Jacketed ammo wearing out bores?

[Mylhouse]

I was at the range today witnessing the most impressive bit of handgun shooting I've ever seen personally. One of the nation's top bullseye shooters was practicing slowfire at the 50 yard line and rapid fire at 25 yards where he would shoot 5 shots in 10 seconds (at which time the target would turn 90 degrees counter clockwise to hide the target). The whole time I watched him (about 100 shots), he only had 3 shots outside of the 10 ring (they were in the 9 ring).

Anyway, he was showing me a 1911 he had (Caspian frame and slide and Kart barrel) that had "over 300,000 rounds through it". He was telling me about the parts he's had replaced over the years, when he asked me what kind of reloads I was putting through my guns. When I told him Zero JHPs over WST or VVN340, he told me that barrels are only good for about 10,000 rounds with jacketed bullets, but many times more than that with lead.

OK, makes sense. And I do understand that the barrel WILL STILL WORK after 10,000 rounds....but will accuracy degrade THAT MUCH, THAT QUICKLY using jacketed ammo?

Sorry for the long post, just being thorough.

 

[ryucasta]

Velocity also has a lot to do with it, I have seen hand gun barrels go south in less than 1000 rounds due to the extreme velocities that were being generated. i.e. IPSC Open class gun in 38 Super Comp.

 

[C.R.Sam]

Velocity....temp, pressure; .38 super has plenty of that, specially when hyped.

Add jacket material and they all add up to accelerated wear.

Enlargement of the bore has less effect than erosion of throat and crown.

No problem keepin a barrel crisp with paper punchin target loads. Several seasons of 40-50 thousand rounds each.

Usin loads that reach out an slap things, accuracy does noticably deteriorate much more rapidly.

Walk down and get em all.

Sam

 

[Blue Duck357]

Might also be a case of this guys "Old worn out no good barrel" being more accurate than you or I would ever be able to get out of it.

 

[22lovr]

10,000 rounds? I should live so long

I shoot jacketed ammo exclusively. All of my guns are virgins as far as lead ammo goes. My guns will outlast me, of that I'm certain and I simply don't want the hassle of removing lead fouling from bores and cylinders.

 

[Mylhouse]

Thanks for the wisdom!

Blue Duck,

I suspect that your guess also fits LARGELY into the equation.

So I'm guessin that this doesn't apply to polygonal (cyclonic) rifling?

 

[1goodshot]

My glock 22 has over 10000 rounds through it and it still looks new

 

[Captain]

I have a 1911 that has a compensator which was used for shooting biwling pins for 10 years. I estimate that I shot about 30,000 rounds of hot jacketed 45 acp ammo thru this gun and it's still the most accurate Govt model I've ever fired. It will still put them all in 1 1/2" at 50 ft. That's the same accuracy I got from it when I recieved it new. I had a S&W 5906 that I put about 20,000 rds of factory jacketed +P ammo thru it before accuracy went out the window. I think alot depends on the quality of the barrel to start and what kind of pressures you're running thru it! It wouldn't bother me if I had to pay to rebarrel a gun after 20,000 or 30,000 rds if it was a gun I really liked!

 

[Mikul]

I have an H&K USP9c with over 20,000 rounds through it. It's STILL more accurate than I am... well, last week that didn't seem true until I realized that I was jerking the trigger.

 

[Bottom Gun]

I read in a gun magazine one time that one jacketed slug was equal to 10 cast lead slugs in terms of barrel wear with all other factors being equal.

I don't know if that would also apply to .22's with and without copper plating.

I've personally never worn a barrel out.

 

[Hemphill]

I have talked with my gunsmith about the expected useful life of a stainless barrel in my limited gun. He said that at least 60,000 should be expected before any noticable accuracy or dramatic velocity losses occur. I asked him if lead bullets cause less wear, and his response was that they problably do, but after 60,000 round you probably need a new slide anyway, so who cares. His only recommendation was to stay away from moly bullets, ash they cause dramatically faster wear.

 

[chazecon]

This subject has concerned me for a while now and the views shared here have been helpful. My concern is with wearing out my Kimber SM. In addition to a couple thousand jacketed rounds, I ran 15,000 LSWC rounds thru it in IPSC and steel matches last year. This year I'm averaging at least 2,000 LWSC rounds per month. At this rate, I'll be at the 60,000 round mark by the time I've had the SM three years!! Given this usage, what life expectancy should I reasonably expect for the frame, slide and/or barrel??

 

[Archie]

Couple of thoughts here.....

Rub brass or copper against steel and see which wears out first. The friction of jackets on the bore is not a big deal.

What can destroy a barrel is heat. The burning of the gunpowder generates heat. (No kidding, Arch?) That temperature can go up to around 4000 degrees. That is cutting torch temperature. And it's worse around the end of the chamber, beginning of the rifling.

The temperature has a direct relationship to the pressure of the round. More pressure, more temperature. Which is why .38 Specials last longer than .22-250s... f'rinstance.

I honestly think more handguns (typically low pressure) have their accuracy destroyed from getting the rifling at the muzzle screwed up from either impact or bad (over enthusiastic) cleaning... from the muzzle. I once had a WWII Ithaca 45 with about an inch and a half of "murcuriatic primer freebore"; it shot very well.

I am not concerned over bore erosion from jacketed bullets in handguns. I am sweating how many rounds I'll get through my .22-250....

 

[Mylhouse]

Archie,

Very interesting...