paying full price for a gunsmith, I’d be far less inclined to go used.

Just remember, there’s a reason that barrel is no longer on the original gun

I used to work in the heavy HVAC industry. I’d have customers that wanted to install used industrial boilers. A boiler has a typical service life of 20 years. 50-60% of the cost of a new boiler is labor, so even if you got the replacement at 1/2 price because it’s 10 years old, you’re still paying 75% of the price of a new boiler for 50% of the service life.
 
redneck2 said:
A big part of my answer would depend on how much you have to pay.
Just remember, there’s a reason that barrel is no longer on the original gun
Click to expand...

I edited to this point as that is one of my concerns is that this barrel is overpriced as used. About $100.00 below the cost of new. They are firm on their price. This is a Savage rifle and the only tool I would need right now are the go-no go gauges.

But I questioned myself too as to why this barrel was removed so soon. I asked and was given a reason but not sure I buy it.
 
I guess I put it into a similar place as buying used guns. I like used guns. My 10/22 has a well used Clerke barrel on it. It had many thousands of rounds on it before I bought it. That said it is a rimfire so they have a very long life round count wise. It still shoots sub-MOA with ammo it likes.

I did build my 30 Remington AR on a well used barrel (a few thousand rounds) and several other used parts but I did not have any choice if I was going to build that rifle. Its a 1.5 MOA at best but that has put meat in the freezer just fine.

So a used barrel does not bother me much as long as its not in a cartridge that is a know barrel burn like 22-250 or similar.
 
mcb said:
I guess I put it into a similar place as buying used guns. I like used guns. My 10/22 has a well used Clerke barrel on it. It had many thousands of rounds on it before I bought it. That said it is a rimfire so they have a very long life round count wise. It still shoots sub-MOA with ammo it likes.

I did build my 30 Remington AR on a well used barrel (a few thousand rounds) and several other used parts but I did not have any choice if I was going to build that rifle. Its a 1.5 MOA at best but that has put meat in the freezer just fine.

So a used barrel does not bother me much as long as its not in a cartridge that is a know barrel burn like 22-250 or similar.
Click to expand...

I really wish 30AR took off more. I'd be willing to bet a 450BM necked down would give pretty similar performance and not be too difficult to source components for if someone would run with the premise and make dies and barrels.
 
Depends really. Some stuff I would and some stuff I wouldn’t. Anything I could buy new for under 200 I’m buying new. Anything more high end than that I’m checking it over for damage and craziness in the bore.

The elephant in the room though is the simple question of why it came off. My 6.8 AR barrel is stupid heavy which is why I got it extremely cheap.
 
As others have stated , depends on the caliber. If it is a caliber that is a barrel burner...then no! Question I have to ask is if the seller bought a replacement for this barrel....WHY?
 
gotboostvr said:
I really wish 30AR took off more. I'd be willing to bet a 450BM necked down would give pretty similar performance and not be too difficult to source components for if someone would run with the premise and make dies and barrels.
Click to expand...
The problem is pressure. A 450 BM bolt will never take the both thrust of a 35 Remington AR loaded to near max SAAMI pressure. The 35 Remington AR uses a custom AR-10 bolt face fitted to an AR-15 bolt carrier.
 
mcb said:
The problem is pressure. A 450 BM bolt will never take the both thrust of a 35 Remington AR loaded to near max SAAMI pressure. The 35 Remington AR uses a custom AR-10 bolt face fitted to an AR-15 bolt carrier.
Click to expand...

Ah, I hadn't accounted for pressure disparity. I'm sure just by virtue of case volume alone, it'd best the 300blk at least.
 
ms6852 said:
If it is a caliber that is a barrel burner...then no! Question I have to ask is if the seller bought a replacement for this barrel....WHY?
Click to expand...

I have a buddy that’s a gun smith, I stop by from time to time to BS and see what he’s working on and what parts he’s got left over. It’s not uncommon at all for people to bring him new rifles that are getting premium barrels installed.

Kind of like the brand new GT 500’s I have destroyed the factory super chargers just turning them into manifolds with heat exchangers inside for inter cooling and adding twin turbochargers, some people just can’t leave things alone and like to spend money.

I suppose I would be more skeptical if it wasn’t so easy to drop a bore scope down the bore to check its condition.
 
I've never bought a used barrel. I've also never rebarreled a rifle that didn't require machine work. Remington, Winchester, Sako, ect.
Three of my current varmint rifles were built from Remington 700 VSSF's. I bought them used and sold the takeoff barrels. The fluted stainless barrels sold quickly. I ask and got $100 each for them and advertised them as unknown round count. The two 308's probably made the buyers good buys. The 22-250 barrel, maybe or maybe not. Its been my experience that a 700 barrel has about a 50/50 chance of headspacing correctly on another 700 action. So if its a 700, Model 70 or a Sako action you may have the additional cost of machine work.
 
kmw1954 said:
I edited to this point as that is one of my concerns is that this barrel is overpriced as used. About $100.00 below the cost of new. They are firm on their price. This is a Savage rifle and the only tool I would need right now are the go-no go gauges.

But I questioned myself too as to why this barrel was removed so soon. I asked and was given a reason but not sure I buy it.
Click to expand...

It kind of sounds like it's overpriced, even if it's fairly new... as was stated, 100rds give or take.

Look at the seller, and what they are doing with their rifles... spinning a barrel off a Savage is easy, and a lot of people do it. If he's a serious target guy, it wouldn't surprise me if he changed the barrel so quickly. Having said, that, if it's only $100'ish below a new barrel, I'd opt for the new barrel, and particularly if the seller is being unreasonable.
 
Just as a deal on a generic rifle barrel, probably not.

For restoring a milsurp, or for changing cartridges, sure. I've sold used barrels on Gun Broker for these two reasons, an Artillery Luger and a Ruger No.1 that both still had plenty of life.

I've also bought used handgun barrels to replace sewer pipes on milsurp autopistols, but that's another forum.
 
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