Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,539
- 4,854
.270 fan has an interesting post going about building his dream rifle - thought I'd start another and ask shooters what they've seen in barrel life from different cartridges and different conditions. Theirs and rifles they've seen.
What is meant by "barrel life" anyway? To me, it's when the darned thing won't shoot as well as I'd like it to anymore. Pretty simple for me.
How's a barrel "wear out" anyway? From what I've seen, it's primarily in the throat area, where the hot burning gases actually erode the rifling... Sometimes this can extend a few inches up into the barrel from the chamber.
Are some cartridges, and some types of shooting, harder on barrels? I sure think so; relatively small bore cartridges burning lots of gunpowder sure seem to wear out a barrel fast. Lots of rapid fire will also wear out a barrel fast - mostly from intense heat I'd guess.
So... what have I got, and what have I seen?
Rem 700 factory barrel in .308 Winchester. Remarkably accurate factory barrel when fed 168 grain match bullets. Very nice shooter to about the 3800 round mark... Started going pretty gradually, but as we passed 4000 rounds I couldn't count on it to shoot MOA groups anymore. That was my limit for that barrel, and it was replaced with a Krieger cut-rifle barrel.
Why Krieger? Good past experience with their barrels on my match rifle. I've also had great luck with a Hart barrel and have an Obermeyer in the gunsafe waiting for this current Krieger on my match rifle to finish up.
Krieger .308 barrel, 1:13 twist, 30" long - on a match rifle. I pushed it to about 5600 rounds. Mostly slow fire, although I did enter some rapid fire matches with it as well. Kept it on until my X-count at 600 yards was well below normal. Perhaps it could have served to 6000 or beyond?
In the Corps, we were told that expected accurate life of our 7.62 (.308 Win essentially) M40A1 barrels was 8000 rounds. They were routinely replaced at 5000 rounds because nobody wanted to see a combat unit with nearly worn out sniper rifles. Good thinking on somebody's part! We all noted that when Quantico would send us a "new" rebuilt rifle, it was one heck of a shooter compared to the rifles we'd been dragging through the dirt for a few years.
The .308 is known for being pretty easy on barrel life, as are the 7mm-08 and the .260 Rem, both of which are simply the .308 necked down a bit.
I haven't worn one out myself, but have often been told that the guys shooting magnums in competition are replacing the barrels at about 1500 rounds - which isn't much shooting as far as a competition rifle goes. That's primarily from guys using one of the various .30 caliber belted magnums. Surprising to some, there are smaller cartridges like the .243 that also finish off a barrel in about 2000 rounds. The 6mm's are becoming very popular for match shooting because of their accuracy, great downrange ballistics and mild recoil.
Most of my barrel wear info comes from match shooters, although some dedicated varmint shooters also wear out barrels on a pretty regular basis. Many of my match shooting buddies figure on one, or two, seasons with a barrel. Some, particularly the guys shooting "hot" cartridges, are going through a couple of barrels a season.
What can you do about it? Well, my first big hurdle was to just get over it. Had to change my way of thinking about barrels. When I started thinking about them like tires... That even the real good ones wear out and need to be replaced eventually, I got a lot more comfortable with the idea. Also, as has been pointed out in another thread, a barrel can be set-back and re-chambered. That's been done with my good old Hart, that so far refuses to die...
Input and experiences? Thanks, Guy
What is meant by "barrel life" anyway? To me, it's when the darned thing won't shoot as well as I'd like it to anymore. Pretty simple for me.
How's a barrel "wear out" anyway? From what I've seen, it's primarily in the throat area, where the hot burning gases actually erode the rifling... Sometimes this can extend a few inches up into the barrel from the chamber.
Are some cartridges, and some types of shooting, harder on barrels? I sure think so; relatively small bore cartridges burning lots of gunpowder sure seem to wear out a barrel fast. Lots of rapid fire will also wear out a barrel fast - mostly from intense heat I'd guess.
So... what have I got, and what have I seen?
Rem 700 factory barrel in .308 Winchester. Remarkably accurate factory barrel when fed 168 grain match bullets. Very nice shooter to about the 3800 round mark... Started going pretty gradually, but as we passed 4000 rounds I couldn't count on it to shoot MOA groups anymore. That was my limit for that barrel, and it was replaced with a Krieger cut-rifle barrel.
Why Krieger? Good past experience with their barrels on my match rifle. I've also had great luck with a Hart barrel and have an Obermeyer in the gunsafe waiting for this current Krieger on my match rifle to finish up.
Krieger .308 barrel, 1:13 twist, 30" long - on a match rifle. I pushed it to about 5600 rounds. Mostly slow fire, although I did enter some rapid fire matches with it as well. Kept it on until my X-count at 600 yards was well below normal. Perhaps it could have served to 6000 or beyond?
In the Corps, we were told that expected accurate life of our 7.62 (.308 Win essentially) M40A1 barrels was 8000 rounds. They were routinely replaced at 5000 rounds because nobody wanted to see a combat unit with nearly worn out sniper rifles. Good thinking on somebody's part! We all noted that when Quantico would send us a "new" rebuilt rifle, it was one heck of a shooter compared to the rifles we'd been dragging through the dirt for a few years.
The .308 is known for being pretty easy on barrel life, as are the 7mm-08 and the .260 Rem, both of which are simply the .308 necked down a bit.
I haven't worn one out myself, but have often been told that the guys shooting magnums in competition are replacing the barrels at about 1500 rounds - which isn't much shooting as far as a competition rifle goes. That's primarily from guys using one of the various .30 caliber belted magnums. Surprising to some, there are smaller cartridges like the .243 that also finish off a barrel in about 2000 rounds. The 6mm's are becoming very popular for match shooting because of their accuracy, great downrange ballistics and mild recoil.
Most of my barrel wear info comes from match shooters, although some dedicated varmint shooters also wear out barrels on a pretty regular basis. Many of my match shooting buddies figure on one, or two, seasons with a barrel. Some, particularly the guys shooting "hot" cartridges, are going through a couple of barrels a season.
What can you do about it? Well, my first big hurdle was to just get over it. Had to change my way of thinking about barrels. When I started thinking about them like tires... That even the real good ones wear out and need to be replaced eventually, I got a lot more comfortable with the idea. Also, as has been pointed out in another thread, a barrel can be set-back and re-chambered. That's been done with my good old Hart, that so far refuses to die...
Input and experiences? Thanks, Guy
