I would give it a good cleaning first.

 

When you get to 250k, check then. 😁

 

I've retired a grand total of one Glock barrel, and that was about the number, maybe more like 220k. It developed stress fractures at the reentrant corners, and I just wasn't cool with that, so I swapped it with a virgin plunking spare. It had survived 5 frames and slides.

Didn't really notice any reduction in accuracy, but I could definitely shoot tighter groups with the new one. Maybe that was just me rising to expectations, who knows. I've always been very happy with OE Glock barrels, and have never had any reason to try aftermarket.

 

A good cleaning and then take it to the range...does it shoot where you point it and hit your intended target?...if yes, I would put the cost of a new barrel towards more ammo

 

According to Glock USA, “‘officially’ 40,000 rounds is the normal life expectancy of the factory barrels, but you can usually shoot much more unless you start experiencing issues”…. I know many rental Glocks at indoor ranges that have had more than 40,000 rounds with minimum cleaning….

I have fired more than 63,400 rounds of jacketed ammo through one of my G43s with the original OEM barrel that came in the gun. The gun is still working completely reliably, but you can tell slight decline in accuracy at longer distance after 50,000 rounds….

 

“‘officially’ 40,000 rounds is the normal life expectancy of the factory barrels"

Ha, wrong. That was the original test protocol. Nothing to do with accuracy degradation or life expectancy. Just where they stopped.

 

We replace service rifle barrels used in competition every 4k rounds or so. What typically happens past that are occasional "flyers" and past that point, increasing group size

I don't know that's there's ever been a study about dimishing accuracy in Glock barrels as round count increases.

So while some may say "a zillion" rounds, I believe personally that's based on hyperbole, not empirical info

 

Different animal. Like you I shot service rifle for a long time and yes at 600 yards you’d start to see fliers. At 200 yards you’d never notice it.

Pistol barrels don’t erode in the throat to the extent a high pressure bottleneck rifle round will and even if they did the effective service range of 25 meters the accuracy loss would be negligible.

 

How does it group?

 

Barrels tend to wear from the ends of the rifling inward, meaning you'll be able to spot a worn barrel by checking the ends of the rifling (crown and chamber).

If this has happened, and you're getting keyholes on target, probably a good time to get a new barrel. However, that is unlikely and would literally require tens of thousands, hundreds even, of rounds. Or a lot of heat.

IMO, the barrel you posted looks perfectly fine to me.

 

Depends on intended use. For HD and EDC, no need to even think about it until around 25,000 rounds but pay attention to significant changes to groups at 25 yards. I have a G34 Gen 3 that I use for competition. I bought another Glock OEM barrel that I put in after about 15,000 rounds.

 

If you get more through it than Chuck Taylor then ... maybe ... but, probably not.

 

whens a good time to replace a glock barrel?


Between 2 and 3 PM works for me.

 

After shooting a bunch of lead bullets through it…

 

You guys can throw your OEM barrels away at 20-, 30-, or 40,000 rounds if you want, but you're just throwing away money.
As I have talked about before, I own a Gen 2 Model 20 that I bought in 1993. As of this past Saturday, I have 153,000 rounds through it.
And I'm on my 2nd OEM barrel.
No, that is not a typo. My first barrel was finished at over 100,000 rounds. Your OEM barrel will last,- as was stated in other posts here- much longer than you give them credit for.
With the greatest respect to @indivi, my barrel did not go bad at the muzzle. About 80% of my shooting is cast bullets, and cast bullets are... different. Bullets that I cast (well, most of them), my lube blend, sized to my specs. And the death of my barrel was from throat erosion. Lead has a far higher lubricity than copper, so wear on the rifling occurs at a FAR slower rate with cast bullets. Throat erosion, however, is unforgiving. Shoot hot loads= burn out the throat.
Which leads me to the other statement.
Yes, you can shoot cast bullets in stock Glock OEM barrels. There are some specific rules you have to follow for success, but it is totally safe. Glock was not the first gunmaker to use polygonal rifling, but the may be the only one who says, "No Cast Bullets, Ever."
Don't believe me? Your prerogative. But on this very forum about 15-20 years ago, the 10 Ring and the 10mm Reloading Room were ground zero for some of the most amazing grass-roots load development work in off-book loads, powder experiments, and bullet research. Look at those two sub-forums around 2004, give or take a bit- and you'll be shocked at what your little Glocks are capable of accomplishing.
Guys, people buy new barrels for specific reasons- competition, case support, twist rate, ability to mount a compensator or a can. But changing your barrel because you "think" it is worn out? Because you gotta have something cool? Because you read about it on GT?
It's your money, but it won't make but a very few of you more accurate.

 

You guys can throw your OEM barrels away at 20-, 30-, or 40,000 rounds if you want, but you're just throwing away money.
As I have talked about before, I own a Gen 2 Model 20 that I bought in 1993. As of this past Saturday, I have 153,000 rounds through it.
And I'm on my 2nd OEM barrel.
No, that is not a typo. My first barrel was finished at over 100,000 rounds. Your OEM barrel will last,- as was stated in other posts here- much longer than you give them credit for.
With the greatest respect to @indivi, my barrel did not go bad at the muzzle. About 80% of my shooting is cast bullets, and cast bullets are... different. Bullets that I cast (well, most of them), my lube blend, sized to my specs. And the death of my barrel was from throat erosion. Lead has a far higher lubricity than copper, so wear on the rifling occurs at a FAR slower rate with cast bullets. Throat erosion, however, is unforgiving. Shoot hot loads= burn out the throat.
Which leads me to the other statement.
Yes, you can shoot cast bullets in stock Glock OEM barrels. There are some specific rules you have to follow for success, but it is totally safe. Glock was not the first gunmaker to use polygonal rifling, but the may be the only one who says, "No Cast Bullets, Ever."
Don't believe me? Your prerogative. But on this very forum about 15-20 years ago, the 10 Ring and the 10mm Reloading Room were ground zero for some of the most amazing grass-roots load development work in off-book loads, powder experiments, and bullet research. Look at those two sub-forums around 2004, give or take a bit- and you'll be shocked at what your little Glocks are capable of accomplishing.
Guys, people buy new barrels for specific reasons- competition, case support, twist rate, ability to mount a compensator or a can. But changing your barrel because you "think" it is worn out? Because you gotta have something cool? Because you read about it on GT?
It's your money, but it won't make but a very few of you more accurate.

How hot are you shooting these, and what weight ?

 

Over 70k on a .40 Glock barrel, all major PF, not a lick of erosion.

 

200 gr WFN @ 1250, 185 gr WFN @1350, depending on which powder I'm using. And these are only loaded in virgin or MY once-fired brass, Starline or Winchester. I used to use Norma brass but my supply has finally almost run out.
COAL @ 1.27", nearly no bullet jump In my Gen 2 barrel.

 

When your grandkids finally wear it out.

 

330,000 thru one of my old 2 pin G17's and no wear visible. I may not live long enough to get to 500,000... We have a Gen 1 at the academy is way over one million.

 

I've heard stories like this but they were always third-hand. I know Glocks are durable, but this impresses me!

 

i have a glock 17 gen2 oem barrel not sure waht the rifling originally looked like not sure if its time to replace it.

There isn't even any wear on the ramp, let along the barrel. That's what hammer forged barrels look like. Clean it, shoot at least 250,000 more.

 

The rifling in your barrel looks new. You’ve got to spend a lot more money to wear that barrel out.

 

Interesting thread.

The last year or so I've begun to think it may be my gen2 G17 barrel, and not so much me, for the less accuracy I'm experiencing.

I have absolutely no idea how many rounds I've put through it in 30ish+ years. But a lot.

I need to have my son shoot it a bunch to see how he does with it (he is a very good shooter in general).

The other thing... the trigger. At a match another guy let me try out his G17 with some sort of modified trigger, and it was pretty impressive. I forget what trigger he said it was, but it wasn't crazy expensive or hard to install according to him.

I am thinking of trying a new trigger before buying a new barrel? What do you all think?

 

Interesting thread.

<SNIP>

I am thinking of trying a new trigger before buying a new barrel? What do you all think?

I think Timney has the trigger that you’d be seeking, When I installed mine on a gen 4 G22 unlimited gun, the break ended up at 1.1lbs. I had to install the heavier spring from the kit, change the connector to a factory “minus”, and replace the firing pin safety with a factory replacement. This resulted in a 2.2lb break.

An all factory gun should have a nice crisp clean break at around 3- 3-1/2lb break. This is what I see with acquaintances guns that had the Timney installed.

…Ron

 

DO YOU SHOOT LEAD? CLEAN IT WITH BALLISTOL. IS IT STILL ACCURATE? ANY
FTE OR FTF ISSUES? FWIW

 

i shoot fmj
i use hopps gun oil to clean the barrel
no noticeable issues just the rifling looks shallow to me

 

Looks like a new barrel that needs cleaning.

 

thank you! mine looks just like this wasnt sure how it was supposed to look its really old lol

 

Hoppes # 9

 

Here are a couple of photos comparing a new “unfired” G43 barrel (Left) and my old G43 barrel with 64k rounds (Right). I took the photos before I shot my new G43 for the first time.

The barrel on the right is from my old G43. The bore still looks pretty good. I have fired about 500 rounds through the new G43 now. The new barrel does feel somewhat tighter when cleaning with the same bore brush and the same size patch, though.

Note that those 64k rounds of jacketed ammo I have fired through the old barrel include:
*About 1,400 rounds of +P JHP
*At least 1k rounds of NATO FMJ
*7,000 rounds of Russian steel case ammo with bi-metal jacket.

I really do not know if the bi-metal jacket of the steel case ammo have had any measurable ill effects on the bore…. At least visually it is very difficult to tell….

In any case, my old G43 with the original slide and barrel (and the trigger) is still functioning completely reliably. So, I am not planing to replace its original barrel or slide any time soon.

 

My First Gen 17 is still going strong. GSSF has rebuilt it for me 2 times but it still has the original barrel. I clean all my guns with Ballistol. It keeps them cleaner & easier to clean. FWIW

 

I replace mine at 3am.