Barrel life

albertacoyotecaller

albertacoyotecaller

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I have seen post about this before but couldn't find anything in the search engine. I have seen accuracy degradation from my LMT rifle lately so I decided to give it a good cleaning to see if anything improved. Looking down the chamber I can see the lands on the rifling have started to deteriorate badly. Some decent size chunks of the lands coming off. This barrel has approximately 8k down the barrel. I really would have thought I would have been able to get more than that before this much metal breakdown. Anyone else see this with their LMT barrels?
 
Well I'd say there is something wrong here
Barrel wear, is just that. What you have is damage to your rifleing
If it was wearing out. The lands would look flater no chunks missing is not normal.
The only damage you should be able to note with the naked eye on an ar bbls is gas port and throat Wear.
 
What type of ammo do you usually use?
That seems like excessive wear, you should get 20000 or more rounds before any noticeable wear or decrease in accuracy.
 
albertacoyotecaller said:
Yes it does but I only have shot 500-1000 of that. I really don't believe it's that. I have seen many bi-metal ammo down barrels with no wear like this.
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I definitely wouldn't run bi-metal through any rifles again. It's definitely not good for them and you have voided any chance of a warranty claim by running it.
Sounds like you need to buy a nice barrel and throw out that ammo.

Have you considered a 300 Blackout barrel? I know a guy who will build you a nice barrel. I think he has a nice McGowen blank left in stock :)
 
cr5 said:
I definitely wouldn't run bi-metal through any rifles again. It's definitely not good for them and you have voided any chance of a warranty claim by running it.
Sounds like you need to buy a nice barrel and throw out that ammo.

Have you considered a 300 Blackout barrel? I know a guy who will build you a nice barrel. I think he has a nice McGowen blank left in stock :)
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I understand what you guys are saying about bi metal projectiles and have read some good reports on the use of them in ARs but they don't cause wear like this. They cause overall wear to the entire rifling system of the barrel. What about all the barrels of the cz guns or m14 that only use this stuff. I have seen barrels of CZs that have way more bi metal down the barrel and nothing like this.
 
albertacoyotecaller said:
I understand what you guys are saying about bi metal projectiles and have read some good reports on the use of them in ARs but they don't cause wear like this. They cause overall wear to the entire rifling system of the barrel. What about all the barrels of the cz guns or m14 that only use this stuff. I have seen barrels of CZs that have way more bi metal down the barrel and nothing like this.
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I think yours is a manufacturing defect but you voided your warranty by running bi-metal.
Time to buy a new barrel and get that thing shooting straight again.
 
By running bi-metal you've already saved enough money to buy most of a new barrel.

This one of the great things about AR's, you can change out any component, incliding the barrel, by yourself when it wears out, almost no special tool required. And spare barrels are affordable.

LMT makes excellent barrels so something went awfully wrong at some point in time.
 
I said most of it... lol.

When I run a type of ammo it's in the few thousands, rarely just 500-1000... that would last me only a week or two of summer shooting, maybe three, depending on the weather.
 
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Dietz said:
I said most of it... lol.

When I run a type of ammo it's in the few thousands, rarely just 500-1000... that would last me only a week or two, depending on the weather.
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You're lucky, I usually only get a couple hundred rounds down range per week. If I ran that much down range I might reconsider my ammo and barrel choices.
 
Actually thinking about it more, I would guess that this barrel has seen around 300 bi metal wolf ammo. My NEA has seen the rest of that wolf in two PLG courses. I haven't ran my LMT much the last couple years.

So 97% is reloads that are mild FMJ.
 
andrew3081 said:
LMT will not honour the warranty if you run bi metal ammo?
That's lame for that company
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I don't know if it true or not... but I wouldn't care anyway (he shot mostly reloads through it, which are warranty serial killers), LMT is everything but lame, they make high quality stuff and have a long track record of reliability.
 
It's not going in for warranty. I have better things to do with my time than fight over warranty. Another barrel manufacturer told me they would take the LMT barrel for one of theirs. I think I will go that route.
 
andrew3081 said:
LMT will not honour the warranty if you run bi metal ammo?
That's lame for that company
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Every rifle I have bought that came with a manual has specifically stated that running reloads, steel case, or steel jacketed ammo will void the warranty. Glock also specifically states not to run cast bullets because of the polygonal rifling.
It isn't unreasonable at all for a company to void your warranty for running sh!t ammo.
It would be the same as if you bought a high performance sports car or motorcycle that specifically states that it requires 91 octane or higher and then you run regular unleaded and expect warranty when you ruin your motor. I wouldn't warranty it either, it's up to you to read the manual, understand the risks and make your own decision, if you choose not to follow the manufacturers recommendations then don't expect them to warranty what you break.
Not following the manufacturers recommendations and getting mad about ruining your rifle is a perfect example of thinking you know and being proven wrong.

The only thing lame is expecting a company to warranty something you ruin by your own ignorance.

This is not directed at albertacoyotecaller in any way, he has made it clear he expects no warranty and is going to take care of the barrel replacement himself.

If you don't mind me asking. Which company is going to trade you your damaged barrel for one of their new ones? That is some very good service and I would continue to give a company like that my money.
 
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