Barrel life

[264WM]

The way you shoot can either use a barrel fast or a long life. Heat is the main barrel enemy. Not allowing your barrel to over heat will extend the life of the barrel when using fast bullets such as 85gr hp at 3827fps or faster. Allowing the barrel to cool some between shots adds life to the barrel.

 

[MagnumManiac]

In comp shooting, trigger time is fast to keep the shots in the same weather variables.
This is why shooters today are using smaller and smaller cartridges…not me, I still like and use magnums. Barrel life to me not an issue. If I wanted long barrel life I would use small cartridges. My 222 has thousands of rounds fired through it, it still is very accurate and doesn't look like it's going to change for several more thousand rounds. It's no good for 1000m F-class…

Cheers.

 

[QuietTexan]

One thing I'll throw out - if a barrel is "burned out" (end of total life or accurate life for a use) and you're committed to getting a new barrel: you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying new and aggressive cleaning methods. That's a great time to try out one of the abrasives or harsh chemicals that would just absolutely destroy a barrel in it's prime

So pull out the JB or Iosso, grab your felt pellets and have a go at it. Go full-on and chuck up a carbon rod in a drill with a bore brush, and go to town on stripping that thing down to the barest of metal. Run a set of Tubbs Final Finish through it, and see what it does.

It's a loss anyways right? All you have to lose is some time and a little bit of effort, but you stand to gain challenging common preconceptions. And if Iosso and a nylon brush really does carve canyons through your rifling, you can forever lord it over the rest of the peasants that have never sacrificed a barrel for winning an internet argument.

If you like to shoot, taking steps to conserve barrel life sure makes sense.

Oh yeah, 100%. This is why I have a 223 AI, the barrel life on that thing is measured by my attention span more than anything else. I'll get bored of it, or decide to not buy another lot of brass for it before it burns out. Gives me something to shoot while the boomer is cooling down. 22LR and 300 BLK are also great high-volume shooters, they're the most fun I have on some trips. When nothing is going right with the 6BR and life sucks I can pull out my 22LR and go 'ding-ding-ding' at 300 to remind myself I'm not a total idiot

I have a rack of pre fit match grade barrels for several rifles.

This is a really good reason for people who think they can't afford to "build" a rifle to stop buying off the shelf to change calibers. Get a good action, and get it bedded into a good stock, then you can change out barrels whenever you need to. Impact Precision and Defiance both have shouldered prefits available, and both companies sell replacement bolts so you can even change the bolt face size with a new barrel just as easy. There are so many actions with 0.001" headspace guarantees now that shouldered prefits not only are common but work great, you don't have to mess with the Savage/Remage anymore if you don't want to. If you don't mind a Remage, there's no reason to not bed even a factory action into a good stock and have a life-time hunting rifle that is multi-caliber capable.

I could really wreck some minds by pointing out that some benchrest guys epoxy their actions into their stocks, and change barrels without taking the action out ever again. They aren't exactly running mass produced prefits, but essentially they're running custom pre-fits based on the measurements of their last barrel. Some smiths are good enough to not even need the rifle in-hand to fit a barrel, they take good notes and trust their work.

 

[VinceMule]

The "Heat Index" of the powder used has a particular outcome in the amount of fire cracking, throat dia growth, and freebore growth.

AA2700
N160
N165
H1000

all burn much cooler than some other powders, and H1000 is a proven life extender in the 264 Winchester Magnum.

For a guy that only hunts, and verifies zero, a barrel may outlast his lifetime. For the guy that likes to shoot steel, he wears out barrels 3x as fast as a guy that does not shoot steel.

I have been shooting 7 Mags all my life, Remingtons, Browning A Bolts, BARs, and one Savage 116, various brands of custom barrels used. Most of what I have shot in the 7 Mags have been R#22 and IMR 4350 with pressures at the very top end of the load where it is the most accurate. One load with 150g-154g bullets is with R#25 with a Win mag primer is at 3240 fps with sub 10 fps ES, but barrel life with this load I figure is 600-800? rounds at the 3/8"(3 shot) accuracy I am looking for. This load with R#25 will have some major fire cracking in the barrel for 10", and I attribute that to the amount of powder used.

Bug hole Loads were found quickly with IMR 4350(140g), R#22(160g), and R#25(150-154g), so I am reluctant to switch to the cooler burning powders. Brux and Krieger barrel blanks are waiting their turn.

Quiet Texan's advice was spot on! I have found in my varmint rifles that Pre Fits done by a gunsmith that takes his time indicating the barrel in, and shoots amazing. I am convinced that the part of the chambering process where the barrel is indicated into the .0001 is where MUCH accuracy is attained, and I can not stress this enough.

So, now I think in terms of building a "platform", which includes Stock, trigger, action, scope, and change barrels/calibers as necessary. Putting together a Platform is a LOT less expensive than having a multitude of rifles, and buying components with the money you save. These "platforms" are so incredibly accurate that when the groups open to 1/2"-5/8", I am looking for something wrong. The Key is to find that gunsmith that will indicate that the barrel in properly. Accuracy just falls in quickly with a properly indicated in barrel, especially with a caliber you are accustomed to.

 

[QuietTexan]

So, now I think in terms of building a "platform", which includes Stock, trigger, action, scope, and change barrels/calibers as necessary. Putting together a Platform is a LOT less expensive than having a multitude of rifles, and buying components with the money you save. These "platforms" are so incredibly accurate that when the groups open to 1/2"-5/8", I am looking for something wrong. The Key is to find that gunsmith that will indicate that the barrel in properly. Accuracy just falls in quickly with a properly indicated in barrel, especially with a caliber you are accustomed to.

 

[R. Cram]

One thing I'll throw out - if a barrel is "burned out" (end of total life or accurate life for a use) and you're committed to getting a new barrel: you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying new and aggressive cleaning methods. That's a great time to try out one of the abrasives or harsh chemicals that would just absolutely destroy a barrel in it's prime

So pull out the JB or Iosso, grab your felt pellets and have a go at it. Go full-on and chuck up a carbon rod in a drill with a bore brush, and go to town on stripping that thing down to the barest of metal. Run a set of Tubbs Final Finish through it, and see what it does.

It's a loss anyways right? All you have to lose is some time and a little bit of effort, but you stand to gain challenging common preconceptions. And if Iosso and a nylon brush really does carve canyons through your rifling, you can forever lord it over the rest of the peasants that have never sacrificed a barrel for winning an internet argument.


Oh yeah, 100%. This is why I have a 223 AI, the barrel life on that thing is measured by my attention span more than anything else. I'll get bored of it, or decide to not buy another lot of brass for it before it burns out. Gives me something to shoot while the boomer is cooling down. 22LR and 300 BLK are also great high-volume shooters, they're the most fun I have on some trips. When nothing is going right with the 6BR and life sucks I can pull out my 22LR and go 'ding-ding-ding' at 300 to remind myself I'm not a total idiot


This is a really good reason for people who think they can't afford to "build" a rifle to stop buying off the shelf to change calibers. Get a good action, and get it bedded into a good stock, then you can change out barrels whenever you need to. Impact Precision and Defiance both have shouldered prefits available, and both companies sell replacement bolts so you can even change the bolt face size with a new barrel just as easy. There are so many actions with 0.001" headspace guarantees now that shouldered prefits not only are common but work great, you don't have to mess with the Savage/Remage anymore if you don't want to. If you don't mind a Remage, there's no reason to not bed even a factory action into a good stock and have a life-time hunting rifle that is multi-caliber capable.

I could really wreck some minds by pointing out that some benchrest guys epoxy their actions into their stocks, and change barrels without taking the action out ever again. They aren't exactly running mass produced prefits, but essentially they're running custom pre-fits based on the measurements of their last barrel. Some smiths are good enough to not even need the rifle in-hand to fit a barrel, they take good notes and trust their work.

I shoot High Power and a .260 rem probably 2500 rnds before setting back the barrel an inch or so then another 1500 rnds after that. This meant every year I would put another barrel on the rifle which I do myself, chambering is not the most difficult machining job to do thankfully or it might be beyond my abilities. I shot a 600 yd match at Camp Perry years ago and a shooter came over to me after the 20 shot string, his name was Peter LaBerge, and asked me if I knew what he was doing during the string and I replied I had no idea as I was concentrating as much as I could to keep them in the middle, every shot at 600 yds you have to check the wind and guess your correction. He said he could tell I was shooting fairly well and would wait untill I shot then use my shot to see what the wind was doing then make his own correction using partially my shots for dope. That string I happened to shoot a 200 with 13X which is very good for me he won with a 200 15X. The next match I dropped 1 point and after that match he came over and told me my mistake with that shot which was as he told me I was shooting at the left side of the 10 ring thinking the wind would push me farther into the middle when it changed but like he explained it is more likely for ot to let off than increase so that happened,it let off and I shot a 9 my strategy was not correct. He knew what I was thinking and was still wind doping off my target while shooting next to me, He was a very good and smart shooter. The reason for this long winded story is showing that he was very experianced and undoubtably had shot out dozens of barrels and I respect what he said and he claimed that when his barrels got long in the tooth he got some medium grit grinding compound with diamond dust in it and would polish the throat area and greatly prolong the barrel life. Like you said if your barrel is getting close to being done what do you have to loose. By the way that perticular barrel I was shooting was on of the best shooters I ever had and was a douglas lapped and installed by the great Jim Cloward, at the time we were using Iron sights and with that barrel you could click you sights back and forth inside the X ring at 600 and it would keep the shots insise the Xring back and forth that always fascinated me that your eye could see well enough to do that

 

[VinceMule]

Mr. Cram, great story. Stan Taylor of Douglas Barrel passed away recently, a great loss to the shooting public.

 

[R. Cram]

I shot douglas barrels for a lot of years and they were not the fancy name barrel at the time but they always shot very well for me. The time at Camp Perry I wrote about my scorekeeper said after I shot "that was good what kind of barrel do you have" when I said Douglas I could tell by his expression he wanted to hear Heart or Kreiger but not Douglas. I called Douglas one time and they sent me to the shop to a man I believe was named Fred who I always enjoyed talking to, I asked Fred if it was necessary to order air gauged and xxx barrels to see if they would shoot better and he replied "some people don't think they are getting a good product unless it costs more money so if thats the way you think spend the extra money otherwise you don't need to spend the extra" I really appreciated his reply and his veiw of human nature. Thats probably 15 years ago I hope he is doing well

 

[VinceMule]

Wilson barrels accuracy has been a shock to me for a budget-priced barrel with uniform bore dia from end to end, and pleasing to the eye in smoothness with the Bore scope.

 

[Rich Coyle]

It was my intention to not quote anyone, merely expressing my opinion on the cost(s) associated with rebarreling a rifle.

FWIW - I've shot out several barrels in less time than I replaced my last set of brakes. And new brakes don't require a new work up to achieve maximum effectiveness.

You mean you don't have to learn what brake pressure they like?