[lifesizepotato]

For those who have a lot of rounds through their MR556/762s, how have they been holding up for you, and how many rounds have you put through them?

I'm especially curious about that infamous chromeless barrel, as there's a popular thread on another forum where a guy who runs a high-volume range in Las Vegas said their MR556A1 was keyholing badly by just 10,000 rounds. Since being posted lasted summer I've seen this referenced around the internet as proof that HK's ARs are overpriced garbage, so I'm wondering if other people have been having that issue or if it's a matter of running solvents through the barrel or what. I only have a few thousand rounds through mine but haven't had issues yet, though I admit I don't run it as "hard" as others. I have no desire to stir up the chrome lining debate for the millionth time, it is what it is, but is having the barrel shot out by 10k rounds (as his report implies) to be expected?

And I'll probably never come close to 10k on my 762 but I'd be interested to hear about those as well.

Apologies if this has been discussed somewhere, Googling and HKPro search didn't turn up anything except that Arfcom thread.

 

[fargo007]

I will almost certainly wear my MR556 barrel out. I shoot easily 10K a year in competitions/practice and as soon as it won't hold MOA it's (to me) toast.

My concern is not how long it will last, but where in the name of sweet jemima crackerton can I get a replacement when it does?

 

[Augee]

Heat is much more the enemy of barrels than raw round counts. Henderson is a rental range that caters to tourists wanting to fire fully automatic weapons and basically spray at 25 yards or so. Based on their business model, I'm fairly certain "sustained rate of fire" is not a thing at Henderson. I'm very happy for some of the feedback they've been able to give, but it's not any kind of field testing, it's really more glorified, unscientific long term destructive testing. No one, for example, feels that an M4A1 can only last ~900 rounds, but under the right circumstances...

Given what they do there, it's not surprising that they burned out an unlined match barrel quite quickly, it's not what the barrel was designed for. Lots of full auto means a lot of heat in a short time, and that will wreck a barrel posthaste--10,000 rounds like that is not the same thing as 10,000 rounds of slow-fire, or even rapid fire.

Unless you too are looking for a full auto rental gun that you can bill as "the gun that killed Bin Laden" to hand to foreign tourists who may never get to actually see or touch a gun in their lives but have been brought up on American movies, I would expect your barrel to last quite a bit longer than Henderson's did.

~Augee

 

[LCSO264]

This whole Henderson rental range thing has been covered here at extreme nausea..... do a search, there is a very lengthy post on it. the genera consensus was the not barrel, chrome or not, would last long under the conditions experienced at this particular rental range.

Albeit a chrome lined 416 barrel, this article is a testament to HK barrels.
Canipe Correspondence - Retiring My 416 - Soldier Systems Daily

 

[Crashmc]

I have no desire to stir up the chrome lining debate for the millionth time, it is what it is, but is having the barrel shot out by 10k rounds (as his report implies) to be expected?

Apologies if this has been discussed somewhere, Googling and HKPro search didn't turn up anything except that Arfcom thread.

Great. You apologize in advance for something that has been beat to death on this forum !

 

[lifesizepotato]

I haven't seen a single post or thread referencing the 10k round keyholing topic. I am not interested in the barrel lining, I am specifically asking about refuting the 10k-round sewer pipe and even, more importantly, regular guy owner reports at that sort of round count. I will search again, since apparently such threads are littering HKPro.

Edit: Still not finding anything searching for "mr556a1 henderson" and "mr556a1 keyholing," and virtually nothing at all on the topic posted since that Arfcom thread went up last summer. You'd think I'd be tripping over these daily threads, right?

 

[dms16]

This whole Henderson rental range thing has been covered here at extreme nausea..... do a search, there is a very lengthy post on it. the genera consensus was the not barrel, chrome or not, would last long under the conditions experienced at this particular rental range.

Albeit a chrome lined 416 barrel, this article is a testament to HK barrels.
Canipe Correspondence - Retiring My 416 - Soldier Systems Daily

atta boy!

 

[lifesizepotato]

Alright, towards the end of this one single thread I found, there are some people talking about the Henderson thing. http://www.hkpro.com/forum/hk416-hk417-hq/227557-mr-series-got-chrome-lined-barrels.html

Would anyone with a high number of rounds through their MR like to weigh in with their personal experience? What should I search for to find all of those threads?

 

[fargo007]

If there's no serious effort to determine and track the loss of accuracy off a baseline as the numbers through the tube climb, the claims of round count are interesting, but ultimately worthless.

TOTALLY worthless for a competition shooter.

SERIOUSLY worthless for a law enforcement rifle.

Any gun shooting 4MOA is way more than unacceptable in either role.

If your judgment is "does it shoot the bullet sideways?" You may enjoy a much longer ride. But this isn't usable in any credible role.

 

[lifesizepotato]

From the couple of guys in that one thread and augee's helpful response, it sounds like the explanation for Henderson's results is that constant full auto on an unlined barrel + unverified barrel cleaning + maybe the tapering are probably the main culprits.

I'd love to hear from regular HKPro owners with their high round-count MRs to see how they've fared, if they don't mind posting their stories for the umpteenth time.

 

[LCSO264]

here is one that makes a tongue and cheek reference to the Henderson case..... as well as some other claims....
http://www.hkpro.com/forum/hk416-hk417-hq/235097-mr223a1-barrel-life-question.html?highlight=keyhole

here is a 7 page thread devoted to the above referenced topic:
http://www.hkpro.com/forum/hk416-hk417-hq/221940-mr556-10k-rounds-keyholing.html?highlight=keyhole

you should expect to get at least 10K worth of life out of your rifle. most get more, it really all depends on how well you maintain your rifle. I'm sure you could get as few as 5000 rounds through a barrel if you really abused it...

 

[lifesizepotato]

Thank you. That second one is exactly the sort of discussion I was looking for. I probably missed it because I've been searching MR556A1.