Determining the condition of a rimfire barrel.

[calsibley]

I saw some nice looking rimfires at a gun show yesterday. My major concern with a used rifle, centerfire or rimfire, is the condition of the barrel. I find it difficult to determie the condition of a rimfire. I would think their useful barrel life would be considerably longer than centerfires, but I don't really knoiw that. Any ideas or hints for determining this? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[bounce]

For the most part the only 22 rimfires I have seen wore out are the 1906 win. pumps and guns of that ear that were used with black powder and not cared for as far as crosion. I know they can be woren out but it must take a million or more shots like the old Winchester gallery guns most old guns that look good yet are still good in my opinion. They do sometimes need a real hard scrubbing of the bore and maybe fowled so bad they look smooth but just need a cleaning and I'm talking hard cleaning!!

[jimiowa]

I agree with Bounce, it is rare to find a worn out rimfire barrel. That said, take a close look at the 2-3 " of barrel back of the crown. Some people clean them from the muzzle? Bad practice in my opinion, more barrels are ruined by cleaning rods than ever wear out.

I rarely clean a rimfire, the wax bullet lube lays down a protective coating. Barrels cleaned will often not settle in until 10 or so rounds are fired down them so the lube seasons the barrel.

[klsm54]

Dittoes... ...Unless a 22 has been fired with corrosive ammo(black powder), abused in cleaning, or exposed to severe humidity, they should last a lifetime.

I know some Anshutz 54 target rifles that are on the third , maybe fourth, generation of shooters and show no signs of any drop in accuracy. they have had 100's of thousands of rounds fired from them.

If you can't see any pitting, throat erosion, (in a really old gun that may have fired corrosive ammo) or cleaning rod peening near the muzzle, I'd say a 22 LR is good to go.

[calsibley]

Thanks for the replies on this one guys. I wasn't really
certain. I wish it were also true with centerfires. I agree with the comment on more rifle barrels being ruined by cleaning than shooting. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal