barrel life of a .357 magnum

G

GSoD

New member
Hey all,

Looking to buy a used Smith & Wesson 686 .357 mag with 6" barrel.

I'm assuming like anything the barrel has a life span.

Any informed estimates on how many rounds would constitute that life span?
 
Depends on a lot of things. With light to moderate loads & midweight to heavy lead bullets, I would think it would be pretty hard to wear the barrel out.

With heavy loads and lightweight jacketed bullets you could probably manage it eventually.
 
Forcing cone erosion is the limiting factor here. The rifling in a properly heat treated handgun barrel will last tens of thousands of rounds.
 
You can crack the edge of the forcing cone on some revolvers, apparently on K frames mostly. Otherwise the greatest threat to your revolver barrel is either rust or damage to the muzzle from a cleaning rod.
 
By the time you wear one out from shooting

You will have spent several times the cost of a new gun (even with the cheapest handloads) let alone the cost of a new barrel.
 
Unless you plan on shooting this gun a great deal or it is your only gun, I think you will find it hard to rack up a truly high round count. On of my revolvers now has 46,243 rounds fired down it. I have also owned it 28 years now. That is a lot of rounds to fire down one gun. None of my others will ever get close just because I only shoot about 15,000 rnds a year and I spread them over 50 odd guns instead of 1.

I would not worry about wearing out the barrel. It will take a lot of work to do one in.
 
I'm averaging about 1000 rounds per year in each of 686s. That includes magnum rounds and I see no evidence of damage or wear in either of them. I'm averaging about a 1000 rounds per MONTH in each of my 617s. They're doing absolutely fine, too. My guess is that, if I continue to treat 'em gently and clean 'em regularly, they'll outlive me.
 
We just got a GP-100 back from Ruger with a new barrel . The original had a cracked forcing cone . Customer bought it new from us in '96 . He only fires magnums and figured the Ruger had seen about 70k rds .
 
At ammo price today? I would guess between $10,000-$25,000 worth of ammo to start to wear one out.

I read some old timer had put an estimated 50,000 round threw a S&W .357 and was still going. Of course, that was just print, don't know if that's true.
 
Aside from the barrel - what else to look for.

Great info guys.

I'm going to look at the gun tonight? Anything you recommend I look for in particular aside from being shiny?

Again its a Smith & Wesson 686 .357 mag with 6" barrel with approximately 2000 rounds through its 15 year lifespan. Owned by an target shooter whose eyes have left him.
 
Gents, let me bring this old thread in life again, for similar question.

Smith&Wesson 686, target champion (357/38 sp), 6 inch barrel - 2nd hand, and loads used were mostly wad cutters in 38.

What would be expected barrel life?
I am assuming the answer, but would feel more confident if someone would provide me with an answer after I specified the revolver and ammunition used.


Many thanks in advance!
 
Should be ready for a lifetime of shooting. Stay away from light bullet (125) full power 357 loads and you should have no worries. I like to shoot a hard cast 158gr SWC in my old 686. .38 Special wadcutters are very very mild, great for target practice.
 
The answer remains the same as it was in 2008 -- the forcing cone will fail LONG before the barrel does (yes, there are no absolutes, but this one is a pretty solid one that gets close).

As long as the forcing cone is in good shape, chances of the barrel being fine is probably 99.9999999999999999995%.
 
Got that! Thanks.

One more:
Is there any additional wear in cylinder chambers due to reason of continuous firing shorter cartridges (38 sp WC) in 357 cal?
 
The hotter the round, the more stress on the forcing cone.

I was (and still am) using a 686 for match shooting, using relatively mild .38spls and plated bullets. My first 686 was remarkably accurate, but noted it's fine accuracy degraded a tad around the 60,000 round mark. Because of the mild loads, the forcing cone is fine, as far as I can tell. Timing is still good, as is the crown, so my suspicion is that the rifling simply wore some.

It's now got about 70,000 rounds through it, and is my backup gun. It's still capable of good accuracy, and because I'm so familiar with it, it's likely only I'd be able to notice the slight loss of accuracy.

Bottom line is what others have offered - if you're not going to feed it a steady diet of hot ammo, the barrel ought to last many tens of thousands of rounds. Exclusively fed target wadcutters, my WAG is that you could expect a barrel life of over 100k rounds.

Is there any additional wear in cylinder chambers due to reason of continuous firing shorter cartridges (38 sp WC) in 357 cal?
Click to expand...

No. But get the habit of regularly cleaning the chambers. You won't need to go to heroic lengths to clean the chambers if you do it regularly. Don't rely on shooting .357mags to "clean out the .38spl carbon ring". I'm betting it's an internet tale, not particularly effective, and not particularly good for the cylinder.
 
Got that too! Much thanks, Mr Borland!

So, 7K rounds of 38 sp WC, will not be an issue.
BTW - cleaning of guns is not a problem in my department!

One more question about the accuracy, maybe a bit off topic.
The accuracy of 38 sp wc, in 357 chamber?

Are specific 38 sp cal revolvers with same barrel lenght more accurate due to shorter chamber then 357's using 38 wc?
 
"Is there any additional wear in cylinder chambers due to reason of continuous firing shorter cartridges (38 sp WC) in 357 cal?"

In the early days, when guns were made of iron or soft steel, that was a concern, especially with guns like .22s.

These days, no.
 
jolly1 said:
Are specific 38 sp cal revolvers with same barrel lenght more accurate due to shorter chamber then 357's using 38 wc?
Click to expand...

The general consensus is no, or at least if there is a difference, it's too small to measure or matter.

Condition of the gun and quality of the ammo is much more important. It's important that the bullet has a smooth transition through the throats, and that the dimensions of the throats be consistent, and the right size relative to the barrel's bore. If the throats are too small, the bullet gets swaged down and rattles on down the bore. If too big, the bullet leaves the throat and enters the forcing cone relatively unstable.
 
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