Shot out barrels

[Incitatus]

You know, I'm not sure that I have ever seen one.  I am not certain that I would even recognize one if it did.  Is this a common occurrence?  Shot out barrels, I mean.

[Hairtrigger]

I would say many barrels are assumed to be shot out but instead need a good cleaning

[DEACONLLB]

I have never seen one and maybe the odds would be very high. I have seen barrels that the bore was pitted and rusty from neglect and yet they shot perfect and have seen some that were new and could not hit anything with them. One thing that I can say from years of running a sporting goods store is that with mass produced products you can not be sure of what you are getting. When I was reloading I weighed each bullet and also each powder charge, Yes it was slow but I knew what I had when I finished. This subject came up because of a member having key hole problems and If I were to guess I would say the bullets are too small,don't take much to throw every thing off and could also be seating the bullet too deep
but I ame not sure that would cause the problem. Others may know for sure.
Deaconllb

[Keith L]

I wish I had enough time to shoot to shoot out some of mine...

[Hairtrigger]

Shot out to a bench rest shooter is different than shot out to me. The definition is important

[Incitatus]

Shot out to a bench rest shooter is different than shot out to me. The definition is important

I suppose that every shot you take reduces the amount of barrel by a few atoms or more.  So I guess that "shot out" is more of a continuum than a specific place. 

I didn't want to get philosophical, more "common agreement". 

I will accept any definition I suppose...

[skb2706]

I've seen one. A few years back I bought an old Savage 110 in 22-250, used from a pawn shop. We used it on many a prairie dog shoot. It was incredibly accurate and reliable but there were times we shot it til smoke curled up around the barrel channel. Since I have always loaded with the bullet kissing the lands I could tell over time the rifling was going away. Finally got to the point that you could no longer load that  way and we could see the accuracy was slowly going with it. Pulled the barrel and put on a new one.....changing the barrel is not the end of the world.

Estimated number of rounds thru the original barrel having no idea how many the previous owner shot.......4000.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  We have shot out several 22-250 barrels when shooting alot of prairie dogs. Usually, the throat is ruined and rips the bullet jacket. Also, each shot to a degree cuts away the rifling. I discussed this with one of the Serria guys one time and they had an idea of how much each shot cut the rifling. Now I can't remember what caliber we were talking about. With 7mm and ,30 cal. rifles the throat can be shot out, and the rifle still accurate, but the speed drops off. When I was a kid, my neighbor had an old remodeled Springfield. It was a nice job, but we tried shooting different bullet wts. in it and it would only group with 220's. We took it to a gunsmith, and he explained the throat was badly worn. It was the first time I ever saw this condition first hand. A new barrel corrected the problem.

[hunterspistol]

   I've seen a 9mm Octagon barrel that was ripped, rifling was a fuzzy looking velvet, nothing left to twist the bullet with. The grooves were shiny to a degree, the lands were just dark lines.

[Ladobe]

Yep, just like with any other type of firearm it is very possible.   The hotter factory cartridges, hot or overbore wildcats would certainly shoot out a barrel eventually.    As suggested, some tapering-off might be acceptable to a hunter that wouldn't be acceptable to a BR shooter.   But then, how many folks do you know above the number zero that shoot competition BR with Contenders or Encores?     

[skb2706]

No BR for me but I use  Contender carbines in the prairie dog fields almost exclusively. With the kind of shooting we sometimes get I can see using up a .204 Ruger barrel in the future.

[OLDHandgunner]

I wish I had enough time to shoot to shoot out some of mine...

ME  TOO !!!!