Probably more than you can afford, and if you can afford to shoot out the barrel you can afford to buy a new one. If I recall, I think it's something obscene like 50,000 rounds. That may be for 5.56, perhaps someone more knowledgeable will come along with additional info.

 

The reason i ask is the 5.56 tests don by lucky gunner are showing 5000-10k barrel life. Steve at adco did a ss barrel test to 15,000+ . I ask because of 1) barrel availability and 2) it depending, i have could shoot out the barrel. Not at 55,000 rounds but if on a scale close to the 5.56 tests it is a possibility.

 

Lucky gunner was also using bushmasters for their tests. Not FN's

 

I guess how much of a differince does that make. People.
often quote hk steel at a high round count for sub. Gun calibers like 55,000 rounds but those are pistol caliber not a rifle speed/pressure.

 

Realize that you can cook a barrel non F/A as well, lots of full mag dumps can burn out the barrel in less than a thousand rounds (barrel type and rate of fire dependent).

For a rifle it seems to be in the 10-20K rounds - realize that unless you have a Kaboom, it wont just stop working. You'll see decreasing bullet velocities, increased wear, and decreasing accuracy over time... point being that you'll have some indication that the barrel is going downhill and have time (hopefully) to acquire a new one.

SCAR barrels are out there, but not easy to find and are pricey. Again, most people who are able to burn out a barrel fall into the following categories

(1) Military / LEOs - they don't pay for the ammo or the rifle and get a replacement for free - so they typically don't care
(2) High end Competitors - they usually have sponsors, get ammo cheap / free, as well as rifles - so they really don't care, not to mention as they go for accuracy, often change weapons / barrels early to keep them very accurate.
(3) Reloaders / avid shooters - people who understand that weapons and components have a finite life span and plan for their replacement

Honestly, with both barrel assemblies coming in around $1100-1300, if I shot enough to burn through either of my SCARs barrels, I'd probably just start looking for a complete SCAR 16/17 rifle - either lightly used or new Then either swap to using the new rifle, or pull the barrel for a replacement and strip the rest of the gun down as parts (either to keep or sell).

JMO, YMMV,

Rhino

 

Realize that you can cook a barrel non F/A as well, lots of full mag dumps can burn out the barrel in less than a thousand rounds (barrel type and rate of fire dependent).

For a rifle it seems to be in the 10-20K rounds - realize that unless you have a Kaboom, it wont just stop working. You'll see decreasing bullet velocities, increased wear, and decreasing accuracy over time... point being that you'll have some indication that the barrel is going downhill and have time (hopefully) to acquire a new one.

SCAR barrels are out there, but not easy to find and are pricey. Again, most people who are able to burn out a barrel fall into the following categories

(1) Military / LEOs - they don't pay for the ammo or the rifle and get a replacement for free - so they typically don't care
(2) High end Competitors - they usually have sponsors, get ammo cheap / free, as well as rifles - so they really don't care, not to mention as they go for accuracy, often change weapons / barrels early to keep them very accurate.
(3) Reloaders / avid shooters - people who understand that weapons and components have a finite life span and plan for their replacement

Honestly, with both barrel assemblies coming in around $1100-1300, if I shot enough to burn through either of my SCARs barrels, I'd probably just start looking for a complete SCAR 16/17 rifle - either lightly used or new Then either swap to using the new rifle, or pull the barrel for a replacement and strip the rest of the gun down as parts (either to keep or sell).

JMO, YMMV,

Rhino

Why not just buy a barrel blank and have the gun rebarreled? You would have all of the parts that are not currently available (gas block, etc).

Pat

 

Here's a link to a similar thread. Sarge notes that the projected barrel life is 30,000. It would cost (at, say, $.80/round) $24,000 to shoot out the barrel. The cost of SCAR barrels or even complete rifles are negligible at that point.

http://fnforum.net/forums/scar-accessories-scopes-mods/26801-scar-17-barrel.html

 

FN says on their vids 35k+ barrel and 90k service over all. Well, the didn't specify 16 or 17, but should be a something to go by.

(states at 29sec in to the vid) I guess my scar will out live me.

 

The following are quotes from a friend of mine at NSWC who was involved with the SCAR project from day one:

• The SCAR Heavy has a receiver life of 100,000 rounds. Barrel life is 25,000 on full-auto.
  [*]The SCAR Heavy went 48,000 rounds without a failure and with only a 6% loss in velocity.

 

Why does the scar or a barrel like an HK stand to such a higher round count than the 5.56 tests? Round Pressures/speed? Metallurgy of the barrel? Rifiling type (polygonal v.s. Standard rifling?)

 

Cold Hammer Forging is the answer you seek.

The rifling(or polygon) is beaten into the metal instead of drilling and cutting material away. It is compressed, hammered and the molecules are lined up in much the same way that forged Japanese Nihonto is.

M4s and Civilian weapons are drilled and rifling cut out of it. The US Military formerly only speced Cold Hammer Forged barrels on belt fed machineguns so there was a wide disparity in barrel life between individual and support weapons.

That technology has been used in many high end European military weapons for decades and now an even further refined version from FNH is used in our SCARs.

 

Probably from rate of fire. They were trying to shoot 10,000 through each gun in what appears to be a few days in that test. 17 30 round mag dumps will really heat up a barrel.

This isnt even close to a practical rate of fire, and they even said that themselves. I wouldn't compare this with the barrel life of any gun seeing resonable use. Some carbine classes are like 1200 rounds in two days with plenty of time to cool down between strings of fire.

 

As has been previously stated by Rhino, heat is any barrel's worst enemy. The more heat, the quicker the barrel dies.

The manufacturing process doesn't determine barrel life unless we're discussing non-plated bores.

The hard chrome plating can only stand so much before its compromised and the barrel is no longer considered useable.

MG barrels typically receive twice the plating build-up when compared to the infantry's fielded weapon such as the M4.

Some barrel manufacturers for the M2 offer a Stellite lined barrel option to extend barrel life in the throat area to extend throat life. The downside to Stellite is it's expensive and approximately doubles the barrel cost.

No free lunch, no matter how we take a bite...

.02

-SS

 

Always better to give a safe estimate to CYOA as far as marketing goes. Especially in the full-auto variant that can cook a barrel faster than the semi-auto variant.