How long will a Shiloh barrel last?

[Ray Newman]

Smoking‘ & The Rdnck offer sage advise. Especially that more barrels are ruined by poor cleaning habits. Extensive shooting w/ full metal patch bullets (AKA jacketed) w/ a hot load of White Powder (AKA smokeless or nitro) will also ruin a throat….

It never fails to amaze me when a Shooter pays Big Bucks for a stock or a custom rifle, then practices false economy by not purchasing (or fabricating from a fired case--drill out the flash hole to accept the rod )a chamber guide. If the rifle must be cleaned from the muzzle, a guide can be made up from a case of smaller diameter & then solderi on a brass washer to build up the rim. The only drawback is that you must clean bore area covered by the case w/ a pistol rod. But if it saves the crown or prevents further damage to the crown .Or if the barrel is round, you could make a brass tube w/ a closed end & drill out a hole for the rod, a la Martini-Henry muzzle cap style.

I’ve also seen a cleaning device that is ‘bout a 4-5” long section of cleaning rod w/ a flat milled on both side of it w/ a slot to accommodate a patch. It screws on to the end of the rod. The idea is that when the patch or brush leaves the muzzle, there is still a patch in the bore to prevent the rod from hitting the bore. The more I think about it, this gizmo has merit.

B-A-W: the worst case of top strap gas cutting that I ever saw was on a Ruger Blackhawk or Super Blackhawk in .357 Maximum. After well less than 1000 rds, the gas cutting was very visible! Very effective caliber for pistol silhouette, but Hell on the top strap. Probably why Ruger discontinued the caliber.