How many rounds is too many?

[kirby]

Let's assume I clean my gun every time I go to the range. Well, not every time, but when I've gone more than once a week, I'll clean it at the end of the week. How many rounds can I expect out of new semi-auto? I've got a Ruger 22/45 and a H&K USP40. I've had the 22 a little over a month and I've shot about 1700 rounds thru it. For some reason I had this thought that I'm going to "shoot out" my guns before too much time goes by. With the ammo prices of the 40, I don't think I'll shoot it quite as much, but should I be worried?

 

[osteodoc08]

You'll clean out your 22 before you shoot it out. Just a swipe down the barrel with a bore snake and cleaning the chamber area is all that is needed.

As far as the 40, I wouldn't worry about it. It will take many, many rounds before you see a drop off in accuracy. If you reload, you can always use reduced power loads to eliminate stresses, but I'd imagine it would still take a lot of ammo of the regular stuff to see a difference. There are many here with 10K, 20K, 30K rounds through thier XYZ brand handgun without a hitch.

I think the biggest part is quality (when factoring longevity) and you have two fine examples of quality firearms.

 

[nhhillbilly]

My old Glock 17 had over 20K rounds though it when I sold it. It is still going strong with the new owner.

 

[kirby]

That's what I wanted to hear!

 

[M2 Carbine]

I've had some guns for over 40 years and haven't worn out one yet. I have replaced some worn or broken parts. Certainally it can be worn out but for the average shooter it's unusual.
I bought a Ruger Mk1 in 1962 and it was still shooting like new in 1995 when it was destroyed in a fire. Then I bought a ruger 22/45 that's still shooting like a new gun.

I bought this S&W Model 10 in 1960. It's had untold thousands of rounds through it.


and this is how well it still shoots now.

 

[jaybar]

You'll wear out before the guns do

Pistol rounds (particularly 22's) work at relatively low pressure and as such do not expose the barrel/chamber to to the intense erosion from flame cutting that high pressure, locked breech, rifle rounds do. 1,700 rounds through the Ruger is negligible. There are recorded instances of rental Rugers at ranges that have 1,000,000 plus rounds through them and are still going strong and accurate. Your USP40 is one of the best built guns available on the market. After 100,000 rounds or so you might notice some looseness but I doubt it. In practical terms you can't "wear out" either of your guns by doing what they were engineered to do; i'e shooting. You'll probably cause more wear on the gun from over-zealous cleaning.

 

[albanian]

1700rds in a Ruger 22/45 is nearly broken in. Seriously, for Ruger .22s, I consider 2000 rds to be the break-in period rather than 200 as in most centerfire pistols. Your Ruger .22 will shoot truck loads of ammo and never be worn out.

I have owned and shot guns for most of my life since I was 11 or 12. To date, I have only worn out one quality firearm from shooting it too much. This does not include the cheap junk Jennings, old Iver Johnsons and other garbage guns. I wore out an old Ithaca model 37 Featherlite once but I got it used and shot it hard for years. It could have been tuned up and parts replaced but just about everything was loose and worn so I figuired it wasn't worth the time. A gun is a like a car, sometimes it just get tired and is too much work to fix it.

 

[wally]

Except for carry guns, I only clean them after they've started mal-functioning at the range. Part sloth, part I like to see how they do when things are less than perfect. If they can't go at least 1000 rounds between cleanings they tend to stay in the safe I just wipe off what crud I can see, maybe a drop of break-free or Dupont Performance Teflon Dry Lube on the rails and put them away for the next range session.

My .22 pistols rarely get taken down for cleaning, maybe once every 5000 rounds or so unless they start messing up -- last time got some bad Remington Thunderbolt that was leading the barrels very badly causing loss of accuracy. Haven't cleaned them since I got the lead out and quit buying Thunderbolt.

--wally.