Can a rifle barrel wear out, and if so, how many shots would it take to wear one out?

Question

I have an older 30.06 and wonder if over time it will lose accuracy because of wearing out.

Answer 1

It depends on what you consider worn out. But yes, rifles will slowly loose accuracy the more shots that are fired, and how often they are fired, the rate they are fired, the "hotness" of the load and the amount of proper or improper cleaning that is done.

As far as accuracy if you expect a rifle to be accurate only if it shoots .5 MOA you will find that barrel life will be considerably shorter than someone who is willing to allow a barrel to shoot 3-4 MOA. (MOA roughly equals 1" per 100 yds.) Many shooters are not able to shoot well enough to notice serious degradation in accuracy.

The poster who comments about the qualification with military service rifles may not realize that to hit a 20" by 40" tall sillouette at 500 yards all one needs is a rifle that will reliably shoot just under 4 MOA. This same gun will only shoot a 4" group at 100 yards and most shooters should be disappointed with that for a hunting rifle out of the box.

Also hotter faster calibers wear faster than slower calibers.

So for you, decide what you consider accurate. Take your rifle out and practice with it so you know it's level of accuracy or rather how well you can shoot it. Watch for changes and document the results. You may find that your rifle gets "more accurate"... because your skill in shooting becomes better!

Answer 2

Shot Out Barrel

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Can a rifle barrel wear out, and if so, how many shots would it take to wear one out?
I have an older 30.06 and wonder if over time it will lose accuracy because of wearing out.

Answer 4

It will happen over a large number of rounds. I recall reading with M1 Garand rifles (also chambered in 30-06) that 1000 rounds fired would be seen as approximately 1 incriment on a throat errosion gauge. When gauging the barrels, the gauge will have (IIRC) 11 marks one being considered 0 or a new barrel and the last one 10 considered failing. If the barrel reads 10, this basically means that the throat has erroded by .010" or ten-thousandths of an inch. A rebarreling would be recommended at this point, or handloading and seating the bullets a little bit shallower.
I would say as long as you clean the gun carefully and avoid excessively heating the barrel of your gun with rapid firing; you can expect to get atleast 10,000 rounds of out it.

Answer 5

The U.S. Army tested several barrels in the 1920's If I remember correctly. These were .30/06 chambered barrels and placed on machine rests for the testing. I don't have the article in front of me but I believe that they saw a deterioration of accuracy after about 200,000 rounds or there abouts. The barrels were fired until they were unable to attain what the Army considered satisfactory 'battlefield' accuracy which I can't remember the group size they allowed. This was well over 500,000 rounds. when the barrels were cut lengthwise (at various stages of the test on selected barrels) erosion of the throat was the prime reason for the decline in accuracy, not really the barrel lands and grooves.
So I am confident I shall never wear one of my barrels out.
Some of todays high velocity rounds may in fact erode the barrel more quickly, but again not something I worry about.
Oh, another interesting item I recall from the test data, several of the barrels became more accurate after firing several thousand rounds. Just kind of getting warmed up for the real test I guess.

Answer 6

Well, everyone has pretty much answer the question....

But if you 3006 is a bolt action hunting rifle, I doubt you will EVER shoot that many rounds to wear out the barrel.

Answer 7

Some of the hot small bore varmit calibres can wear out after a few thousand rounds or less but it would be hard to shoot enough to wear out a 30/06. It's much more likley to wear out a bore by improper cleaning than shooting. The crown at the end of the muzzle is especially vunerable to this and is critical to good accuracy.

Answer 8

Yes, a rifle barrel can burn out. I've heard of 7mm Remington Magnum barrels burning out in as little as 2,000 rounds. I knew of one man who burned out his 1911 .45 acp barrel with two boxes of ammo by rapid firing it.

Your .30-06 should be fine unless its been fired over four or five thousand times. Try fitting a live round down the muzzle end. If it doesn't go through it is still okay. If you want to make your rifle barrel last longer you can actually have them hard-chromed on the inside. A worn out rifle barrel can sometimes be re-lined or replaced, so there's still hope for these rifles.

Best.

H

Answer 9

It is likely your shoulder will wear out before the barrel does on the 06. I bet that is why it is percieved as diminishing over time.

It is possible, though not probable.

I shot Expert 4 times in the military using M16's that dated a long way back and have fired thousands of rounds.

Answer 10

It is possible to wear one out, but HIGHLY unlikely, unless you shoot Competitions or Matches on a regular basis. It would help to know what make and model you have, but most modern rifles made from the 1940's to present would take many thousands of rounds to wear out, or even show signs of accuracy loss due to wear......