Just looking at the very short Barrel life we are seeing on many of the dangerous game back up rifles carried by PH's in Africa, especially when shooting the harder Mono- mettal bullets - I am wondering if anybody produces a chrome lined barrel? Certainly solve all wear and corrosion problems and who cares if accuracy isn't quite up to the standard easily obtainable with a regular steel barrel?

Don,

Since I don't think there is much experience with big bores and chrome lined barrels, it may be a little premature to state that it "solves all wear and corrosion problems." I have read, concerning M16 type rifles with chrome lined barrels, that the barrel is first coated with copper to allow good adhesion of the chrome lining. If the slightest crack in the chrome occurs, cleaning with copper dissolving type solvents will get in underneath the chrome lining and flaking of the chrome will occur. I have no idea how often this occurs, but it has apparently happened. Since chrome lining cannot be done on stainless steel barrels, you will give up one corrosion resistant material for another (if you had opted for a stainless steel barrel).

I am curious as to how many rounds per year the average PH shoots in his big bore. I have only known a few PH's and all were in Zimbabwe and would be surprised if they shot over 100rounds a year thru their big bore rifles. I would also be curious as to how much HARDER the mono-metal is with comparison to the normal copper jacket. I would also like to ask what particular barrels are giving such short barrel life and also what constitutes un-usable accuracy in a big bore. I personally don't shoot that much in volume the way some target shooters do but have never in the 55+ years I've been shooting shot out a barrel to the extent it was not usable for hunting, that is accuracy in the 3" range. My Model 70 SS has probably had 1000rds thru it and accuracy is still below 1" consistantly. I realize this is not high use but I see no fall off in accuracy.

I worked on a Browning BLR in .308 WIN years ago that had a chrome plated bore. I don't know if they did this with their bolt actions or not.

Typically, larger bores last longer than smaller bores. I remember seeing an article recently, but cannot locate it quickly.

Any cartridge which is more "over bored" than another of the same caliber will yield a shorter barrel life I am told.

As a result, I am surprised that you're seeing short barrel life from DGR cartridges (unless they are Weatherbys). What chamberings are you seeing as exhibiting the problem?

I donno but in the AK47's the russkies went to crome lined barrels which greatly reduced wear, but that was mostly from full auto fire. In big bore PH rifles I would suspect more a lack of care than being overshot.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
I donno but in the AK47's the russkies went to crome lined barrels which greatly reduced wear, but that was mostly from full auto fire. In big bore PH rifles I would suspect more a lack of care than being overshot.

Naw
The commies used corrosive primers.

I see several worn out rifles a year, and have shot out two barrels on one of my 9,3's. The A square ammo we were issued in parks was notoriously hard on Barrels. Mike La-Grange used several M1 Garands for culling, and they lasted arround 300rnds. The Interarms and the few Rugers that came in were good for about 4-500rnds.

Most of the moddern mono's are not as hard on barrels as A Square, but considering the difficulty of replacing a worn out Barrel in most of Africa, you need something that will last.

True, many PH's don't fire their heavy's that much either at game or in practice. A 100rnds a year would probably be a fair norm- you don't want your pet rifle needing a rebarrel in 5-10 years (especially if like most of SADAC you have to now sell or destroy the old rifle/barrel before you can apply for a new one- and that can take 6 months or longer!

Personally, I shoot Woodleighs, Stuarts and Speer conventional Bullets in my 9,3's and got 4000 rnds out of the last barrel. In rifles like my Lott though I used Barnes TSX and Super Solids for real but lead bullets for practice. In my F.N .458 I have fired arround 10,000 cast lead bullets and it is going strong- it is that kind of durability but with mono's that I am looking for in a Barrel! For service rifle shooting, the trick with an new F.N. was to go to the range with a crate (1000rnds) and fire it through the rifle on full auto as fast as you could load the mags- then carefully clean it (we used Hoppes No (back then). This served to break the chrome lined barrel in - considerably different from the fire one and clean routine I use on a regular steel barrel!

In my F.N. FAL I have fired thousands of rounds in competion or on culls and the accuracy has slowly improved as the barrel has worn in. The parks officers who tried the FAL's with A square mono's had no trouble from wear- only increased metal fouling. Forest Bore Cleaning Foam takes it out.

Wink -Have never heard of a cleaning agent getting under the chrome in an F.N. - I suspect you are thinking of Flash Chroming which uses a copper bases as opposed to a hard chrome.

F.N. used to offer .308 barrels for sprting use that were either chromed or Corundum lined (like the MAG Barrels), and will apparently still do so on special order from Belgium.