Do stainless barrels realy last longer?

[Cal]

A few years back I bought a ruger rifle with a stainless steel barrel. The advantages of the stainless barrels as told to me by the salesman was its corrosion resistance and that you could run more rounds through them without them being "shot out". Although I believe the first to be true a few years of welding has shown me that, at least with the grades of stainless commonly used in steel fabrication, stainless steel seems to react MORE poorly to heat than regular steel. It heats up significantly faster, it is slower to cool off, and it suffers more from heat related side effects such as distortion and the loss of alloying ellements. My ruger still shoots fine but I would like to ask those with actual experience if a stainless barrel does actualy stand up to more shooting. I am not looking for a general opinion gleaned 3rd hand from a salesman but answeres from folks who have some actual experience on the subject.

[jasonburrows]

I have +/- 2000 rounds through my M-77 stainless and it still shoots straight

[Skinnydipper]

Originally Posted by Cal

A few years back I bought a ruger rifle with a stainless steel barrel. The advantages of the stainless barrels as told to me by the salesman was its corrosion resistance and that you could run more rounds through them without them being "shot out". Although I believe the first to be true a few years of welding has shown me that, at least with the grades of stainless commonly used in steel fabrication, stainless steel seems to react MORE poorly to heat than regular steel. It heats up significantly faster, it is slower to cool off, and it suffers more from heat related side effects such as distortion and the loss of alloying ellements. My ruger still shoots fine but I would like to ask those with actual experience if a stainless barrel does actualy stand up to more shooting. I am not looking for a general opinion gleaned 3rd hand from a salesman but answeres from folks who have some actual experience on the subject.

I believe the range of heat while welding that your speaking of is significantly higher than a barrel will ever be subjected to. No metallurgical/physical changes occur at < 900 F.

[Dick284]

I'm quite confidant is saying the difference between Cromemoly steel barrels and Stainless steel barrels has nothing to do with barrel life.

Barrel life is more a result of the care or lack there of(barrel heat) taken by the "nut behind the bolt."

[Cal]

I am aware that welding would subject steel to much higher heats than shooting ever would. I have found though that with stainless even the simple act of grinding paint off can heat it to the point where it is too hot to handle with bare hands. I guess how hot the barrel get depends more on the owner than the steel. I like my stainless gun for the fact that it can take a beating without the dings and scratches showing up on the metal the way it does on a blued action. Much the same reason I suppose that synthetic stocks are percived to be tougher than wooden ones.

[catnthehat]

No.
Cat

[Chung66]

Does that mean you can mess your barrel up by running it to hot?

[Matt L.]

Uhh, no offense intended there Cat, but could ya perhaps be a wee bit more elaborate there?

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by Chung66

Does that mean you can mess your barrel up by running it to hot?

Have you ever heard of throat errosion?

That's the end result of pumping round after round through a barrel. It happens a lot faster with calibers with a bass ackwards expansion ratio(over bore)

Hence the comment about the nut behind the bolt. Or perhaps it's the jerk behind the trigger.

In other words user abuse!

[Solothurn]

All things being equal, Ie same quality of barrel, made with same rifling technique, the diiference in longevity are debateable, and marginal at best.
How hot a barrel is run will do more to determine how long it will last.

Anyone who has used an acytlene torch to cut any steel has experienced that it is far easier to cut said steel if it has been preheated.
Same thing with barrels, fire cracking and throat erosion happen far quicker on barrels that guys shoot until they are far too hot to handle.

I have a 300 win mag that has a is fairly heavy stainless barrel and has never been shot to the point that the barrel temperature is more than 20 degrees higher than ambiant temperture. This rifle has over 5000 rounds down the bore and still shoots under 1/2 moa easily.
Normally a 300 win mag is said to be shot out at about 1/2 the round count I have through this 1.
I have seen a couple of barrels shot out in as little as 100 rounds, this is part grossly overbore caliber, but mostly getting the barrel hot enough to roast a pig with.

Yet another good reason to own several rifles. You can switch and shoot something else while another cools down

[ctd]

The military uses a Chromoly barrells for the heat dissapation on it's Machine guns. If Stainless was of better quailty for heat dissapation then that is what they would be using.
I think that pretty much sums up about the heat side of things.

[Solothurn]

Originally Posted by ctd

The military uses a Chromoly barrells for the heat dissapation on it's Machine guns. If Stainless was of better quailty for heat dissapation then that is what they would be using.
I think that pretty much sums up about the heat side of things.

Most MGs are Chrome lined, some were stellite lined, IE Ma Duece
Chromemoly steel was about all she wrote back then as well.
I am not sure about any military using the best of anything.
The M16 and M60s immediately come to mind, there were and are FAR better options both back when they were adopted for use and now.

[ctd]

We don't use the M16 or the M60 in Canada, We use the C7a1 and a2, along with the C6 FN. Both good weapons

[bobinthesky]

Ruger was not alone in their thinking. Winchester though stainless was the way to go years ago in their .220 swift and .243 winchester rifles, both of which can be barrel burners. I can't say what, if anything, was ever proven either way. As has already been said, the best way to make a rifle barrel last is to not over heat it!

[Solothurn]

Originally Posted by ctd

We don't use the M16 or the M60 in Canada, We use the C7a1 and a2, along with the C6 FN. Both good weapons

Call it what you like but the C7 IS an M16, yah yah I know, it is made by Dimaco, which is Canadian for Colt, same company owns both. tomAtoe, tomatoe, I beg to differ on how fine the M16 is as a combat rifle having been issue 1 for a short time in 1969 for combat use. The number of shots to make "a body count verifyable" is much higher with the little bullets, my experience was that it took far less 30 cal bullets to ensure a man stayed down permanently. Personally if I had any sway with the DND Canadian forces would still be using FNs, I not the old 1s, like the L1A1s or C1s I think Canada called them.
The FN Mag58 IS a fine MG
Thank God M60s were never adopted up here, they are junk. And yes I had use of 1 of those too, which is what I base my comments on.

[ctd]

The M16 of the 60's is different of the rifles nowadays. Although the bullet is the same some. The rest of the rifle itself is upgraded. I can speak for myself when I say the Cromoly inserts are some of the most reliable high heat high shot barrels ever.
I only seen and expieranced one barrel failure and that was after a major range shoot, thousands of rounds through that barrell, and it was already an old barrell before I got it. Bullets tumbling out of the end of the barrell was kinda funny, I had asked the Weapond Tech prior to the shoot if the barrell was going to be ok as it looked kinda pitted and distorted. He said it was fine.

Needless to say seeing tracer rounds tumble 20 feet in front of you is not a easy feeling. That barrell has seen tens of thousands of rounds through it. Blank and ball. TO me proves that cromoly barrels last.

For heat dissapation we had to change out barrells every 200 rounds, that rarley ever happend, at times you could see the bullets travelling through the barrells they were so hot. accuracy was affected some what but they still hit their targets. during and after.

I am a believer in Cromoly.

[Solothurn]

Originally Posted by ctd

The M16 of the 60's is different of the rifles nowadays. Although the bullet is the same some. The rest of the rifle itself is upgraded. I can speak for myself when I say the Cromoly inserts are some of the most reliable high heat high shot barrels ever.
I only seen and expieranced one barrel failure and that was after a major range shoot, thousands of rounds through that barrell, and it was already an old barrell before I got it. Bullets tumbling out of the end of the barrell was kinda funny, I had asked the Weapond Tech prior to the shoot if the barrell was going to be ok as it looked kinda pitted and distorted. He said it was fine.

Needless to say seeing tracer rounds tumble 20 feet in front of you is not a easy feeling. That barrell has seen tens of thousands of rounds through it. Blank and ball. TO me proves that cromoly barrels last.

For heat dissapation we had to change out barrells every 200 rounds, that rarley ever happend, at times you could see the bullets travelling through the barrells they were so hot. accuracy was affected some what but they still hit their targets. during and after.

I am a believer in Cromoly.

The rifles have improved over the last 30 years, they are far more accurate now, to be sure, but the basic operating platform is almost exactly the same.

I think you are missing the "Chrome lined" part of the equation, this is done in Chrome moly barrels only as it will not plate to stainless steel.
Chrome moly steel is more forgiving in heating and cooling than stainless I agree, but for most sporting uses there is not enough difference to matter.

My bitch with the M16 is more caliber related than gun related. Having to dump 1/2 a mag into someone to ensure he is no longer a threat is crap, knowing 1 or 2,30 cal rounds would have done the deed faster and better.