I know a top shooter at Friendship who shot 5 shots at his backyard range every day when he was working. He did it while Breakfast was getting ready, before going to work. Then he shot much more on weekends, either at his own range, or at various club shoots. I never asked him how much powder and lead he went through per month, week, or year, but it had to be many more times what I was shooting once or twice a month.
Like you, and Roundball, I am convinced that you can't shoot out a steel barrel unless you abuse it . It might lose some of its accuracy, as the story goes, but I am willing to bet that even those flyers would disappear again with a change of a component, or perhaps some re-crowning.
There is an article in a back issue of Gun Digest, by Hal Hartley, the stockmaker, who found his grandfathers old gun," 'Ol Yellow Jacket ", after years of searching to find who presently owned the gun. It was much abused, and rusted. The stock was broken, and the barrel's muzzle was definitely ruined. The hammer was broken off, and the owner's grandkids had been using the gun as a play toy.
He cut off a very short section of the crown( Pictured), then re-rifled( freshened) the barrelDecribing the making of the cutter, with pictures), and made a new RB mold. Then he restocked the rifle. The article had a 5 shot group that indicated that the gun was once again a tack driver. The only thing missing was a good picture of the gun as he bought it, but his description would make a grown man cry.
That is the first story I ever read about an abused muzzleloader, and I have kept that Gun Digest in my library ever since, just to have those details to remind me what can happen, and how. I believe the gunbarrel was made of iron, and not steel.
At the time I read the article, I was lusting after an old MLer that was in similar condition, that was owned by a friend of the family. I was too young to buy it without my father's okay, and he didn't want me spending money on anything other than my College plans. So, I never did get that gun. But the Hartley article gave me hope that if that old gun ever did land in my hands again, that someone, if not me, could restore it to shooting condition, and I would have a tremendous gun.
Oh, one thought about guys with modern, steel barrels. I have heard, from reliable sources, that some target shooters Lap their barrels every Night between shooting times. This only removes a few 10 thousandths of an inch off the lands, to " create a New, Sharp edge", but over time, this kind of thing is going to wear away the lands to the point where the barrel becomes slick. That is the only way I have heard ANYONE wearing " out " a modern steel barrel, and its certainly not caused by shooting a Patched Round Ball!
I suspect these barrels are put aside long before they get to that slick stage, because as the lands are reduced, the RB is no longer correctly sized to seal the gases with any sized patching. I have not heard of these " lappers " using larger diameter balls in these barrels as they wear down the lands. :hmm:
