Thread: Does a bull barrel help reduce throat erosion?

Its commonly accepted that if you shoot a gun hot and don't let it cool between shots it will wear the barrel faster then if you did let it cool. I don't think anyone would dispute this. eg. you could wear a 7mm mag barrel out in a few hundred rounds if you didnt let it rest, but that same barrel might do 1500 rounds if allowed to cool between shots.

This is because, generally, as metal gets hotter it gets softer. As metal gets softer, it looses abrasion/wear resistance.
This means a hot barrel will wear quicker than a cold one, and it takes more rounds in the same period of time to heat up a heavy barrel to the same extent as a light one.

If both were given as much time as needed to cool properly between shots, I think they would have the same barrel life, but if both were shot continually till one of them died, or with less cooling allowed between shots, the heavy barrel would come out on top.

Heat kills barrels. Heavy barrels are slightly harder to heat to the level where wear is increased.

Basically, IMO, a bull barrel helps manage heat. And managing heat extends barrel life. So I think the answer to your question is both yes and no depending on how you look at it or how it will be used.