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January 31, 2021, 04:01 PM | #1 |
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What do you do about a "shot out" bore?
I don't have one that I know of YET but I'm sure it's going to happen sooner or later.
My question is what do you do if a bore is really and truly shot out, not just in need of a good cleaning? If the rest of the rifle is in great shape and you don't want to just hang it up? I might add, which are the most common and cost effective alternatives? Re-bore, re-barrel, etc....Thanks, JJ |
January 31, 2021, 04:09 PM | #2 |
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The usual option is rebarrel.
Back to the original caliber and keep using the same dies and brass or Something Else that intrigues you. A rebore only works if you want a larger caliber. What have you got that you are worried about and how much do you shoot it? |
January 31, 2021, 04:12 PM | #3 |
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Rebarrel. I'm going to meet with my gunsmith next week to discuss that very thing for a 6mm Rem 722 I have. I've decided on using either a Brux or Hart barrel; +/- $350. I don't know at the moment how much install will cost but I'd guess $200-$300. With a few other things I want to have done I'm budgeting the whole cost at $800.
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January 31, 2021, 06:41 PM | #4 | |
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Maybe just paranoid when groups start to enlarge |
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January 31, 2021, 08:35 PM | #5 |
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I would say first a good cleaning. Huge fan of Boretech Eliminator. You could always follow up with JB bore bright and JB bore shine to make sure it is as clean as possible. then see what happens. If it is really shot out, new barrel time...
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January 31, 2021, 09:01 PM | #6 |
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Historical (kinda) note - my father had a Win 1886 in 45-90 that he traded 10 gal of gas during the depression. It had a shot out and reamed out barrel, to get rid of the rifiling, that was a 410 shotgun. Evidently it was not uncommon at that time to do such if money kept you from rebarreling. Heavy sucker.
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January 31, 2021, 10:37 PM | #7 |
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You may find that if you have a "shot out" bore that a change in bullet weight may extend the use life of the barrel. So if your barrel won't stabilize the bullet you are shooting, try going to a lighter weight bullet that does not require as much twist to stabilize. If it works, you are GTG for a while. If not, replace the barrel as suggested above.
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January 31, 2021, 11:10 PM | #8 |
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Either sell the gun towards getting a new one, or rebarrel. If you choose to rebarrel, you can pick how good of a barrel you want ($100-$600), what caliber you want, what chambering you want, and who you want to do the work. But if you want cheap and easy, sell it or trade it.
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February 1, 2021, 12:03 AM | #9 | |
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Quote:
If the the group opens up and the throat is eroded to the point you are damaging the bullets, that is when a barrel is shot out. If the throat is not eroded, in some cases you can re-crown. For an eroded throat, you can have a gunsmith cut off a little, rechamber, rethread and reinstall. Cutting and setting a barrel back used to be a common thing, now not as much. I have had it done a few times, 3 times on one rifle. It costs less than a new barrel and you get to keep the original barrel markings. The other option is, of course a new barrel. |
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February 1, 2021, 05:12 AM | #10 | |
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February 1, 2021, 09:55 AM | #11 | |
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I have seen several barrels "shot out" that had lost sufficient rifling to not stabilize the bullet properly. The rifling was virtually gone throughout most of the barrels. And yes, in my case, going to a different bullet worked just fine for another 500 rounds or so. The barrel went from keyholing to shooting 3" groups, not amazing, but definitely good enough for plinking and some drills.
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February 1, 2021, 12:36 PM | #12 |
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Most "shot out" barrels need a good cleaning. If a barrel is well and truly worn out, it's far cheaper to rebore than to rebarrel. The markings (aside from chambering) remain and the barrel is still the same contour, so no stock alterations are needed.
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February 1, 2021, 03:56 PM | #13 |
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Another possible option, seldom done these days, is to simply go to a cast bullet correctly sized for the "worn out" barrel. This can turn a rifle from one that won't hit the broad side of a barn back to one that can hit the barn door, or maybe enough better to hit the barn window again.
However, there's no free lunch and while going to cast bullet loads can get you back to "deer" level accuracy or possibly a bit better, it can't get back the high performance of certain calibers. Got a worn out .30-30 or .32 Special, cast bullets can just about return the rifle to normal. Got a worn out .223 or 243 or .300 Mag then, not so much.
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February 1, 2021, 06:23 PM | #14 |
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It can be bored out and a liner inserted.
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February 1, 2021, 10:42 PM | #15 |
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Yes, years ago, relining 22 barrels was very common. I don't hear much about it now. Never really understood how drilling and reaming a barrel and rifling a tube that is undersized for a stock barrel and gluing or soldering it in, wasless xpensive than a rebarrel.
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February 2, 2021, 11:23 AM | #16 | ||
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Quote:
It asks to be cleaned at about 800 rounds and eats about the first 1/4" of the rifling in 2500 rounds. The 1/4" after that typically has some pitting and cracking as well, so I am taking off about 0.7" each time. When the throat erosion gets to be about 1/4" the cracks just past become so jagged that I can see little pieces of copper and steel in that area and I start to get flyers. Quote:
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February 2, 2021, 12:36 PM | #17 |
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The first barrel on my 220 Swift finally had a toasted and eroded throat. For a while I used heavier bullets and seated them out further. “Chasing the lands” is what some call it. Finally I had to have it rebarreled. I think that’s your best option if a good cleaning with Boretech Eliminator doesn’t help.
And, with a new barrel you get to pick the twist you want, barrel profile, and length. |
February 2, 2021, 06:11 PM | #18 | |||
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Quote:
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February 3, 2021, 11:51 AM | #19 |
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Only sometimes. Liners are available for rimfires and a few low pressure centerfires, like 25-20, 32-20 and 44-40.
Not safe for high pressure centerfires. https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...prod10976.aspx
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February 4, 2021, 01:32 PM | #20 | |
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February 4, 2021, 06:26 PM | #21 |
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It depends what part of the rifling is worn out. Many Mosin Nagant rifles get a worn muzzle so they back bore the worn out rifling's from the muzzle to allow the good rifling's to have a snag free release from the crown.
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February 6, 2021, 10:36 AM | #22 | |
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It may not be the right answer for everyone, but it's worth looking into.
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February 6, 2021, 01:20 PM | #23 |
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To shoot all the rifling out of an enfield rifled barrel takes a long time, at least thousands of rounds. To burn the throat out could take mere hours. When I burn the throat out of a barrel; which I do at least once a year, I will sometimes set the barrel back 1.5 inches and rethread, rechamber and recrown. Sometimes I'll just buy a new barrel because it's actually cheaper to do normally. A decent machinist will need 3-4 hours on the lathe at 80-100 bucks an hour to do all that and a new drop-in barel is 250-400 bucks depending on options. My machinist charges me 20 bucks an hour so I do a lot more buying of machine work than most people might.
It's probably best to leave setting back of barrels to barrel burners like fast 6's and stupid overbore stuff like 264winmag where 1000-2000 rounds is considered a full and healthy life span. When you see life span increasing to 3000-4000 rounds on the throat then the amount of rifling that's left is getting kinda small and very worn by the time the throat is burned out and it's probably just better to do a new barrel. I don't use conventionally rifled barrels partly because the rifling in conventionally rifled (enfield rifling) wears away too, just slower than the throat. I use Caudle 3-land polygonally rifled barrels from Columbia River Arms largely because there is no rifling that sticks out which can be worn down. Instead the shape of the bore is off-round like a 3-lobed egg which causes the bullet to swage instead of engrave. So on one of my current barrels, thus far after >2300 rounds (1800 of .243AI 115's @3200fps + >500 6XC 115's @2980fps) the minimum bore diameter on my barrel has not changed at all. It was .2385 when it was brand new and it's .2385" now. A conventionally rifled barrel would see at least a couple thou of wear all the way down the length. Barrels are consumables. They're like tires. When worn, replace or retread. Replace is always a little bit better but retread can do just fine in a pinch and wastes less raw materials. |
February 6, 2021, 07:47 PM | #24 |
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JJ45,
The typical symptom for a shot-out barrel is not a uniform opening of groups, but rather you start to get fliers that are not your fault, and they get more and more frequent over a hundred rounds or so. depending on the chambering and how hot it is. The traditional treatment used to be to have the barrel shoulder moved forward a turn or maybe two in a bad case, and then rechambering. If the muzzle is too badly funneled and unevenly funneled, that doesn't work. But if it is only throat erosion, it usually does. G. David Tubb says his form of firelapping can save a throat from that for long enough to double barrel life without involving a gunsmith.
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February 6, 2021, 08:49 PM | #25 | |
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