The life of the barrel -- going... going... gone!

The only pistol barrel I personally shot out was in a Ruger single action in .357 mag. I was new to reloading and put thousands of smokin' loads through that pistol. The bullets began to tumble and entered the target sideways!

I'm sure that accuracy was degrading before the realization the bullets were tumbling set in but being new in the sport I didn't get it.

Flash
 
I made a great trade one time for a Ruger Blackhawk that the previous owner THOUGHT he had shot the barrel out of. He said you couldn't see any rifling at all in the barrel, even though he had less than 1000 rounds through it. Sure enough you couldn't see the rifling and the accuracy was horrible. I even told him what I thought the problem was, but he wanted to trade for a cheap little Marlin 22 auto rifle I had, so I traded. It turns out that all he had ever shot were lead bullets and the barrel was all leaded up. It took quite a bit of cleaning, but eventually I got the bore cleaned up and it shot just fine.
 
I have never had a barrel problem on any used gun I've bought.

But I would be wary of all the magnum guns and would check them closely if buying a used one.

Simple decision is-if it don't look right in ANY way,don't buy it.
 
How much of a need is there to replace the Glock's barrel for more support? I have a Glock 36 (.45acp) and haven't noticed any bulging or deforming on any cases. I've collected most of my brass for reloading, but they are still in a bucket, awaiting closer inspection. Is it imperitive to get an after-market barrel to reload?
Click to expand...

Unless you're shooting lead, then there's no need to change the barrel of a .45ACP Glock. Some shoot lead successfully through their Glocks, but they're judicious about their cleaning regimen.
 
"Shot out" barrels were way more common back in black powder/corrosive days. They got eaten away, some very badly due to negligence in care.

Personally, I haven't come across any shot out barrels that didn't have a long association with corrosive powders and/or corrosive primers, like old topbreaks or milsurp pieces.
 
I had an experience similar to doodlebugger's. A friend recently told me that his brother would give him a Norinco 1911 that had a shot-out barrel.

When he got it, he took it to the range and the accuracy was horrible. He said there was no rifling and asked me what a replacement barrel would set him back. I told him that as far as I know, a 1911 barrrel is not necessarily a plug'n'play proposition. I asked him if I could mess with it. Took it home, did some scrubbing, and found some rifling, under a whole bunch of lead. :)

Every time I read one of these "How often do you clean your pistol?" threads, I wonder how many of them end up like this...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top