I was thinking of getting a .220 swift a few years ago. I really like high speed rounds, but the salesman told me about 1,000 rounds fired, I would wear out the barrel. Last night I saw a 6mm cal 55gr bullet that goes over 4,000 fps with factory loads. WOW! I love to shoot, but I have never worn out a firearm of any kind by shooting it out. I would guess on a varmint rifle it would be easy to shoot 1,000 rounds if a guy went p/dog hunting.
Have you ever worn a gun out by use? I mean any gun. I would guess some comp shooteres here would have done this, but I have never come close. How many rounds does it take to wear out something like a 1911, or an AR? Does it just need parts replaced, or is it just a retired gun once it gets used to much?

When my issued pistol was a S&W(5906&6906)I cracked three different frames. Two 5906's(steel frame) and one 6906(alloy)The 6906 cracked in half by the slide stop hole, the only thing keeping the front end on was the trigger guard. I didn't have more than 5-6000 through either one.
I've seen hords of Beretta locking blocks break. One Beretta had the whole left side of the frame rails break off--it still worked!

Now that I have a Glock, no worries!

If you are looking for a shotgun, get either a basic 870 or if you can find a S&W 3000(basically an 870) it will be like the Energizer Bunny.
They will work and take more abuse than you can afford to give it. You can't afford enough ammo to break one.

Mark

I have a Remmy 700 in 22-250 that is giving me fits, accuracy wise. I cant attribut it to the number of rounds just yet, but I wonder.

Marlin Model 60(or whatever the tube fed semi is).  After who knows how many thousands of rounds I put through it (15,000-20,000 rounds wouldn't be far off), it refused to fire without jamming. This was partly my fault since the only thing I had to clean it with was a Hoppes kit and none of the good chemicals I have today.

I had an RG .22 I shot 3 rounds through.

Here is the only gun I have ever truly worn out.  It is a Mattel Colt .45 and I fired it approximately 8 million times.  I got it for Christmas around 1955.

Finally the cylinder quit rotating and I had to retire it.  I killed many, many Indians with it and was sorry to see it give out.

I haven't shot the same firearm enough to wear one out yet.  I have been shooting the hell out of a Baby Eagle 9mm lately as sort of a test to see how many rounds it will fire without some sort of breakeage.  I guess I'm up to about 10k
rounds on it now with hardly any signs of wear and tear that I can see with the naked eye.  No problems yet that were not ammo related. (cheap gun show reloads)

My father had a Browning Auto-5 that he waterfowl hunted with every year for many, many years.  Shot all kinds of shells from Wanda plastic shells to the later more powerfull 2 3/4
inch steel shot magnum shells.  I could not begin to tell you how many thousands of rounds were put through that gun. Many years of saltwater marsh and Off bug spray had removed most of the finish and bluing but, the gun still functioned fine.  Too bad it came up missing a couple of years after he passed away.
I would have loved to have had it a a keepsake.

yes, a couple auto ordinance 45 auto's, then i wore out a colt

Over 4000 rounds through a mini-30. Doesn't group worth a shit anymore but bump fires very nicely.

I have two rebuilds on my match 1911 after 13 years of competition.  The barrel wearing out in 1000 rounds is a bit on the low side.  I have seen match barrels go well into the thousands.

I have a Garand that has three rebuild marks on it from different aresnal services.  

Ive shot out barrels. Depends on the caliber how long it takes, the barrel material, and how much idiocy was involved (friends dont let friends lap their barrels). Also depends on how picky you are - I hold on longer than I should. The rifle is fine, though its no longer my match gun.

Got an old IPSC .45 thats pretty well shot out. I got it second or third hand in high school, then proceeded to shoot the piss out of it. Always a poor situation for longevity, a range within walking distance. No idea how many rounds been through it. Its as loose as Paris Hilton, but better looking.

Buy it, shoot it, rebarrel it if you have too, or you might get away with chopping and re-cutting a chamber. I use .223 to varmint hunt, and the Savage I bought as a temp fix still corks em, after more than 10 years. Little less then 4000 rounds according to the pilot.

After so many explosions, metal fatigues, deforms and erodes. If you shoot enough, you'll need to fix something - the reciever will be around longest, dependent, but eventually it'll go too. Part of the fun.

Luck
Alac

Not a gun, but a few barrels.

Barrels, triggers, and other assorted parts are all expendable parts of the COMPETIVE shooting game. For example, an AR SS barrel generally lasts somewhere between 3500-5000 rounds before it loses pinpoint accuracy.

OTOH, a chrome lined Colt barrel lasts about 20K+ rounds before it's junk. Of course, it never had true accuracy to begin with.(IE it wasn't a match barrel to begin with.)

As for wearing out a GUN, no.

But I am on trigger #2 and barrel #3 of my AR.


To truly try and answer your question, look at a gun the same way you look at a car. When's the last time you wore out a frame?

A gun really is a sum of all of it's parts, no matter what the so-called experts tell you.

Take care of almost any firearm and replace parts as necessary and it will last indefinitly.


The gospel according to Piccolo. At least as he sees it.


BTW< Althought I shoot competitively, it'll be a cold day in hell when I finally 'Leg out'. IE, I'm not that good. I only shoot in a league because it's fun.


Pic, Out.

43,000+ rounds through my SIG P226 (bought in Germany in 1990).  I replaced the barrel with a Bar-Sto after about 20,000rnds.  The slide started to get a little loose, but I pinched the rolled steel slide in a vice to tighten it up.  Broke the trigger draw bar back in 1998.  Had it refinished after the muzzle rusted in my safe in 1999.  Haven't had any problems with the infamous "frame cracking" I've heard legend of.  I'll fire another 40,000rnds before it's done.

I have a '39 Win model 70 in 220 swift that belonged to my great uncle from about 1941 or thereabouts that he used as a state hunter for over 25 years. I don't know exactly how many rounds he shot through that ol gun but it was alot and she still prints nearly same hole groups @ 100-150 yds. , not bad for an old gun.
That's not 1000's of rounds target shooting though, if I look back it probably only has a couple thousand through it since he did alot of trapping and those critters got dispatched with a 22lr if necessary.  The 220 swift is a quite effective round. And as long as you keep yer speed somewhat under 4k fps your barrel will last much longer. Properly cared for actions on good guns get smoother with use, although they may need a little tlc now and then, as long as you're not shootin some super hot high pressure loads that really stress things.

No, but I have a 338 RUM that wore me out pretty quick.

Quoted: Marlin Model 60(or whatever the tube fed semi is).  After who knows how many thousands of rounds I put through it (15,000-20,000 rounds wouldn't be far off), it refused to fire without jamming. This was partly my fault since the only thing I had to clean it with was a Hoppes kit and none of the good chemicals I have today.

Same here. But it was quality time doing it.

Barrels on across the course and long range rifles, triggers where either tuned or rebuilt when new barrels where screwed in. Barrels where recrowned as needed.

7.62 x2
30-338 x3
300win mag x2

Barrels were changed due to throat erosion, the 30-338 at 1000-1500 rds where cut back and would see another 500rds or so then scraped.

I stretched the bolt-stop pin holes in a 10/22 receiver after shooting it for 15 years.  The pin will stay in the correct position if I tape it the right way, but I retired it anyway.  Nothing ever broke on it in those 15 hard years of abuse, so it deserved to rest in peace.  After all, a new one only costs $200.