How to know when a barrel is shot out?

[its only light]

Hey guys, got a question. If your buying a gun that's used other than taking the owners word for it is there a way to tell what kind of life it has left? The obvious answer is a bore scope. Im looking for more of a primitive way of telling. I don't have a bore scope and they cost more than alot of my guns. Either way I'd like to hear others thoughts and opinions. Maybe I'm dreaming thinking there is a way to tell but if there is a way to get even a ballpark answer I want to know! Thanks!

 

[LESLEY]

Honest answeris get a scope. It only takes a couple of guns you buy with shot out barrels to pay for a scope. The up side is when you sale it you can tell the buyer you scope it and what it looks like. I was like you i put off getting one. Now that i have one i cant live without it. Get a Borescope you will be ahead

 

[Terry]

The only thing I know it to shoot it. It won't tell you how long it will shoot, but it will tell you if it shoots now.

Terry

 

[bheadboy]

dont be surprised if a bbl shoots with a "scope looking good" the proof is in the puddin


they help get an idea and find bad spots, pits, rough throats etc. but shootin is the proofin
Bob

 

[Forum Boss]

The proof is in the puddin

Correct. I had a friend that bought a used 30BR, we scoped the barrel, saw extensive pitting, fire-cracking and a short section where one land was badly eroded. We, in our wisdom, pronounced the barrel DOA. My friend then proceeded to shoot it anyway, and within two months he had broken all our local club score records with it, including the only perfect score in club history.

In fairness, after 1500 rounds or so the barrel "gave up the ghost" and was replaced, but the new barrel has yet to match the accuracy of the 30BR with its raggedy barrel.

 

[LawrenceHanson]

Barrel condition is an interesting subject. For instance, I have a Savage that was originally a 22-250. I shot it quite a bit without a bore scope to tell me what condition it was in. It shot well until the day I had the barrel replaced with a Krieger 243 AI. Then I acquired a bore scope. I was amazed to see that the 22-250 barrel was eroded without lands to about about half the length of the barrel. I also pulled the barrel off a 223 Savage and with the bore scope saw that it too was well worn but still shot well to the day that I replaced the barrel. Hunting rifles I have have had for years and shot extensively, show extensive wear and still shoot respectably well.

The bore scope will show you what the bore looks like, but it cannot tell you how the gun will perform. Only shooting will tell you that.

Lawrence

 

[its only light]

Some good stories. Answers are about what I was expecting. I was hoping somebody would tell me if I held it up to my webcam they could scope it for me.

Story behind the gun in question. I bought a 284 barreled action built on a savage target action with an obermeyer 5r 27" barrel setup without the barrel nut. Picked it up for a decent price over on the hide, anyways it was advertised as brand new and test fired only. When I got it there was so much carbon caked in the muzzle brake and the bore was dirty enough that I could tell it had been shot more than 8 times he said it was fired for testing. The guy swore up and down it was brand new then disappeared never to be heard from again.

I'm up in MN so it's been to snowy to get toy spot. I have some 162s loaded up with h4350, hybrid 100v, and rl17. Planning on going out tomorrow to see how they work. I'm excited about the hybrid 100v, I hope it works cuz I can get lots if it. It's right between h4350 and 4831sc on the burn chart so it should be good. The rounds I have loaded up seem great for load density.

 

[BigDMT]

once you've looked at enough new and worn rifle barrel's with a bore light and the naked eye, you'll be able to pick out the ones that are worn badly. But there's really no way to identify bad tooling marks or slightly to half-way worn barrels without a bore scope.

My Father had been having inconsistent accuracy issues with his 300 win mag for the past handful of years so I finally told him to let me take a look at it. It shot well enough, but I had my suspicions. I looked at it with a bore light and my naked eye and told him right away "she has seen her last day". Took it into my smith and threw the Hawkeye down the tube and sure enough, she was toast. Lands was gone and rifling was fried for the first 6-8 inches, alligator skin, the whole nine yards. I couldn't see the alligator skin with my naked eye, but it was obvious to me that his barrel was toast. With the naked eye to many without experience, the bore may have appeared to be bright and shiny the whole way with all the rifling. But I have looked down a ton of good and bad barrels over the years so I was able to discern the very subtle differences.

 

[pacificman]

I have a 17 rem. with pac-nor barrel. I found a 4200fps load which was very accurate. When I ran out of powder and needed more the lot number was different and my rifle quit shooting accurately. I then found that the throat was toast. I decided to change powder. For some odd reason this worn out barrel is very accurate again but at a slower 3400fps. I keep thinking of setting the barrel back or replace but if it keeps shooting accurate with this load I will wait till it quits shooting before I replace barrel. It's hard to believe this thing will shoot when the bullet falls a 1/4 inch into the barrel before it ever touches the lands. The accuracy has been around .5 and .6 at 200 yards. (minute of squirrel) for me.

 

[STS]

I would be happy if my .17 Mach IV was only jumping the bullet only 1/4 of a inch. It has little rifling left for about 1.5 inches after 3750 rounds but still will shoot around an inch at 200 yards. I gonna load the 450 rounds of brass I have for it one more time, shoot em in a dog town, and then dump the barrel and brass in the trash can. I chambered up a new barrel for it a couple months ago and it's in a tube waiting to be screwed on. It has been accurate far longer than I thought it would be.

 

[bozo699]

The proof is in the puddin

Correct. I had a friend that bought a used 30BR, we scoped the barrel, saw extensive pitting, fire-cracking and a short section where one land was badly eroded. We, in our wisdom, pronounced the barrel DOA. My friend then proceeded to shoot it anyway, and within two months he had broken all our local club score records with it, including the only perfect score in club history.

In fairness, after 1500 rounds or so the barrel "gave up the ghost" and was replaced, but the new barrel has yet to match the accuracy of the 30BR with its raggedy barrel.

A gunsmith friend of mine a few years ago did some repair work on a 22-250, just a sporter rifle not a br rifle, the man never returned to his shop to pick up the rifle, a number of years went by and Brock decided to take the rifle out to shoot some varmints, the barrel he described to look like unfinished concrete,..very rough, he went to site it in and it put 5 in a ragged hole, instead of varmint hunting he spent the day shooting paper, the rifle shot better then most his finely built rifles, he used it for varmints for a number of years and it always shot well, so as forum boss said you can't always judge a book by it's cover or a barrel by how it appears.
Wayne.

 

[BigDMT]

I agree not to judge a book by its cover. My father's 300 win mag probably had a badly worn barrel for many years before it finally started giving inconsistent accuracy. Especially considering he has been shooting the same gun with that barrel since 1982. But it always shot good so we left it alone. If a gun will shoot how you want it to, who cares what's going on in the barrel?

Even with his extremely worn barrel, he still managed to take his antelope buck this last season at 425 yards But that will be the last kill that barrel makes because his new barrel is in the mail.