Over the years, I've often heard about "shot-out" barrels. I'd be interested to know others' experience with this. I've heard everything from stories of barrels that are shot out after a few hundred rounds to remarks about the near impossibility of shooting out a barrel.
Obviously, there's wear on the rifling of barrels; I guess the question is "how much?" It seems to me that the rifle itself matters as well as the cartridge / load. What practices contribute to barrel wear? What do you do to minimize it? How much is barrel wear influenced by methods of breaking-in a new rifle? Does bore-lapping have anything to do with it? Cleaning practices? Are there products you can use to clean the rifle that will help reduce barrel wear, or aren't they really necessary?