How to Tell If a Barrel Is High Quality?

Recently, we talked about the re-barrel, which is carried out in our company, or rather, if I may say so, the service of manufacturing an additional barrel and replacing the main barrel.

In addition to this topic, today we will talk about the barrel's resource. In the domestic firearms industry, it is commonly believed that the barrel's resource (or more accurately, its "durability") is the maximum number of shots that can be fired before the barrel's ballistic performance significantly deteriorates.

Among the criteria that determine the barrel's durability, the following can be highlighted:

• A decrease in muzzle velocity to a certain value;
• An increase in bullet dispersion at a certain distance to a certain value;
• The occurrence of bullet deflections from the rifling to a certain percentage, which is determined by the nature of the bullet holes in the targets;
• The condition of the barrel's surface (the destruction of the rifling fields over a certain length and an increase in the barrel's diameter).

These parameters are critical for high-precision rifles, so tracking the number of shots, cleaning, and maintaining the barrel are essential procedures when using the weapon. This includes factors such as the caliber of the rifle, the amount of powder used, the type of bullet, the regularity and quality of barrel maintenance, and the shooting conditions (number of consecutive shots without cooling, weather conditions, etc.). The barrel's lifespan is also directly influenced by the operating conditions."Heavy" calibers like .338 Lapua Magnum, .375 CheyTac, .408 CheyTac, etc., and especially the "hot" calibers 6.5PRC, .300 Norma Magnum, .300PRC, .33XC, 37XC, etc., contribute to greater wear due to high pressure values on the barrel.

We should not forget about reloading, when the powder load exceeds the standard values, which also increases the pressure, accelerates the wear of the bullet entrance and leads to accelerated wear of the barrel.

All these nuances complicate the possibility of determining and declaring the barrel's resource in advance. At BespokeGun, we pay special attention to the barrels and strive for guaranteed shots in any caliber without losing the declared ballistic characteristics.

The use of high-quality alloy steel and special attention to the surface treatment of the barrel channel allow us to significantly increase the durability of the barrels for our rifles, eliminating the need for the user to constantly check the condition of the barrel.

In our testing laboratory, we have achieved a rate of fire that is 2-3 times higher than the calculated rate of fire for heavy calibers, which once again confirms the high reliability of BespokeGun barrels.