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Rounds on barrels

JEVapa

JEVapa

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How many sweat round counts on ARs? namely 5.56.

With bolt guns and "accurate/precision" gas guns (not battle rifles), I get wanting to be concerned about round count and barrel life. But, on a duty/battle/competition type rifle? In my previous life we'd change barrels or uppers around 20k+ rounds. Probably closer to 25K-30K.

I have a couple barrels I slapped on guns that have about 11k-12k on them. They pass a straightness gauge and TE at ~3. Rifling is fine and they are still within the 2.5cm at 25M Army requirement (<4MOA) and they headspace fine.

Just mostly wondering because some people FTFO over 1000 rounds on a gun (any gun) and would you keep a 10k round barrel or replace it? And why would you replace it if there's nothing wrong with it?
 
Honestly I don't even track round count on AR's. On the last one I traded I had probably 5-6k on it if I had to guess. The barrel is probably one of the stronger parts on the rifle.. if someone was LARPing their ass off and throwing guns around I would be more concerned with damage to the thinner parts of the upper?
 
I guess I've never really cared. I've never had an issue with one for that reason and doubt I ever will.
 
It’s really not about round count. It’s the preference you are requiring out of your barrel. If your after tiny hole then the barrel is going to be greatly affected. If you after government standards then not so much. Also heat affects barrel life Mainly throat erosion.

i probably have around 1k on my AR.
 
It's hard to imagine a barrel being used up in 1K rounds. I guess if your a serious competition shooter, every mm counts. That's a world I'll never be a part of.
 
ClintC said:
It’s really not about round count. It’s the preference you are requiring out of your barrel.
Click to expand...
????
ClintC said:
If your after tiny hole then the barrel is going to be greatly affected.
Click to expand...
Is it? What's tiny? MOA? .5 MOA? Most people can't shoot an AR with a standard barrel MOA, especially with bulk ammo like M193. Most can barely squeak out an MOA in a match grade barrel with match ammo. 1.04" is 1 MOA at 100yds and 1.14" is 1 MOA at 100m. I always laugh at the cheap $300 BCA and PSA builds that people claim MOA performance in commieland.
ClintC said:
If you after government standards then not so much.
Click to expand...
Both barrels were inside a 2.5CM circle at 25m when new and still are after 11K (battle rifle standard). There is absolutely no change in either grouping performance. DMR/Sniper rifle standards are somewhere around 2MOA.
So, I get it if it's a higher-ish end performance barrel where after a few K might have a zero shift or open it up. But even then, it's going to be a lot of K to get there.


Context for the post is from two places. People talking about shot out barrels and round count and saying, IMO ridiculous shit like, 'it has to be replaced in XX number of rounds'. Or someone asks how many rounds on a rifle, and someone says 1200, and dude makes an ordeal out of it. These are not just ARs but primarily are ARs.
Only my expensive ish "precision"-ish rifles will I keep a semblance of a round count. Decisions for me on a barrel change/upgrade is going to be a significant change in zero.
 
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JEVapa said:
Just mostly wondering because some people FTFO over 1000 rounds on a gun (any gun) and would you keep a 10k round barrel or replace it?
Click to expand...
I’d wager that most of the people who FTFO about a thousand rounds down the pipe haven’t ever put a thousand rounds down the pipe. I couldn’t tell you how many rounds have gone through the P226 that I’ve owned for thirty years, but the rounds keep going where I want them when I do my part, so I have no plans to change the barrel any time soon.

I mean, if you’re carrying a firearm into battle, I can understand replacing parts at preset intervals as preventive maintenance, but “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” still holds sway for me. As long as the gun does its part when I do mine, I don’t see any reason to replace parts “just because.”
 
I log every round that I can. Since I am not shooting to save a life or taking one anymore, I'm not as concerned with the round count and replacing it as a preventive measure as I am with knowing where I am at when accuracy falls off. This same goes for cleaning purposes.

Our 700's were replaced at 5k. Not just the barrel, but the entire rifle. I've never shot out a .308 barrel out in my life either. That was just the Sheriff's order.

Accuracy falls off, I dump it. I have never had a 5.56 barrel reach that point yet in my life, so I can't comment on the when or what count. My duty rig from the SO was at 9800ish when I left. It would still shoot the same 77 grain load in the same hole it did then as it did new.
 
Never counted. If it shoots to my standards when new and continues to do so, roll with it. It also helps when you get to spread the love around to a bunch of pews instead of logging all your rounds through one or two.
 
I keep a general idea of how many have been run through my match rifle barrel. I usually do that by cutting the top off the case and throwing that in a bin when the case is empty. Here is why I like a general idea.
In my experience, and that of several "high volume" shooters, when barrels quit they do it like flipping a light switch. One day they are just fine, and the next magazine you can't hit shit. They will open up a bit gradually, but on the round they are done, THEY ARE DONE! Now I've got a pretty good idea of when that generally happens, and I would never take a high round count barrel to a world shoot, and I'm not so sure I would take one to a 'pop up shoot back" range, especially when it is so easy just tp drop on another barrel and use the high round barrel for practice. I still kinda track the practice barrel so I can judge where the barrel will fail IN GENERAL. I generally don't list round count, and now a days just go by barrel count, kinda like my practice rifle is on its 5th barrel and the upper is getting a bit rattley! 😉
 
KurtM said:
I keep a general idea of how many have been run through my match rifle barrel. I usually do that by cutting the top off the case and throwing that in a bin when the case is empty. Here is why I like a general idea.
In my experience, and that of several "high volume" shooters, when barrels quit they do it like flipping a light switch. One day they are just fine, and the next magazine you can't hit shit. They will open up a bit gradually, but on the round they are done, THEY ARE DONE! Now I've got a pretty good idea of when that generally happens, and I would never take a high round count barrel to a world shoot, and I'm not so sure I would take one to a 'pop up shoot back" range, especially when it is so easy just tp drop on another barrel and use the high round barrel for practice. I still kinda track the practice barrel so I can judge where the barrel will fail IN GENERAL. I generally don't list round count, and now a days just go by barrel count, kinda like my practice rifle is on its 5th barrel and the upper is getting a bit rattley! 😉
Click to expand...
I'd say you're the exception that proves the rule--hell, I'd guess that most of the thousand-round FTFOs couldn't tell the difference between your discards and a pristine match-ready barrel. You're also not replacing barrels on some arbitrary round count, you've shot enough that you have experience that lets you gauge the life expectancy of a barrel--and, more importantly, you're not out there telling folks that their barrel is shot out at an arbitrary round count.

Now, maybe you're saying it on the inside, but at least you're not round-count shaming people out loud... ;)
 
No round shaming from me amigo! Barrels are good until they are not. I had one chew out around 1500 (maker happily replaced it) the barrel on my practice rifle is an outlier it is just a bit over a 20 case labels in the box. We scoped it, it is smooth for the first 7 3/8" from the neck on. It has a stress crack from the gas port all the way to the muzzle. I can only guess that the reason it hasn't banna peeled is because the comp is holding it together. I keep expecting it to quit! It is still around 2 MOA. I won't be taking it to a match but I will keep using it till it quits. Most folks would could easily tell the difference between my take offs and a good barrel, cause mine are AFUed* when I take them off. I have truly been fortunate enough to have the support that allows me to find the end of life of barrels.
*(Always Freaked Unnecessarily???) PROBABLY NOT!!!! 🤣
 
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