Firearms Licence

[AB]

Why?.....curious.

[Crate]

There is no way I could shoot 60 rounds of high caliber.... thats how you kill a barrel .

When at the range I will fire a max of about 3 - 15 rounds of my main hunting rifles to make sure they are on target.

Hmmm really? That was over 4 hours and some 22 plinking inbetween, how hot is too hot for a barrel?

[Irish]

Has anyone had or used the over and under shotgun/22?

Feedback?

Probably handy as a farm gun for knocking over pests, or a backpack gun for hiking out bush. Haven't used one though so I can't speak on them with any authority.

[P4trol]

Machine gun barrels get so hot they glow in daylight.

And 7.62mm / 50cal aren't uncommon. Are these high cal?

[doka404]

Mate if the barrel got to hot to hold on to/touch, then yes it may be a little bit hot.

BloodyAussie , I think, is referring to how hot the barrel got and the increased wear you will encounter by continually pumping rounds through a stinking hot (cant touch it) barrel. Nothing wrong with putting 20-40 rounds down a barrel at a range session and depending on how long your there 60 rounds is no biggy.

But at the same time, calibre has got nothing to do with barrel wear. For example a 50BMG will outlast a 338LM, while some small calibres cartridges wear out quicker. For example the 338LM or even a 308Win will generally outlast a 204 Ruger

It is more related to Velocity rather than calibre. But at the same time, if you consistently rapid fire rounds until the barrel could fry an egg then you will decrease your barrel life.
Also take into consideration how hot your loads are, If your loading a round to the max, yes it will cause increased wear (higher velocity again). I should say..that the term 'velocity' as I am using it covers a number different variables such as Burn rate of the powder, how big a charge etc.

What you are talking about with barrel wear is generally throat erosion. Lots of variables determine throat erosion. The quality of barrel and smithing, how heavy the barrel is (removes heat faster), has it been hand lapped, is it a lined barrel and yes do you continually dump mag after mag through it. Only real way to check your barrel out is with a borescope.

As an example I have a mate who has a 308 (carbon wrapped Madco Barrel) and that has had thousands upon thousands of rounds through it, in fact he has even managed to put a mag of 260 Rem through it by mistake one day!! Don't ask lol

That rifle has even had a new bolt as he wore the old one out (gives you an idea how much has gone through it) and it still easily shoots 1/4 MOA at 100 if you do your part. By all intents and purposes that rifle should not shoot..but it still does. Yes it is an exception to the rules or possibly just a magic barrel

Got to also take into account what you consider good accuracy..for a hunting rifle I consider MOA good enough for that. But some may say 2 moa is good enough. You might find a rifle that for the first 1000 rounds it shoots 1/2 MOA, but for the next 4000 it shoots 1 moa. Some would say worn out, others would not.

If you ask around or read a number of things (and this is a hornets nest of a discussion) more damage is done by improper cleaning regimes or over cleaning than by shooting a rifle.

At the same timer, re-barreling a rifle you like is easy to get done and not really that expensive in the scope of things. So just get out there and enjoy the sport responsibly.

[mjr350]

Apart from velocity, barrel wear also has a lot to do with overbore cartridges meaning large case capacity but small projectile. 22-250, 220 swift, 270 win to name a few. My 22-250 is a barrel burner and accuracy has decreased over a few years because I was careless when I first started load development but it's not a target rifle and is still minute of fox out to 300y

[doka404]

That's why I mentioned "I should say..that the term 'velocity' as I am using it covers a number different variables such as Burn rate of the powder, how big a charge etc"

Overbore cartridges are basically a way of increasing the velocity of a given projectile, buy using a larger parent case, normally necked down, which gives a bigger powder charge. You can also achieve similar (although not to the same extent) results using different powder with different burn rates.

Off topic - You would also use (for example) faster burning powders to get a complete (or as close as possible) burn within a given barrel length, but with all things reloading its a fine balance between the result, load density, burn rate, chamber pressures etc etc etc

I agree with you..minute of fox, minute of bunny..al good enough for the intended purpose of the rifle

Apart from velocity, barrel wear also has a lot to do with overbore cartridges meaning large case capacity but small projectile. 22-250, 220 swift, 270 win to name a few. My 22-250 is a barrel burner and accuracy has decreased over a few years because I was careless when I first started load development but it's not a target rifle and is still minute of fox out to 300y

[MudRunnerTD]

Great info thanks guys. I am looking at a Ruger 30-06 American with a Stainless barrel as I'm told the SS barrel will last much longer due to the reasons above? Is this accurate?

[Bloodyaussie]

Great info thanks guys. I am looking at a Ruger 30-06 American with a Stainless barrel as I'm told the SS barrel will last much longer due to the reasons above? Is this accurate?

Spend a little moreand get a howa... much better build quality and so many options.

[Crate]

Thanks for the detailed reply doka, great information.

Question for the more experienced guys, how does the secondhand gun buying process work through a dealer?