I know this is a very general question. Most modern firearms have very good manufacture's support for parts and service. But is there a time when it just makes sense to retire a gun? I'm not talking about if a gun breaks due to abuse or accident but when it just has so many rounds through it, it's done.

 

This also comes into play when buying a used gun. Most guns you see in the classifieds say 100-500 rounds through it.

Would you buy a well maintained used gun that had 5000 rounds through it?

 

Thanks,

Greg

The simple answer is: Yes. Although, given the broad nature of your question, we need to be less general. Rifle barrels - especially those chambered for very high velocity rounds (>4K fps) may get "shot-out" - this is usually chamber throat erosion rather than general wear of the rifling and lands. Handguns, much less likely to "wear out". They may have parts that wear, or they may "shoot loose" dependent on ammunition used. If you are a big user of +P ammo, it will shorten the life of some components. Jacketed bullets are harder on a handgun than lead cast ones. The chances of you "wearing out" a firearm in your lifetime are pretty slim. My father managed to do so with one rifle (throat erosion), but his standards for accuracy were pretty high - for another user it may have been OK for many more thousands of rounds. If you have a concern, I'd say, don't worry about it. JMHO.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

 

PS: The above answer applies to recreational shooters. If you are a competitive shooter, then two things come into play; A) The volume of ammunition fired, and B) The degree of accuracy you find acceptable.

Its all relative to the specific firearm. The round count of most firearms to reach a point that the weapon is unservicable is pretty high! You would spend about 50k in comercial ammo to make a 1911 unservicable..... I know of 1 AIAW308 Rifle that has over 90k documented rounds on it. Its on its 10th barrel I believe.

Rifles used for competition accuracy, like F-class or benchrest, are re-barreled frequently, like once a season, but that's relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of the rifle, and is just a normal part of the sport. National-level BR competitors often buy 4-5 barrels for their rifle at the start of the season, but that's at the cutting edge of accuracy, where the difference between first and last place is the difference between a 0.25" group and a 0.235" grouip for 5 243 shots.

I agree it is very dependent on the firearm and its use. Still I think it would be difficult for anyone except a world-class competitor to wear out a quality firearm beyond repair in anything like normal use. Glock pistols have been tested for almost unlimited numbers of rounds. Very fine "best London" shotguns go through hundreds of thousands of rounds and last literally for centuries. On the other hand many guns have small parts fail after many rounds, so that they need some kind of repair. Competition high power rifles are often rebarreled long before an average shooter would see anything wrong.