[old fart]

my brother came by this morning and told me not to buy any full metal jacket ammo, he said it will wear the gun barrel out in less than a thousand rounds. is this true?, i use federal 115 grain fmj to target shoot and hollow points for defense. thanks

 

[Commocarl]

I have never heard of a gun made that would wear out at 1k rounds. Your 9mm was designed and built to shoot FMJ.

I would take it with a grain of salt.

If this was true, I would only have about 100 rounds left that I could shoot from my CZ 75B.

Depending on make and model, you should be able to shoot tens of thousands of FMJ before you need a new barrel.

 

[okdonk]

Never heard of it. I shoot FMJ mostly on my guns. So far so good.

 

[GlockRenegade]

Not true

 

[c3shooter]

I have a 1911A1 that has run about 9000 rounds of FMJ. Please don't tell it it has worn out.

Barrels are steel. Jacket metal is a copper nickel alloy, much softer than steel. Not going to happen. PS- my range M60 machineguns used to fire about 12,000 rounds of FMJ a WEEK.

 

[Retaks]

Well since the copper fmj round will wear your barrel out then im going to go with the standard jacketed hollow point would also because it also uses copper for the jacket that makes contact with the barrel. So now your stuck using only lead bullets.



Barrels were ment to shoot copper jacketed bullets.

 

[Josh1158]

Yep! and if you say orange real slow and loud it sounds like gullible

 

[danf_fl]

I will be glad to take all of your jacketed ammo.

 

[HOSSFLY]

Dam, I thought I had the dummest BIL in the world

 

[JonM]

he is confusing very high pressure magnum rifle rounds like 300 338 etc. the pressure and heat will cut into a barrel throat and start erosion. benchrest shooters will sideline a perfectly good barrel after a thousand or so rounds when the groups open up by .0000002 of an inch.

my ithaca 1911 from WW2 has prolly 100k plus down the tube and is nearly a smooth bore. the rifling is practicaly non-existent and it still plunks all 8 at 10 yards into a group smaller than the hole in the triggerguard.

i wouldnt worry about it. i dont think your ever going to come close to wearing a pistol barrel out. im pretty sure only 5 or 6 people on the planet shoot enough to wear one out in a lifetime.

 

[hiwall]

At a guess only(I did no research) I believe barrels will wear faster if using some of the newer steel jacketed bullets. I have seen many of these at the range both rifle and pistol rounds. Most have a coating(very thin) of some kind on them. They are for sure harder than standard FMJ rounds. You have to check them with a magnet as they look "normal". Just a heads up.

 

[purehavoc]

I have a 1911A1 that has run about 9000 rounds of FMJ. Please don't tell it it has worn out.

Barrels are steel. Jacket metal is a copper nickel alloy, much softer than steel. Not going to happen. PS- my range M60 machineguns used to fire about 12,000 rounds of FMJ a WEEK.

C3 , Is there even any steel left to that barrel

 

[Overkill0084]

my brother came by this morning and told me not to buy any full metal jacket ammo, he said it will wear the gun barrel out in less than a thousand rounds. is this true?, i use federal 115 grain fmj to target shoot and hollow points for defense. thanks

Dogwash.
The typical jacket material on a FMJ is no harder or abrasive than any other jacketed type. FWIW, the military get more than 1K per barrel with theirs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilding_metal

 

[Bob Wright]

I have several Ruger Super Blackhawks in .44 Magnum that have had a diet of mostly JHP fired through them. Two have had in excess of 10,000 rounds, actual count, fired through them.

Yes, I keep a log book on each gun and the number and type of rounds fired. Log in after each range session, easily done, as I have the empty brass to count.

A .45 Colt (Ruger Blackhawk) is nearing 20,000 rounds mark, but it has had mostly cast lead bullets.

Bob Wright

 

[BlueTurf]

I am sorry to tell you what he told you is crap.

 

[Bob Wright]

I am sorry to tell you what he told you is crap.

Well, yeah, that's sort of what I was tryin' to say.


Bob Wright

 

[masterPsmith]

I have never shot out a handgun barrel and I have a few with in excess of 100,000 rounds through them. Although I have at times, had to tighten up, re-build them or replace some parts, but the barrels are still bright, sharp and accurate.

On the other hand, I have had a few over bore target/varmint rifles with less than 200 rounds through them come through my shop to be re-barreled. These were not caused by jacketed bullets, but rather the abrasive effects of the hot burning powder and high pressures.


Jim..........

 

[robocop10mm]

Feel free to tell him he is an IDIOT. He needs to go back to his job in the mall.

 

[GlockRenegade]

I concur! This is like saying driving on the right side of the street in the great US of A is illegal.... Quite the opposite lol

 

[Durangokid]

The orginal bullets were patched with fabrics, leather paper etc. These patches reduced friction and preformed as gas seals in the bore. The modern FMJ bullets are patched with a metal softer than than the barrel steel. Firearms with oversized throats can allow gas cutting as gas passes around the bullet before it upsets. Provided the arm is in good condition firing jacketed ammo improves the bore by hard lapping.