Wear out gun.

[ShadeTree]

I like reloading and shooting. Problem is even putting 10 rounds a week through a gun which seems minimal if you like to shoot, is 520 rounds a yr.

I find myself stretching out the times between shooting. I put just 7 rounds through my model 70 since re-finishing the stock several months ago, and no rounds since fixing a trigger problem I discovered when shooting those rounds.

I got an 03 I can mess with this summer but that shouldn't take real long and I didn't buy it to finish off wearing it out on the bench. I'd like to verify a good heavy load for my Dad's 348 in conjunction with the 200 Hornady's, but again as much fun as that is to shoot, I'm not gonna spend a summer putting rounds through it.

I need a gun I can mess with different reloads and spend a lot of trigger time with on the bench. The thought crossed my mind maybe to just go old school with something like a 222. I imagine a fella could put 1000's of rounds downrange with a cartridge along those lines and see very little wear. Opinions??

 

[Guy Miner]

Oh yeah, it's not unusual for a 223 to go thousands of rounds with accuracy. Buddy of mine won an award, can't remember which one for sure, at a match in Idaho a while back. He was shooting a factory Rem 700 in .223 with at least 7,000 rounds down the barrel! It was either the best cold bore shot or the tightest three-shot group at 100 yards. I think it was the tight group.

When I was shooting rifle matches and had SWAT sniper duties, I'd get around 5,000 - 6,000 rounds of accurate barrel life from my .308 Win barrels. I dumped those barrels when my X-count would dip. They were still fine for other purposes, just not long-range prone competition.

It's entirely possible to shoot-out the barrel on a good hunting rifle, though I think it would take a while with a 30-06, particularly if you don't let the barrel over-heat.

Regards, Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Since I like to load and shoot, and I think it helps my marksmanship - I do a LOT of .22 shooting during the year. Also a fair bit of .223 shooting, and the .308 Win target rifle as well.

Then as hunting season approaches, I start practicing more with the rifle or rifles with which I intend to hunt. I don't feel a need to shoot them all year long.

Regards, Guy

 

[Polaris]

Get a pair of Savages if you want an inexpensive "out of the box" option. Maybe a Mauser 98, M17 or beat Rem 700 or Win 70 pusher and throw a barrel and bedded stock on it if you're up to that. .223, .308 or 30-06 in standard calibers, 6.5x55 or creedmoor, .280 rem or 7-08, .35 whelen if you want something more "exotic" to play with. Any of these have readily available brass, lots of fun bullet and powder combinations to play with, and are relatively easy on barrels if you don't hot rod, shoulders, and brass with short chambered barrels ready to go when you do wear one out.

 

[salmonchaser]

Precisely why I purchased an inexpensive Begara in 6.5 creedmore. I fire a couple shots out of my "good rifles, fire five or ten out of the 6.5. My beater 6.5 is accurate enough to consistently bang the gong at 300 as long as I do my part.


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[Elkman]

I have always been careful, with my primary hunting rifles, and probably have averaged less than a 100 rounds annually with them over my lifetime. I shot them more in my early years and now less and less as the years go by. Like others here I use other rifles which are newer, that I use for my more casual shooting and off hand practice. As Guy mentioned both a .223 and a .308. I also have a slight infestation of ground squirrels around my out buildings, and for them I use my 45/70. I need much more off hand practice, as well as off my knee, and there are not that many squirrels.

 

[cloverleaf]

I fired two rounds out of my "hunting rifle" (12 Ga slug gun) last year. One to verify the zero and one to fill my deer tag. No- I'm not that good of a shot, not bragging. Just saying that I felt comfortable after shooting several hundred rounds of 22 and 22 Mag and I don't need the punishment of the recoil of a 12 GA. CL

 

[preacher]

I use my hunting rifles sparingly too and for the times I just want trigger time/field practice I use an old Marlin 883 .22 Mag with a high quality scope. Now, that slowed don to "nothing" during the .22 mag shortage ( Obamma years mainly) One of "the best" practices for Big Game is prairie dogs/ground squirrels, etc, I have just as much fun out to 250yds ( even if I don't hit him, I can make him run!) with my .22 Mag as I used to with a .204 ruger or bigger. But...for working up loads, etc, I too think the .223 is your Huckleberry. The .222 "could be" if you have a source of brass. Go with a fast twist and play with the heavies is another option...

 

[HTDUCK]

Find a Tikka T3 in 223 that has a 1/8 barrel in it and let 'er rip.

Easy too load for.
I have 2 of them and they are both impressively accurate with everything from 55 grs to 77 gr.
They sip powder, not burn it in gulps.
Light, relatively short and handy too.
One of mine is always in the truck or on the 4 wheeler when we're on the properties we hunt.

 

[5shot]

I started casting for my rifles. Shoot a lot less powder, and bullets are cheap. Can shoot thousands of rounds with no barrel wear.

 

[ShadeTree]

I'm hopeless. Was looking around for a cheap shooter along the lines of a savage axis or remington 783 and instead what caught my attention was a 1950 marlin 336 in 35 Remington. Didn't buy it but at the same time I just can't seem to pull the trigger (no pun intended) on a cheap made gun. Maybe I'm a gun snob.

When Townsend Whelen said only accurate guns are interesting, he never shot one with a plastic bottomed mag and trigger guard. To me, interesting guns are interesting and plastic doesn't do it for me. Maybe I'll wear out the 03 and replace the barrel with a 35 whelen when the day comes. Don't know, I'll figure something out.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I have shot out many custom barrels and it does get pretty expensive. Most were chambered for magnum cartridges, but not all of them. My 22-250 had no rifling for 2" forward of the throat before it got a new barrel.

I built a custom .308 Win just to have a large bore rifle that I could shoot frequently without loosing the throat too quickly. Most .308 rifles will have decent barrel life for a few thousand rounds and some quite a bit more.

If you intend to shoot a big bore rifle incessantly then it would be a good idea to have the barrel contoured in a way that will allow you to cut off 2" and set the barrel back for rechambering. Most barrel profiles will not have enough steel forward of the chamber to allow this.

 

[truck driver]

If you cheap reloadable ammo and fun to shoot look at the .22 Hornet. There are some inexpensive and high dollar rifles out there chambered for the Hornet.
CZ 527, Ruger 77-22 Hornet and the wonderfully accurate and expensive Anshultz.
I'm not sure if the H&R single shots are still available but you can get a barrel for a TC Contender/ Encore if you happen to have one. the .22 Hornet will take game up to Coyote and not mess up the pelt.
Factory ammo is available and it is reloadable if you choose to do so.

 

[cloverleaf]

Sorry - me again- kinda mis-read your original question. The link below would meet my definition of a "wear out" gun. My trouble is, if "cheap rifles" dont start shooting the way I think they should I have a tendency to "throw money at the problem" (usually a scope worth more that the rifle... :roll: ) NEVER blame the nut behind the trigger :lol: You could find an old savage or an "Axis" some where and just screw on a new tube once you wear it out.

https://www.gunsamerica.com/922431115/3 ... 83-270.htm

CL

 

[ShadeTree]

Sorry - me again- kinda mis-read your original question. The link below would meet my definition of a "wear out" gun. My trouble is, if "cheap rifles" dont start shooting the way I think they should I have a tendency to "throw money at the problem" (usually a scope worth more that the rifle... :roll: ) NEVER blame the nut behind the trigger :lol: You could find an old savage or an "Axis" some where and just screw on a new tube once you wear it out.

https://www.gunsamerica.com/922431115/3 ... 83-270.htm

CL

No you didn't really mis-read my post or question, the problem is me, I don't know what I want. A wear out gun could be "cheap" or it could be a caliber that doesn't tend to wear very easily.

I still don't know what I want. Like I said above, after thinking about it I might just work on and shoot the 03 sporter on the bench as much as I want to, even though it's a classic, it's not like it's high dollar. If I wear out the barrel that's already got some miles on it, I could finish it the way I want with a new 358 barrel. I got $400 and change in that gun including the Leupold scope that came on it.

 

[Dwh7271]

Get a Savage, an Axis or Ruger American.
On the Savages and Axis, if you wear out the barrel or want something different cartridge wise, it's easy to add, change or modify.
An Axis will run around 300 or so and shoot pretty well.

 

[BretN]

I have a 783 and really like it, except for the stock. The fore end is way too flexible, but many of the bargain guns suffer from the same plastic stock compromise. Laminate stocks can be had for the 783, Axis, or Ruger American at Boyd's in their clearance section for right around $100.

My 783 is a .308 and one of the most consistently accurate deer guns I own. Magnum contour barrel, easily adjustable trigger, pillar bedded stock, built like a Savage with a barrel lock nut, probably all contribute to it's accuracy. I suspect the bore isn't the smoothest, as it took about 50 shots to break in but it has been rock solid since break in. Many of the other "cheap" guns have similar features. They are not a bad option if you can accept them for what they are. If you just can't do it, I understand. Just shoot the daylights out of your 03. That's not a wrong answer either.

 

[FOTIS]

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=37652

 

[Divernhunter]

New barrels are not that costly. I have a 257 I got for my daughter. She shot the barrel out of it. It was hard to believe but it was true. It went from very small groups to 3" groups. Sent it off and put a new barrel on it and now it shoots even smaller groups than the factory barrel.
I have a heavy barrel 223 that I have shot a million squirrels with and shot out the barrel. I got the rifle in 1970. Put a new barrel on it and it shoots great again.

If you want barrel life and a cheaper rifle get a mild cartridge like a 223 or 257R. Shoot many thousands of rounds thru it then just debarred it.

 

[Anonymous]

If you're shooting enough to shoot out a barrel...all I can say is that you're living life right.

As mentioned, cartridges like the .223 are easy on barrels but even some pretty hot numbers can be easier on the barrel if you load it down and don't overheat it.

Someone mentioned the .22 Hornet...not sure it's possible to shoot one of those out within a normal lifetime, likely the same result from a .30-30. In a single shot- there's enough bullets available and so many powders to try that you could play with it for a very long time before you exhausted all the combinations.

That's one of the beauties of the Thompson Contender/Encore...so many barrels and cartridges, it's a tinkerers dream.