Burning up a barrel?

[pilotimb]

How durable are modern gun barrels? I know that extended high rates of fire can heat up the barrel and ruin the rifling.

I just bought a used SA 1911a1 in 9mm (great gun, love how it shoots). This afternoon I took it out and put about 200 rounds through it in about 20 minutes. The barrel got really hot and was untouchable.

Any damage?

[CalNRA]

it's normal. you were doing 10 rounds a minute and htat's not nearly enough to damage the barrel. The rule of thumb for me is as long as I am reloading the rounds, I am giving the barrel enough time to rest. It's pretty hard to ruin a pistol barrel from a reputable maker without:
1) shooting it full auto
2)break your wrist
3) go broke in ammo cost

When the army did the test back in 1910 with much inferior metalurgy they just shot a hundred rounds at a time and let the gun cool for 5 minutes and keep shooting. I think you are fine.

in 20 minutes that would mean 3-400 rounds in 100 round strings.

[ohsmily]

The only time you have to worry about cooking a barrel is going full auto OR if you are shooting a rifle like an ar-15 for example, and you have multiple pre-loaded high capacity magazines that you are blowing through as fast as you can pull the trigger...you can cook the barrel and destroy it if you did this long enough. They aren't meant as continuous fire weapons (no provision for quick barrel change, no cooling system, etc).

A barrel too hot to touch is very normal and certainly doesn't mean that you are "burning it up"...if your barrel is starting to glow, you are pretty much already screwed.

Forgot where I saw it, but they did a failure test on an ar-15 series rifle and shot it and shot it until the barrel was literally drooping b/c the metal was was getting very soft and malleable from the heat, but the bullets kept finding their way down and out the barrel until one pierced the barrel midway (b/c it was bent and drooping) and finally caused it to be unshootable.

[JPglee1]

Ive got 4000rds thru my MAK with utmost reliability and still sharp grooves in the rifling...

I heard from the range dude at The Gun Store in LV they say they routinely shoot 250,000+ rounds thru the rental MG barrels...

One AK had over 3 million rounds thru the original bolt/bolt carrier and receiver!!! 3 barrel changes in 3 million rounds... not bad.


JP

[CalNRA]

Ive got 4000rds thru my MAK with utmost reliability and still sharp grooves in the rifling...

I heard from the range dude at The Gun Store in LV they say they routinely shoot 250,000+ rounds thru the rental MG barrels...

One AK had over 3 million rounds thru the original bolt/bolt carrier and receiver!!! 3 barrel changes in 3 million rounds... not bad.


JP

3 MILLION rounds, that's a lot of dough man....

that's like 600k at 20 cent a pop for surplus ammo...

[saki302]

As a MG rental, it's easy to see how 3 million rounds could go through a gun. When I go to NC to shoot my uncle's FA guns, we can easily go through a few thousand rounds in one afternoon.

-Dave

[m1371]

How durable are modern gun barrels? I know that extended high rates of fire can heat up the barrel and ruin the rifling.

I just bought a used SA 1911a1 in 9mm (great gun, love how it shoots). This afternoon I took it out and put about 200 rounds through it in about 20 minutes. The barrel got really hot and was untouchable.

Any damage?

It's doubtful you're ever going to destroy a handgun barrel, even if you're doing rapid-fire strings like that. There are plenty of rental guns out there that get abused on a daily basis and have insanely high round counts through them, but they're still going strong.

Way back in '91 when I was in the PI, I put approx 10,000rds through an m249 SAW in one day on the range. The thing kept going and going and going and going........ Same two barrels all day long.

[pilotimb]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Next question is:
Where can I find a .22 conversion kit for it? I know Marvel and a few other companies make conversions for the .45, however this one is a 9mm. Will the same kit work? Or do I need a specific 9mm to .22 conversion.

Thanks

[m1371]

I'm not familiar with the Marvel conversion kit, but I do know that Advantage Arms makes a .22LR conversion kit for 1911's.

http://www.advantagearms.com/

I've got one for my Glock 19 and it's good to go. I would suspect that their 1911 kits are of similar quality.

[wuhungsix]

Since its a 1911 frame the Marvel kit should work. www.Midwayusa.com actually has Marvels on sale right now. Not sure if thats a good $$.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=534360

For 1911s there is also the Kimber kit, Advantage Arms, and Ciener. I always hear people complain about the Ciener. My buddy has a Ciener for his glock and its so so. Marvel is said to be the best of the group with Kimber and AA not far behind.

I just got a Kadet conversion for my CZ 75B and I'm loving it.

[anotherted]

I like it when my handguard starts smoking on my M1A.

[capitol]

I like it when my handguard starts smoking on my M1A.

I wouldn't say I like it when my handguard smokes, but it does make me smile a little bit

[Matt-man]

Where can I find a .22 conversion kit for it? I know Marvel and a few other companies make conversions for the .45, however this one is a 9mm. Will the same kit work? Or do I need a specific 9mm to .22 conversion.

I'm pretty sure the 9mm uses a different ejector, and that keeps .22 conversions (at least the Marvel) from fitting. I'll check a little later when I get a few minutes.

[Matt-man]

I tried to install my Marvel Unit 2 on my Springfield PX9134L, and the ejector doesn't clear.