Barrel Life?

[mnhunter2]

When buying a used gun how would you evaluate the barrel and how much life its got left, looking at a 257 wtby cal.

 

[MTBULLET]

use a bore scope.

 

[rscott5028]

use a bore scope.

Better yet. Shoot the rifle.

Bottom line is caveat emptor.

People sell guns for all kinds of reasons.

Some are unsafe or poor shooters. Many are simply safe queens that never saw much use.

If the rifle (especially the bolt) shows a lot of wear, then it's been used a good bit. But if it was taken care of, it could still be better than a rifle that's either not seen much wear, or been re-finished to look new on the outside.

If the rifle shows external signs of abuse, then I figure the guy didn't take care of the inside either. In which case, I would assume it's going to need a rebarrel.

-- richard

 

[Derek M.]

Borescope gives you a great deal of information. My fear when buying a used rifle is how hot the owner let that bbl get. Rifles can look pristine on the outside and well kept but the owner shot so fast you could burn an egg on the barrel.

 

[Top Cat]

Look at the action and the bolt. If they show wear, you might consider have a gunsmith look at it, preferably one who has a scope, but unless you know the history of the rifle, I think a 257 Wby might tend to get sold when the barrel is shot out, or close to it, because of short barrel life in that caliber; so going in, I look at it as if I am acquiring an action for a project and price it accordingly. If a seller isn't reasonable, it never cost me anything to pass on the purchase.

New rifles are inexpensive these days, and a new Vanguard is now available in that caliber for the cost of a new barrel.

TC

 

[Coyboy]

with the naked eye?

The best way I can describe it; clean barrel, pull bolt, pull the action out of the stock so you can get your eye closer to the back of the action.

Look at the transition from the freebore to the lands, focus your eye to that spot, the transition of the lands should look sharp and squared off, shinny and not dull.

If it appears dull and the lands don't look sharp, it has had some use, how much is hard to determine. But if the guy said it had less than 50 rounds it should look sharp and shinny.

The best way is to take your own rifles with known history and look thru them and train your eye. If you have a 308 with 200 rounds thru it and a 300 wm with 750 they would make good training aids.