Barrel Wear vs Bullet Weight

[10ring]

I've been using a 115gr bullet in my open class gun. Lately I've been wondering if I'm risking wearing out the barrel faster by using a faster, higher pressure load?

[Matt Cheely]

You're more at risk from a hot powder or getting the barrel too hot, not bullet weight.

[Joe4d]

faster doesnt mean higher pressure. Barrel wear will come from friction and heat. Jacketed bullets are harder than plated or cast but not are the only game in town for open for other reasons. Some powders have some abrasive qualities. And many people believe cleaning or improper cleaning will do more wear than shooting.

[superdude]

is there consensus about which powders have abrasive qualities? i've heard this comment before but have never seen it tagged to a specific gunpowder. which powders fall into the abrasive category?

thanks!

[G-ManBart]

The two biggest factors in barrel wear are the total pounds of powder that goes through the tube and how hot you get the gun while shooting it. Put 500 rounds through the gun as fast as you can load and shoot and you'll cause more wear than if you put 5,000 at a pace slow enough to keep the gun from getting hot (generally meaning too hot to touch).

The comments about abbrasive powders usually go back to the very earliest Accurate Arms #7. They found one of the ingredients was causing a wear problem. They substituted another ingredient and the problem went away entirely. I have yet to hear of any current powders that are known for being abbrasive. If it's a powder that requires noticably higher powder charges, that will cause more wear than a similar pressure load using much less powder, but it's not about how gritty the powder is.

What we load/use for USPSA shooting really doesn't cause excess wear....it's the huge volume of shooting, how fast we shoot and how hot we get the guns (on a repeated, regular basis). R,

[splashdown]

Check these articles from Bob at Brazos Custom.

http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0611.htm

http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0509.htm

[benny hill]

Faster powders will burn out the throat faster, 3n37 than slow powders like ww571. The amount does not matter, only the pressure & temp.

[10ring]

I'm using N350 with a 115 grain bullet, and I don't shoot too fast, so it sounds like I'm probably okay.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[G-ManBart]

Faster powders will burn out the throat faster, 3n37 than slow powders like ww571. The amount does not matter, only the pressure & temp.

3N37 burns incredibly hot compared with other similar powders...like N350. That's why it'll wear the throat faster than a slower powder, which is usually going to burn at a lower peak.

Many of the barrel manufacturers/experts disagree with what your saying about the amount of powder not mattering. If the amount of powder didn't matter, cartridges like .220 Swift wouldn't wear out barrels faster than .22-250....at the same velocities. At some point, they suggest, part of it is the volume of powder to the bore size that becomes a critical factor. Pump more powder through a barrel of the same size and it's going to wear faster....a larger volume of gas to flame cut is what it sounds like they're suggesting.

From Lilja Precision's website FAQ's:

"The big enemy to barrel life is heat. A barrel looses most of its accuracy due to erosion of the throat area of the barrel. Although wear on the crown from cleaning can cause problems too. The throat erosion is accelerated by heat. Any fast varmint type cartridge can burn out a barrel in just a few hundred rounds if those rounds are shot one after another without letting the barrel cool between groups. A cartridge burning less powder will last longer or increasing the bore size for a given powder volume helps too. For example a .243 Winchester and a .308 Winchester both are based on the same case but the .308 will last longer because it has a larger bore."

Based off that it seems that one of the very best barrel companies is saying that the more powder per round you put down the tube, the faster the barrel is going to wear.

Does that mean I'm worried by it? Nope....10.5gr of N105 behind a MG 115jhp is my current load and that's on the high end of powder charges for 38SC.