I was reading a post the other day and someone mentioned that they were replacing their muzzleloader because the barrel was worn out. I was just wondering, how many shots should I expect before I would have to worry about this or before I noticed a loss in accuracy. I'm shoot a T/C Omega. I would think that shooting sabots would be easy on the barrel since the plastic is much softer that the barrel itself and the bullet never touches the barrel. I guess the only thing metal that touches the barrel would be the cleaning rod. Anybody have any Ideas. Do any of you use a bore guide to protect the crown of the barrel. My Omega only has about 50 rounds through it at the most. I was just wondering if this was something I should worry about and keep track of. Thanks for everyones help. I've learned so mush since I joined this forum and have become a real muzzleloader addict.
Barrel Question
- Thread starter Hulions
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A quite a few of us old times use a bore guide. You can wear anything out but it takes a lot of shoooting to wear out a sabot gun. I have put20 pounds of powder through my Triumph and it is doing just fine. The System One and the Omega have had a lot more than that through them and they still shoot just fine. Lee
The bullets don't really wear out the barrel, it's the erosion from the gasses and the ramrod grinding on the bore that do the most damage. Just like a centerfire rifle, its the throat erosion that make the barrel "worn out." I always use a ramrod guide made of delrin when I clean or load my ML guns.
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erosion
Erosion is rarely seen in loads that produce less than 45,000 psi and most muzzleloaders dont come anywhere close to this level.I have a .30-30 with 3500 rounds through it ( dont know how many the previous owner fired ,but that my count) and she shoots MOA out to 200 yards with almost boring regularity. I have a copy of the 1863 Confederate Ordnance Manual that states " After 25,000 shots fired there is no detectable enlargement of the bore" You will most likely find that your biggest headache will be plastic fouling, which for the most part is easily removed.Use the bore guide and maybe your great grandchildren will notice some wear.
Erosion is rarely seen in loads that produce less than 45,000 psi and most muzzleloaders dont come anywhere close to this level.I have a .30-30 with 3500 rounds through it ( dont know how many the previous owner fired ,but that my count) and she shoots MOA out to 200 yards with almost boring regularity. I have a copy of the 1863 Confederate Ordnance Manual that states " After 25,000 shots fired there is no detectable enlargement of the bore" You will most likely find that your biggest headache will be plastic fouling, which for the most part is easily removed.Use the bore guide and maybe your great grandchildren will notice some wear.
Swampman said:
I hear (read) this all the time and I still doubt that you can do a lot of damage to the crown with normal (careful) cleaning practice. I guess I would like to see one of the gun magazines actually do a test to see what it takes to "damage" the crown with a cleaning rod. I have used a brass muzzle guide at times to avoid contact of the rod with the muzzle but the brass contacts the muzzle and moves somewhat so; what is the difference? My inlines I clean from the rear and try to avoid contact with the muzzle when the rod extends through but in my opinion you would have to do a lot of cleaning to cause much wear. The next question is do you use a slick polished hard stainless rod that will not pick up abrasive particles or one of the plastic coated ones that are supposed to "protect the bore"? Won't the soft covering pick up and hold abrasive material? Not sure; but I suspect this is another "old wifes tails". I wish I had the time to "wear our a barrel". To answer the original question; unless you shoot a rifle thousands of times you will likely see little "wear". Many of the people that think their barrel is worn out would likely see the accuracy return if they really cleaned the barrel.
I don't believe it matters what kind of ramrod you use. I've seen teflon wrapped control cables wear a hole right through hardened armor plating on HH-53 heliocopters. The old timers would cut the end of their barrels off or have the rifling recut as often as once a year to repair this ramrod/cleaning rod wear.
Thanks for the input. It seems that if you can wear out a barrel it will take a very long time. My Omega just shoots really good right now and I want to try and keep it that way. I made a bore guide this weekend out of the last couple of inches of a funnel. It seems to work good. The tip fits about 1/4 of an inch in the bore and it is just big enough for the ram rod to slide through. I didn't like the thought of using a brass guide as I feel that it defeats the purpose. I heard some one say they had one made out of delrin. Where can I find one?
