would you buy a used gun that fired over 40,000 rds?

M

mr bolo

New member
what happens when a gun enthusiast sells one of their old guns that has several thousands of rds through it?

would you buy a used AR or M1911 type gun that has over 30,000 - 40,000 rds through it?

in the old days you didnt need to worry about it because most people didnt shoot as much as today

if the seller told me he put that many rds through it, I probably wouldnt buy it, and look for a newer one.
 
Even with that many rounds, it would depend on a variety of factors for me:
1) Whether or not I know enough about the particular model to be confident in my assessment of its condition;
2) Its condition (as well as I could tell, based on #1);
3) Price;
4) Intended usage. IOW, certainly not as a carry pistol, but if I were a collector, perhaps.
 
It's very much like buying a car. You can base your estimate of the gun's value on the expected remaining life.
A 1911 with 40k on it could be three years old, and if it's a .45 and the bullets were plain lead, it might go another 40k without trouble (which could be ten lifetimes).
If it's a .38 Super, fed a steady diet of "major" competition loads, it probably needs a new barrel, or is already on its second barrel.
A lot of competition guns get sold because they're outdated, not because they're worn out, and the seller needs money for the latest and greatest widget.
 
A 22LR rifle with 30K-40K rounds through it? Sure. A centerfire rifle with those round counts? Er, heck no.

A pistol, sure - if it was functional and the price was right.
 
A 22LR rifle with 30K-40K rounds through it? Sure. A centerfire rifle with those round counts? Er, heck no.
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That pretty much sums it up.
There may be some exceptions, but for the most part... the only thing I'm touching with round counts over 40k are going to be well built rimfires or machine guns.


For example:
I have a Browning Buck Mark with over 130k rounds through it. If some one offered me their Buck Mark with 50k rounds through it, I'd check a few things to make sure it was maintained properly, and then make an offer. I would not be scared off, just because the round count was a "huge" number.

But, if you offered me a Browning Hi-Power with the same round count... I would almost certainly pass without even inspecting the pistol.
 
Depends on price and condition like anything else. Since the AR is modular and new parts are readily available, I wouldn't care if it had 40,000 or 100,000 rounds on it as long as the price reflected a good value. I can always replace what needs to be replaced.
 
The unmarried Colt below came with an unmarried auto sear that I purchased. It presumably came from a famous machine gun range that has tons of tourists annually. The date on the SN is from early 1980s. This means that the Colt probably has millions of rounds through it, being the host for the sear. After some fine tuning, the gun shoots just fine. Also, since the AR platform is modular, the receiver is totally fine, if I decide to strip it bare and rebuild. Either Colt made some really good recievers or the receiver does not receive any stress from firing.

 
If your talking Glocks, HK, Sig, or similar others 40k is nothing. These guns have a reputation of going several hundred thousand rounds with nothing but some replacement springs. Revolvers, depends on tight it locks up. AR's, nothing but some springs and a barrel swap and its back in the game.
 
I would love to own a gun that I have put 40k through, that would be a tremendous badge of honor for me. But I think it's asking me to go a bit too far to actually purchase a gun that someone has put that volume of ammo through. It begs some questions that need answered. Firstly, when did he get it? What was the routine that built such a staggering number? And how does he actually know this number? What parts have been replaced?

And aside from the only one that seems even halfway rational (deceased), why on Earth would anyone devote that amount of time, care, MONEY on ammo and time to run up FORTY THOUSAND ROUNDS on something... an YET now need or want to sell it?! :confused:

It doesn't seem to make sense to me.
Even if someone could conjure up an answer (other than the owner died or got both arms chopped off in a haybaler), I've got to wonder how you'd price such an animal and how a potential buyer could look at the gun, and it's price, and say that it makes sense to buy it rather than an average used gun or a new one.

Take FrankenMauser's Browning Buck Mark for example.
How much does a Buck Mark cost? So then, if he wants to sell his with THAT round count, how much does the price need to be for me to say, "uhhh, yeah, give me one with a higher round count that 99.5% of American Gun Owners will even tally in their lifetime across every gun they ever own added up" rather than me coming up with the three hundred bucks (or less or more) it would take for me to snag a Buck Mark that hasn't had such use?

I've been keeping a strict round count on my handguns for about the last 5-6 years. I've got a number of them well over 3,000 rounds. I bet I have more handguns over 3k rounds than some very active participants have numbers of handguns. I can see how if I got rid of ALL my handguns and just kept like two of them, the round counts on those two guns would skyrocket.

But 40k? Pretty much has to be a competition shooter. Those guns are run HARD, put away WET. They are expected to break down and their owners know exactly what to replace and usually do it proactively.

And simple math...
If I use the OLD price for bulk rimfire, the cheapest stuff we can argue in this thread, and I price a 550rd bulk pack at a mere twenty bucks tax included (good luck finding that today), you're talking almost $1,500 in ammo to run a .22 pistol to a 40,000 shot round count. Seems to me that a guy spending that money on ammo and that kind of TIME on the trigger of one handgun isn't flipping guns on the weekend... for what, a hundred bucks? That's rimfire priced at 3.6 cents per shot. Try the math with 9mm at $11 a box at Wal-Mart. 40,000 rounds of 9mm at $11 a box (after tax!) is almost NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS of ammo.

It's a compelling question, to be sure. :p It just seems like something that isn't going to happen.
 
I have some milsurp rifles I'm sure have fired over 40k rounds with corrosive primed ammo and they still shoot good. I also have some that shoot just fair.
I have a couple Ruger 44mags that are well over 40k and shoot like new.
So you can draw what ever conclusion ya want from that.;)
 
Take FrankenMauser's Browning Buck Mark for example.
How much does a Buck Mark cost? So then, if he wants to sell his with THAT round count, how much does the price need to be for me to say, "uhhh, yeah, give me one with a higher round count that 99.5% of American Gun Owners will even tally in their lifetime across every gun they ever own added up" rather than me coming up with the three hundred bucks (or less or more) it would take for me to snag a Buck Mark that hasn't had such use?
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But that's the kicker...
If the firearm is well maintained, it is very difficult to tell the difference between a 10k round gun and a 75k round gun.

If I handed my Buck Mark to someone, without having ever said anything about round count (or magazines worn out :rolleyes:), they might assume it's seen quite a bit of use. But, I doubt any round count estimates put forth by the person would be over even 10k rounds.

Although unlikely, it is entirely possible that, in an effort to avoid an extremely high round count Buck Mark like mine, the used Buck Mark found at the local peddler of wonderful things could still be a 50k or 75k round pistol.



---
For the record, my Buck Mark still looks quite good (I'd call it 95%), and does still have some life left in it. ...But for the last couple of years, I've been keeping my eyes out for a replacement. The barrel and slide have just seen too much abuse, from slapping each other so many tens of thousands of times over the years (it's nearly 30 years old now). It is starting to show signs of inherent unreliability with the occasional bobble or failure to function with known-good ammo.

I am 99% confident that a new slide and barrel would give that handgun another 100k round lease on life. ...But for the cost of a slide and barrel, I can buy a used recent-production Buck Mark in reasonable condition (or an older model in good condition). :rolleyes:
 
At that round count I am assuming an AR would be on it's second or third upper. Most centerfire rifle barrels are not accurate after 10,000 rounds. Some of the hot calibers have a life of less than 3,000 rounds.

I have a Glock that has over 100,000 rounds through it. Hardly ever clean it (most of those rounds were loaded with VV N320), but I do go through and replace parts as scheduled. Still shoots under 2.5 inches at 75 feet.
 
If a "quality" AR barrel's good for 25K to 30K rounds, why do benchresters replace their "quality" 22 caliber barrels shooting same size cartridges at 3K rounds. Service rifle limits are about 10K rounds for them and they're far from "quality" ones.

Quality must mean all sorts of barrel life numbers.
 
If you can't shoot worth a damn, maybe you won't notice the fall off in accuracy over 30K rounds in an AR. 10K will produce a fall off in accuracy.
 
If a "quality" AR barrel's good for 25K to 30K rounds, why do benchresters replace their "quality" 22 caliber barrels shooting same size cartridges at 3K rounds. Service rifle limits are about 10K rounds for them and they're far from "quality" ones.
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Benchrest shooters are a different breed. Where the average shooter might measure groups in MOA they measures down to the thousands of an inch. Yes a match grade barrel that damn near shoots in the same hole repeatedly will open up a few thousands of an inch after only a few thousand rounds. A quality AR barrel that can hold MOA or close to it will continue to do so for 25 plus thousand rounds on average. By then you've spent so much on ammo it makes the cost of a new barrel of even a new gun seem miniscule.
 
Sevens said:
But 40k? Pretty much has to be a competition shooter. Those guns are run HARD, put away WET. They are expected to break down and their owners know exactly what to replace and usually do it proactively.
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Yep - Im thinking comp guns can easily see 40k.

My primary match gun has almost twice 40k, and my .22 "understudy" has nearly that many as well. And yes, they're run hard, but I don't think they're "put up wet". They may not get the (unnecessary) lavish doting many other gun get, but, as mentioned, they're well-maintained. My primary match gun has been relegated to backup status, but I don't think your average shooter, who'd likely only put a few thousand more on it, would be making a mistake by buying it, if I were to sell it (with full disclosure, of course ;)).
 
Don't think I've shot that many centerfire rounds in my entire life. I'd pass if I knew a gun had been shot that much. As far as I'm concerned, it is an accident waiting to happen.
 
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