AES-10B handling / treatment ?

I was wondering what's the life expectancy of the barrel?

to date I have put three drum loads (100rds) down range in rapid fire bursts...

is there a common or basic rule of thumb to follow?

if smoke is coming off the barrel from the front site forward after shooting..is that damage or just warming her up?

Barrel will last longer than you will. I have heard numbers from 16,000 to 60,000. I have a SAR-1 that has 8k through it and the barrel still looks new. No noticeable wear.

If smoke is coming off the barrel your just warming it up enough to start baking the oil. When I was younger 4 or 5 buddies of mine went shooting for an afternoon. We didn't take any real good targets and we forgo training for accuracy or any kind of drills to improve... it was just a for fun afternoon.

So... we had 5 mags and a 75 round drum and a case of x39 (back when it was $80 out the door w/tax). While one guy blasted, the others were loading. We went through 600 rounds or so... maybe more in about an hour.

The gun was a Bulgarian SA-93, and when we got home, after a 30 minute drive, and if I remember correctly stopping for lunch, the rifle was still too hot to touch other than the buttstock and handguards.

With an even heavier barrel, I would say you are JUST FINE.

-myers