shotgun life

.Ben

.Ben

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just curious what can wear out on a quality well maintained shotgun? im sure the guys firing a case of 250 shells a week have worn somehting out? does the smoothbore barrel wear out? or does the action just get so sloppy its useless....

i have an old mossberg 200ka from the 50's was my grampas and he hunted lots with it then another relative shot lots of clays with it (both of them took excellent care of the gun) and the gun is still im next to perfect condition barrel looks fine inside and the action is tight and smooth.

im jsut curious as i find the pump shotgun and the bolt action .22 about as reliable as a rock when it comes to age and rnds
 
I know guys that have shot more than 250/week for the last 30 years and have never worn a barrel out. Some who own singles and doubles get the action rebuilt, other than that they may have to replace a few small parts like an ejector or pin. Those who shoot autos replace parts from time to time and an action spring every 5 or 10 thousand rounds, but I have never heard of a barrel wearing out. Some old model 12 developed head space problem after several hundred thousand rounds, but barrels still good. Steel shot may change things, but I never shoot enough of it to show signs,
 
Yup, shotguns are durable. Low pressure, solidly built. I've seen a fair number of loose old hinge guns while bargain hunting, and I'm not an old fogey by any stretch though, so they are out there. Usually singles.
 
Bobby Ironsights said:
Yup, shotguns are durable. Low pressure, solidly built. I've seen a fair number of loose old hinge guns while bargain hunting, and I'm not an old fogey by any stretch though, so they are out there. Usually singles.
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Yup, those old hinge guns loosen up after use. The better ones stay tight longer and most are safe to shoot unless the loosness developes head space.
Good singles like some of the higher end trap guns are worth rebuilding. It will give them another life. I think the barrels are good for many lifetimes.
 
A quality shotgun has a tremendous useful lifespan.

There is one guy in our club who shot a Winchester 101 for about 15 years, I would guess he fired 12K to 14K shots a year so that's 180 000 to 210 000 shells out of that gun. It still works great and looks good as well. Sure he had a few small parts break (ejector hammers & such).

Cheap guns usually don't last as long, but for the average shooter they will last plenty long enough. The big thing is getting replacement parts when things do finally crap out. That's the nice thing about "common" guns, there is generally a steady supply of parts. For example Remington 1100's will break the odd part, but they are easy to get and not too expensive.
 
Bogman said:
250,000 out of my Ljutic and still tight and hammering targets
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For a Ljutic, that is just broken in. I had one 30 years ago and the one I had was going strong til about a year ago when its owner died. The serial number on that one was a bit over 1000.
 
Basically if you treat a shotgun right it will last you forever (hell even if you don't treat it right). There may be the odd repair. But so far I haven't done anything on my four shotguns.
 
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