life span of barrels

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mike Crawford

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I have always heard the life span on certain barrels was fairly short because of hot loads .
But what would be the life span of say you average 308 or 30-06 .. How many bullets before you start too lose accuracy .
Or in the case of the mil surplus .. Some of those barrels may be a hundred years old
 
Average caliber that's not too over bore, probably 2 or 3 thousand. Some thing real hot could be under a thousand. Depends on what you define as accurate. 1/2 moa? 11/2 moa? Vitals on a moose at 75 yards? Even the hottest loads won't wear out a hunting rifle, for the amount of use an average one sees.
 
6mm br .com has a barrel life calculator available for download. Note it is accurate for benchrest accuracy. For hunting you can add 50-100%.

According to the calculator a .308 will be good for around 3500 rounds before a benchrest guy would see a loss in accuracy. In a hunting rifle I doubt you would notice a drop until 6000+ rounds. Barrel replacement a few thousand after that.

A 7mm RUM and other such overbore cartridges can lose accuracy in 500 rounds.

Keep in mind there are more variables in the mix. If you often shoot with a hot barrel you can burn the barrel out faster.
 
It depends if you are talking match grade accuracy, or typical hunting accuracy. In either case, the load used, and whether you overheat the barrel on a regular basis, are significant factors.
 
I've never heard of any hunting firearm being shot out, only certain over-bore cartridges called barrel burners. Bench shooters have throat erosion/shot out where their 1/4 inch expanded to 1/2 inch group at 300 yards. Once that occurs then the rebarrel their firearm.
 
Anything that holds a lot of powder, and a fairly small bore, like a 25-06 that you mention.
When the 264 magnum came out the saying was to be careful, or else you would wear the barrel out before you got it sighted in.
 
Super hot magnums like the Rum family can eat a barrel in as few as 400 rounds. Contrary to intuitive reasoning the throats must be cleaned harshly and often to stop throat erosion and fire crackling. Life span of course must be properly defined, a long range target or hunter may swap out barrels much quicker than a average shooter. Accuracy is a relative thing...relative too who is defining it.

Standard/non magnum calibers can last many thousands of rounds. There are lots of sporter versions of Model 96 6.5x55 service rifles with thousands and thousands of rounds ....that are still very accurate. So those barrels have probably been used as much as a second.......a micro fraction of a second at a time.

Again, because it is hardware, not gas, or groceries for the hunting trip, or ammo....one must think a little backwards. A barrel is a expendable, with a finite life. They last until they need replacing, when they do they don't owe you anything.
 
H4831 said:
Anything that holds a lot of powder, and a fairly small bore, like a 25-06 that you mention.
When the 264 magnum came out the saying was to be careful, or else you would wear the barrel out before you got it sighted in.
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HAHAHAHA, I remember my uncle telling me that when he saw my .264 mag back in about 1980. I thought that was funny. I told him my hearing would be completely gone LONG before the barrel wore out.
 
mike Crawford said:
I guess the question should have been .. If you bought a used hunting rifle .. what would the chances be of the barrel being shot out.
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I'd gamble on very slim chance. A lot of hunters will go a season or two without pulling the trigger. My hunting pal bought a new gun and two boxes of ammo in 1973, and just got into his second box a year ago.
 
Depends a lot on the shooter. Dozen or so rounds fired rapid fire can do more damage than a hundred over a year. It's the throat that suffers. Ask me how I know? :) Borescope tells all.

Grizz
 
So many factors are involved in a barrel failing to group well enough to satisfy the shooter.

For example, as mentioned, are we looking at a Bench Rest rifle?

Just a hunting rifle? Is 1½ moa enough to make the hunter happy?

Also already mentioned. How big is the cartridge case in relation to the bullet diameter? More powder = more throat erosion.

How hot is the barrel being shot? Can't touch it? water sizzles when splashed on it....your barrel life will be relatively short.

Is it cleaned properly? [With the proper equipment] Does it get cleaned from the muzzle or the breech?

I have been fortunate enough to shoot a few barrel out. [220 Swift, 6mm Remington, 6.5x55 SM, 264 Win Mag, 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm RUM, 308 Norma Mag]

It takes a lot of shooting to erode the throat of a rifle to the point that it no longer shoots decent groups. [even the notorious Swift]

However, abuse can shorten a barrel's life dramatically. I had an acquaintance who had a rifle barreled up in 6.5 - 300 Weatherby. He managed to pooch that expensive tube in less than 500 rounds. He was in the habit of shooting long strings and ignoring the very hot barrel that resulted.

Sometimes a barrel that is thought to be shot out is not. I was given a 788 Remington in 22-250 that was "shot out". The previous owner said groups went from under ¾moa to over 2 moa in a short time. He did not want to be bother with rebarrelling it, so gave it to me. He opined that over 1000 rounds had been put through the rifle since new.

I started by giving it a thorough cleaning.....that took me several evenings to get the job done right.

After the fouling was completely removed, I threw together some loads with the excellent Sierra 52 HPBT match bullet and took it to the range. The first 5 -shot group was about 1¼" The second was closer to ¾moa, and the next 3 groups all flirted with ½ moa!! Shot out? Not at all, merely neglected.

But to address the OP's query, a 308 or 30-06, with any kind of care, will delivery great accuracy for several thousand rounds, so the chances of getting a shot out barrel in a used rifle is not particularly likely.

Regards, Dave.
 
Some european makers say 10,000 round minimum service life thats mauser and sauer for their cheapest gun and i think cz says that too for 308 and maybe other calibers american makers dont seem to want to put a number
 
About 6 seconds...

The Lifespan of a Gun Barrel Is about Six Seconds
John Farrier • Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 10:54 AM • 0
Sure, that Mosin-Nagant rifle in the back of your closet may date back to 1938, but the total time in which bullets have traveled down its bore is actually very brief. Assuming the usage of 3,000 rounds, a gun barrel lasts about six seconds before it's worn out:

If a bullet flies at 3000 fps, it will pass through a 24? (two-foot) barrel in 1/1500th of a second. If you have a useful barrel life of 3000 rounds, that would translate to just two seconds of actual bullet-in-barrel operating time.

Ah, but it’s not that simple. Your bullet starts at zero velocity and then accelerates as it passes through the bore, so the projectile’s average velocity is not the same as the 3000 fps muzzle velocity. So how long does a centerfire bullet (with 3000 fps MV) typically stay in the bore? The answer is about .002 seconds. This number was calculated by Varmint Al, who is a really smart engineer dude who worked at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, a government think tank that develops neutron bombs, fusion reactors and other simple stuff.[...]

Six seconds. That’s how long your barrel actually functions (in terms of bullet-in-barrel shot time) before it “goes south.” Yes, we know some barrels last longer than 3000 rounds. On the other hand, plenty of .243 Win and 6.5-284 barrels lose accuracy in 1500 rounds or less. If your barrel loses accuracy at the 1500-round mark, then it only worked for three seconds! Of course, if you are shooting a “long-lived” .308 Win that goes 5000 rounds before losing accuracy, then you get a whopping TEN seconds of barrel life. Anyway you look at it, a rifle barrel has very little longevity, when you consider actual firing time.
 
porpoise said:
Some european makers say 10,000 round minimum service life thats mauser and sauer for their cheapest gun and i think cz says that too for 308 and maybe other calibers american makers dont seem to want to put a number
Click to expand...
With many European firearm manufactures, in particular Germans, more modular firearms are built. If a barrel does not serve it's need, you then toss it out and replace it yourself, no need for gunsmith services.
 
I'll toss in my 2 cents, having several barrels changed out and a few on order for replacement.

A rifle that shoots at 2400 feet/sec will last many many times longer than a barrel that shoots bullets at 3500feet/sec. Rifles such as 22-250, .257 Roberts, rip out down range at some 3700 feet/sec and are good for about 2000 rounds. An SKS will toss round balls for 10,000 rounds and keep on ticking. Its my opinion that the high rate of velocity is one of the largest factors of burning out a barrel.


Having that said, now you can look at rifles that can land on both sides of the fence; a .223win can fire 50gr or 55 gr bullets in the mid 3500fps speeds, or it can shoot 75gr boat tails slower than 2800fps. One will burn your barrel faster than the other. Make your choice.
 
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