I'm confused..!!

[Archer]

I honestly have no idea how many rounds are through most of my firearms.
Probably half of them were acquired second hand and at least a half dozen or more were previously owned by various governments. Many of the used ones came to me looking perfect, only one or two showing significant wear of any sort.

I bought a MKII Government Target brand new about 30 odd years ago. It still travels to the range with me on a regular basis. It was my second pistol and my second rimfire firearm. I used to buy ammo by the brick for it while I was in college and I'd run a brick through it for every couple boxes I'd run through my 1911. I've had to replace the firing pin, the extractor and the associated springs and a few years ago I replaced the mainspring housing unit not because the spring was bad but because the silly tab that riveted the bolt stop pin to the housing gave up. There's a little wear where the bolt ran in the upper receiver and a little finish wear where the gun was laid on it's side on range trays or tables but mechanically and functionally the gun is in excellent shape and still gives me great groups. 20K rounds? Not unreasonable. Might even be more IDK. Since I've picked up a few more .22 LR pistols that are reasonably accurate I doubt I'll ever wear it out.

I had a M1 Garand match modified about 25 years ago. I might have a thousand rounds through the gun since the new barrel at this point.

Probably put a K+ rounds through my Winchester 94 in .44 Mag. I KNOW I've loaded over 1500 rounds since I got that gun and most of that was well before I picked up any of the others in that caliber.

I've watched a number of barrels get borescoped, there's a lot of them on youtube, and the condition even of 'brand new' barrels doesn't seem to have a lot of correlation to round count.

[golfish]

Looking forward to some pictures of this gun. I'm a big fan of the short rifles

[ManxTom]

Tom,

The screw head buggery is not the issue, but the indicator of possible issues unseen. In other words, due care was not taken outside, why think it was taken inside?....

Instead of the pills, try a pint.

I'll tell you how anal I am about looks and aesthetics.. you know those little sticky paper rings used to reinforce paper punched holes.. Well I use them around screws when removing / installing them on rifles..!!

I totally agree with your 'What lies beneath' premise.

In my old rifle club I won a prize for the shiniest reloaded ammo.. my .308 and .338 reloads were blindingly shiny..!!

[golfish]

I'll tell you how anal I am about looks and aesthetics.. you know those little sticky paper rings used to reinforce paper punched holes.. Well I use them around screws when removing / installing them on rifles..!!

That's a pretty good idea....

[Reese-Mo]

In my old rifle club I won a prize for the shiniest reloaded ammo.

No game animal, no bad guy, no paper target ever complained, called bloody foul about the lack of shine.

But, I hear ya talkin' ol' Tom. Dunno about the shiniest, but I routinely tumble my "just off the press" ammo to clean it up a bit, get the excess of lube, grunge, mung, and smeg off it.