Most people who talk about the short life of a SS barrel have never owned a SS barrel.  Here is a true story for you to help gauge SS barrel life.

A fellow instructor asked me to rebuild his duty weapon into an A3 configuration.  While I was doing this, I did my usual full inspection.  His weapon was 11 or 12 years old, and had seen heavy use in his own training, in training others, and in his regular shooting as an avid gun owner.  

While going through my inspection, I found the lugs of the barrel extension had slightly peened.  The SS barrel itself was still fine, and while it might not have been cutting sub-moa groups, it was still shooting  well within acceptable limits.  I replaced it with another SS barrel.

The moral of this story is that a SS barrel will work quite well for most people, and while its extreme accuracy may drop off and turn into just a "good barrel", the point is that it isn't going to come apart or stop shooting well like many people here with no experience like to claim.

When I asked him how many rounds he thought he had put through the barrel, his estimate was at least 40-50k, but admitted he didn't know, and that it could have been more.