Swiss Arms Barrel life

Teapot

Teapot

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Hamilton, Ontario; the southern shore of Canada.
I have always been reluctant to buy a used SA because of not knowing how many rounds have been put down the spout. Added to this is the difficulty of not only swapping out the barrel but of finding a new one. AR's are easy by comparison to re-barrel and to actually find the barrel (but , alas, the rifles are Restricted :()
What are your thoughts on this?
 
Mine will last longer than I will live;)

I hear 35,000 - 50,000 rounds. Full auto burns out barrels, semi wont so no problem.
 
I asked our Swiss gunsmith, and he says the service life of the barrels is approx. 8000 rounds. Doesn't mean it won't still be accurate beyond that, however!
 
you would have to shoot 500 rounds every day for 10 years to burn that barrel out ... dont worry about it it would also cost a small fortune in ammo to do so..
 
TSE_Justin said:
I asked our Swiss gunsmith, and he says the service life of the barrels is approx. 8000 rounds. Doesn't mean it won't still be accurate beyond that, however!
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8000?? what a chromed barrel has way more life than that ...... maybe thats when the swiss army re barrels them ,,,, they also shoot full auto alot too ,,
 
Bcviking said:
8000?? what a chromed barrel has way more life than that ...... maybe thats when the swiss army re barrels them ,,,, they also shoot full auto alot too ,,
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Gunsmith says his military no-go gauge is consistent with the wear on Canadian guns (i.e. semi-auto PE90's). The maintenance manual states 7500 as the barrel lifetime (If anyone wants a copy of the SAN maintenance manual, PM me your email and I can send you the PDF).

Brand new 20" barrels are $817ea., and we can remove old barrels and install new ones as well.
 
I would not recommend a home installation of the barrels... I've seen cracked receivers from people trying to remove the barrel without a vice that will hold it properly. It requires a huge amount of torque... The kind you get from a 3 foot breaker bar.

We do import and sell the barrels, you can send in the gun to us and our gunsmith can do the uninstall and install.
 
These barrels are hammer forged and gas treated inside for extreme hardness and corrosion resistance. The bores are also harder than the steel supplied brushes in the cleaning kit. This was a design requirement of the Swiss Army. A shooter could clean the bore in the field with only the steel brush / rod and not need anything else (cleaner or oil). I still can't bring myself to use the steel brush though (brass and some MPro 7).

The barrel life is a bit more than 8000 rounds. I've been told by Swiss Arms reps that the service life is between 20000 and 30000 rounds. The Swiss Army changes them around that count or so (with burst and full auto fire).

I have also been told that some of the Civilian Target shooters in Switzerland change them out about 8000 rounds or so because they are worried about getting the best accuracy that they can.

My current full size Classic Green was one of the original all Green ones to come into the Country. I have between 9000 and 10000 rounds through it. Mine still groups MOA or a bit under with good ammo.

Rich
 
Rich LPS said:
I have also been told that some of the Civilian Target shooters in Switzerland change them out about 8000 rounds or so because they are worried about getting the best accuracy that they can
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This is true. After 8000 rounds, apparently hitting the 'bull' on the Swiss Military 300m target can get difficult.

As I've said, service life != accurate life.
 
OK I get changing the barrel at around 8000 for rifle competition but for general use, run it to 30,000 plus no problem. So what if it goes from 1moa to 2moa.
I have been issued some shot to hell C7's (Old carry handle not C7A1) in the past and they grouped just fine.
There's a guy in the states that put 50,000 rounds through a usgi barrel M14 before it was pooched.
Lots of beat WW2 rifles out there that still shoot good to this day.
 
private test results ran full auto while cooling barrel with water, no lube no cleaning, test was over when had to turn gas knob to adverse settings, almost always 30,000 rounds, Accuracy changed only marginally. Wouldn't hesitate, under regular Canadian range conditions to shoot 40k before barrel swap. These are underated rifles.
 
TSE_Justin said:
Gunsmith says his military no-go gauge is consistent with the wear on Canadian guns (i.e. semi-auto PE90's). The maintenance manual states 7500 as the barrel lifetime (If anyone wants a copy of the SAN maintenance manual, PM me your email and I can send you the PDF).

Brand new 20" barrels are $817ea., and we can remove old barrels and install new ones as well.
Click to expand...

How much are the 14.3" carbine barrels. I want a spare.
 
What would a the sniper barrel cost(one with no flash hider, long heavy barrel) installed out of curiousty? What is the twist on those barrels?

Otokiak
Rankin Inlet, NU
CANADA
 
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