Rate of fire for stainless barrel?

[C-grunt]

Looking at a stainless barrelled upper, either BCM or Noveske, for my next rifle. What kind of rate of fire can these barrels withstand? Not that Im doing mag dumps, just curios.

PS. I did search but couldnt find the answer.

[Skang]

there are plenty of threads that answer your question.

And yes, you should be fine as just shooting target or so. Key point is don't get it too hot. Treat like bolt action gun. :D

[crazymoose]

All things equal, 4150 CMV will be more durable than the common grades of stainless. I'm sure Colt-style destructive mag dump testing would bear this out. That said, Noveske and Bravo Co aren't exactly marketing their SS barrels to the benchrest crowd; that is to say, they're not meant to be babied. There's a well-known thread on "The Other Site" by one of the guys from ADCO detailing how he abused the hell out of a run-of-the-mill stainless barrel (believe Wilson was the brand), and how it stayed accurate even after plenty of suppressed use and rapid fire.

[SpankMonkey]

Just remember, after you heat it up real good the barrel will turn a brown color. You will not be able to remove the brown shade without bead blasting the barrel. If you can live with the color. Go for it.

[ALCOAR]

If we are talking premium true match grade SS barrels here than its important to remember that these type of barrels have basically two different lives....one being the one right off the bat when the barrel is brand new called the "match life", and the second one is known as the "service life" which proceeds the "match life" of a barrel.

So with that said, I do believe that you can burn off the "match life" of a SS barrel exponentially faster when running strings of sustained fire or generating significantly high barrel temp's.

Once you get into the "service life" of the barrel you really will not see noticeable changes in accuracy over the remainder of the barrel's life until the very end perhaps and regardless, excessive barrel heat at this point really will not further degrade it imo.

[C-grunt]

So say I was using the rifle as a DMR type setup, shooting aimed fire at distance, it shouldnt have a problem?

[ALCOAR]

As long as your not dumping mags every single time out with it and generally shooting it in a more methodical manner, you will be gtg.

[The_Hammer_Man]

If it's hot enough to brand cattle or light your smoke.. it might be too hot.

But,,, if you're shooting NRA slow or Rapid (10 rounds in 5 secs) and not too often the barrel should last longer than you do. (12k rounds is the average service life of most barrels. Not sure about stainless)