how to wear out a barrel in one afternoon

[NCsmitty]

This little test may give some insight to some questions that's been asked here about barrel life, and barrel heating. It also may raise more questions in the long run.


http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2010/11/how-to-wear-out-a-barrel-in-one-afternoon/




NCsmitty

 

[esheato]

Very interesting....

While there may be evidence of "fire cracking", the true test is whether or not accuracy was lost due to the damage?

What about varminters? I have a 243 AI that gets shot a lot...a real lot when you get on a good field!

 

[GunTech]

Doesn't bode well for my new AK. 1080 round in a single afternoon with no cleaning until we got home. Wish I had a bore scope.

 

[jpwilly]

^^^ Your AK (most do anyway) has a chrome lined bore and will outlast most typical barrels by 10-20K rounds even with abuse.

 

[mr.scott]

I think there maybe a difference between hunting rifle barrels and "battle" rifle barrels.

I have put hundreds of rounds through my AR in an afternoon with a mix of slow fire, bump fire and mag dumps and after 4 years of abuse and infrequent cleaning, it still looks and shoots like new.

 

[coloradokevin]

Doesn't bode well for my new AK. 1080 round in a single afternoon with no cleaning until we got home. Wish I had a bore scope.

I think there maybe a difference between hunting rifle barrels and "battle" rifle barrels.

I agree with Mr. Scott on this issue. I'm not sure if it is a function of the chrome lining, the chambering of the rifles, or both, but there does seem to be a difference in how you can treat these guns. First, you aren't looking for precision rifle accuracy out of your AK (if you are, I imagine you'll be disappointed). Second, these rifles seem to be designed for the rapid fire shooter.

And, there's a big difference in barrel wear when you compare a 7mm Magnum/.300 Win Mag/etc to a .223/7.62x39/etc.

Just to give you an idea, my last work rifle was a departmentally issued Colt AR-15 (6920 model). In one week-long training class I put about 3,000 rounds through that brand new rifle, shooting 500-700 rounds per day without any cleaning, except at the end of each day. At times the barrel became too hot to touch, but the rifle still shot great through the 7,000-8,000 rounds that I kept it. Again, it wasn't ever meant to be a precision target rifle, but it performed better than I would have expected of a new out-of-box AR-15. Another officer in my department currently carries that same rifle, and hasn't reported any issues with it.

 

[justgoto]

Thanks for posting this.

 

[madcratebuilder]

The bore scope photos are interesting but I don't see any test on how it effected accuracy.