Shooting out a Barrel

[arcticap]

I've heard that muzzle loader barrels are often made of softer steel than smokeless barrels. That's not to say their quality isn't good because the steel easily exceeds muzzle loading requirements. But the rifling seems to wear out sooner or more easily than if it were a center fire barrel, especially given the lower velocity of the average BP loads. As good shooting as they were, I did hear that about Douglas barrels. And I've heard it said more than once about how fast accuracy dropped off for some TC or Lyman barrels after a relatively small number of years.
The major BP barrel makers probably all use similar softer steels even today.
Some of the better smokeless barrels are also known to wear out faster than others even though their makers are well known for making very accurate barrels.
Maybe that's how the manufacturers prevent wearing out a lot tooling while producing barrels, and to help keep their cost more affordable. Yet the barrels are used on some of the better brands of guns and for semi-custom made barrels, including for both muzzle loaders and smokeless guns. I doubt that they use the same steel for both, but maybe they use steel that's slightly on the softer side for both sides of the industry. However the happy trade off is that their accuracy is better than average.
I guess that my point is that using the harder steels is not the priority of some of the traditional muzzle loading barrel makers.

 

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

For those who want to keep their original barrels as long a possible and tighten up its grouping some {any barrel} have your barrel Cryogenic treated. Fairly cheap and it works. Ballistol usage will help prolong your barrels life also "but is best used outside in the open air while sitting in your neighbors yard or at the end of your driveway."

 

[James K]

"Dangitt, I'm done too old to find out how long it'll last!"

And I am too old to be around for the report.

Jim

 

[duelist1954]

I've never seen a worn out barrel because most front stuffers aren't shot that much, but eventually those cloth patches are going to polish the inside of the bore enough to loosen it up a bit. When it does just go to a 0.005" bigger ball.

I did wear out the muzzle on one of my early rifles when I was shooting flintlocks competitively. That was because I wasn't using a muzzle protector to load or clean.

By the end of the season my groups were expanding. I had a machinist buddy measure the bore and it was wearing a little in an oval shape. We cut off two inches of barrel on the lathe and accuracy was restored.

A couple of bucks spent on a muzzle guard prevented any repeats of that problem.