I can’t seem to find any realible information on AR-15 barrel life. I know it is
subjective and depends on a lot of factors. And each barrel is different.
I have 2 AR-15’s: 1. Bushmaster A2 20" barrel, chromed bore and chamber.
2. Colt A2 (MT6601) 20" chromed chamber only.
I fire between 100-200rds per each range trip.
Semi Auto only, slow fire at targets, 5-10 round groups.
Occasionally dump a complete 20 or 30 round mag, for fun.
No Full Auto or bump firing.
Complete cleaning after each range session.
How many rounds will an AR-15 barrel last with this type of use?
Estimated?
I’ve heard anywhere from 6000 to 20000 rounds. That doesn’t
tell me anything.
How many rounds have you put through yours and have you ever worn out
a barrel? Has anyone heard of barrels wearing out with my type of firing?
It really depends, and the next question would be how much mechanical accuracy loss will you notice?
As an example, I had a RRA national match service rifle barrel that died after 1100-1200 rounds. If I was only shooting at 100 yards, I would have never noticed. At 600 yards, it just quit shooting one practice day. The barrel still does fairly well at 100.
If you are only shooting out to 100 yards, you might get 15-20,000 rounds through it before you really see precision degrading. The best way is to monitor throat erosion, or just replace it when it isn’t shooting as well as you want it to.
Regardless, your barrel is wearing out as you shoot it.
For starters… Unless you keep a Log on your Guns and know your specific rd count, barrel life is a moot point, the short answer is you run the barrel until the accuracy you come to expect or that you can achieve on a good day with good ammo starts to degrade.
Thee are guns with 20K thru them still shooting 4MOA or less (The rack grade AR is a 4MOA gun with Mil Spec ammo)
To many guys ask that barrel life question and have no clue How many rds they have thru the gun anyhow, or what there accuracy really is on there gun. or are shooting crap ammo.
90% of AR owners will never shoot the life out of there barrel in there life time.
I’m on 14K on a rack grade HBAR barrel and it still shoots very well with Mil spec ammo .
When I start missing… then I’ll slap a new barrel on it…
“To many guys ask that barrel life question and have no clue How many rds they have thru the gun anyhow, or what there accuracy really is on there gun. or are shooting crap ammo.”
If I may add, when asked on round count, many will overestimate the amount of rounds through the barrel.
I have one AR with more than 10,000 rounds through it, as it is the one I’ve had the longest, shot the most, and has been to several classes and high round count matches. It’s in no threat of needing replacement soon.
To really wear out your barrel, you’ll need to get it hot, a lot. From your current regimen, you’re not there yet.
That’s the type of info I’m looking for, Thanks.
I do keep an accurate round count in all of my firearms.
I hear so many different estimates for barrel life.
I had a gunsmith tell me that he saw an AR-15 that had the rear half of
the rifling completely gone. This barrel would still shoot a 5 inch group
at 100yds?
You hear a wide variation in responsed to this question, because different people have different definitions of what they call “worn out”.
A competitive match shooter might ditch a barrel with 4000 rounds thru it, that a recreational shooter would think is a perfect barrel and shoot it for another 5000 rounds or more.
A guy who just blasts away in an old rock quarry, shooting at a refrigerator that was dumped there, might feel like his barrel practically never wears out, because he can still hit somewhere on that refrigerator at 30 yds away.
A benchrest shooter might ditch a $500 barrel at a very early stage, just because it might open up his group by a few hundredths of an inch.
It’s all dependent on what you recognize as your required accuracy level, given your usage.
Another thing to remember about any internet comments, is that you have no idea what “frame of reference” the other posters are coming from in many cases.
I’d worry about paying for the amount of ammo necessary to wear out the barrel before I worry about having to pay for the barrel itself!
If I can afford to shoot out my barrel, it means I’ve had a heck of a good time and done a lot of shooting. “New barrel day” will be a glorious day indeed!
Over 2005 and 2006 I put over 20k through a Bushmaster 14.5" 1/9" twist M4 clone. I can actually document 20K but because the gun was used as the shop bitch it actually had way more rounds through her. It was used for testing suppressors, shooting Tac. matches, Service Conditions matches and a Tactical Response fighting rifle class in addition to casual range use. We bore scoped it using a Hawkeye borescope. After a total F class type cleaning you could clearly see the chamber was toast, the bore was totally hammered and while it was not a smoothbore it was clearly worn. The barrel still shot inside 3moa out to 300m as I used it quite successfully in a service rifle match . I was consistently hitting the Bull and V Bull on Fig.11 and Fig.12 targets. Even at 500m I was able to make good hits on the Fig.11 and Fig12 targets. At 500 (yards) I was able to score 48/50 on the Fig.12 with an Elcan. I would say if you shoot good ammo and take care of the barrel they can last a lifetime for the armed civilian/competitive shooter. I never managed to shoot any full auto so no data there. We still have a XM177 barrel at work that is virtually a shotgun barrel, one day I would like to mount it and see how she shoots to 100m. Hope this helps.
Best,
Ray
