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saiga 308 barrel life


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a friend of mine was looking at my saiga and asked me what the barrel life of my 308 is. I went online and could not find any info about this. I wondering if any of our saiga gurus on this forum could give a reasonable expectation.

 

Depends on your use. It will probably go for 10,000-20,000 rounds, it is a chrome lined military grade barrel after all.

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a friend of mine was looking at my saiga and asked me what the barrel life of my 308 is. I went online and could not find any info about this. I wondering if any of our saiga gurus on this forum could give a reasonable expectation.

 

Depends on your use. It will probably go for 10,000-20,000 rounds, it is a chrome lined military grade barrel after all.

 

It also depends on the ammo you use, if you use steal cased ammo the life will be half the value stated....

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Most of the steel jackets are plated in copper, and the steel jackets are very soft steel. Then the barrel is chrome lined, so its really hard to say.

 

I'd still figure that at 10,000 rounds through the barrel of steel jacket cheapy ammo. Your at 3600.00 in ammo costs, seems like replacing the barrel or gun would not be a huge expense.

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I can not say Ive ever heard of anyone wearing out a chrome lined Russian rifle barrel. That was the main reason I bought Saigas, that barrel.

 

Russian chrome has good rep as they are one of the few countries that don't have to import it. Unless you are using AP rounds(please tell me no one plinks this stuff away) the steel in these rounds is softer by far compared to chrome. Taken that even unlined barrels can last well over 10k rounds as long as you are firing lead or copper coated who knows how long. I have a couple of rifles(one 22LR and one 30-30) that I know must be pushing 20k by now and still haven't seen any serious drop off in accuracy.

 

I agree. Compared with the price of ammo the rifle is dirt cheep. Just buy a spare rifle.

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Steel cased ammo is harder on throats than brass cased ammo.

Throat erosion is the real enemy of a barrel. Keeping the Chamber clean will help extend the life a lot.

 

Ah ok I didn't think that a serious issue since the case expands then contracts slightly before ejection but i can see what you mean. Perhaps my compulsive cleaning issue actually does help something besides the profit margin of the gun store.

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Steel cased ammo is harder on throats than brass cased ammo.

Throat erosion is the real enemy of a barrel. Keeping the Chamber clean will help extend the life a lot.

 

I've heard that the throat erosion caused by automatic/fast paced semi auto fire is what causes mil spec rifles to use carbon steel, chrome lined barrels in lieu of stainless ones (aside from cost) in spite of their greater accuracy.

 

Is this because of a property of the carbon steel/stainless steel, or is it just because nobody's bothered to chrome plate the inside of a stainless barrel yet? This might hold some accurizing potential.

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I have over 50,000 rounds (mostly South African and Indian ammo) out of one of mine and there are no visible signs of errosion in the bore and the chamber and throat gauges shows it's still mil spec... Go figure... :super:

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  • 2 weeks later...

With copper jacketed ammo and normal regular maintenance and cleaning AK will easily last you for 100K and more.

Dont use steal brush but plastic from the cleaning kit, dont shoot corrosive ammo, etc.

 

After all, you can replace just a barrel and keep the rest of the rifle. But at that point you will probably be too old to care

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Yes yall do not buy anymore mil-surp ammo with corrosive primers or even the mil-surp that lies about being non-corrosive, they are the devil and will rot your rifle in a mater of hours. Some of us working as hard as we can to get it all off the market.

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More barrels are damaged by excessive/aggressive cleaning and not actually shot-out. Ask a barrel manufacturer.

True. I would always clean it after shooting, but you have to keep in mind that cleaning does not entail stainless steel bore brushes, but just swabbing out the carbon reside with good old Hoppe's #9.

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Yes yall do not buy anymore mil-surp ammo with corrosive primers or even the mil-surp that lies about being non-corrosive, they are the devil and will rot your rifle in a mater of hours. Some of us working as hard as we can to get it all off the market.

 

+1

 

I hope they appreciate our selfless efforts.

Edited by Jim Digriz
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More barrels are damaged by excessive/aggressive cleaning and not actually shot-out. Ask a barrel manufacturer.

True. I would always clean it after shooting, but you have to keep in mind that cleaning does not entail stainless steel bore brushes, but just swabbing out the carbon reside with good old Hoppe's #9.

 

I cant believe anyone would use steel brushes on a barrel, copper sure but steel? I cant even remember seeing any for sale but then I dont look for it.

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The propellant has more to do with barrel life than the projectile. The .303 brit used nitrocellulose and is famous for accelerated throat erosion. Newer propellants burn cooler and the barrel lasts a lot longer. The Saiga barrel should last several lifetimes -unless you shoot thousands of rounds a year.

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