Barrel Burner

Normaly the throat will go before the barrel is done!
You can set it back if you have enough barrel left to get your velocity.

I have seen 6.5s throats go pretty quick with in 1000-1250 rounds.

That is still alot of shooting if its only a hunting rifle!
 
To be competitive, most match shooters take off barrels that would thrill a factory barrel shooter.

If a factory rifle can shoot consistent 1/2 to 3/4 min, it's a keeper. For a match shooter, that barrel is long dead.

In the field, most can't tell if the barrel starts to drift towards 1.5 min.

Because we are scored, many F class shooters can tell within 1/4" at 300m if their rifle is loosing it.

So our standards of accuracy are far more stringent then a varmint shooter.

Jerry
 
I had a .220 swift averaging 4350 fps. I put 15-1800 rds through it and I was the 4th owner. It would shoot 1/4 Moa all day. 1/2 if I was in need of more coffee. It had a Douglas barrell.
Wish I'd have kept it. 39.9gr of Imr 4064 pushing a 40gr moly v-max.

M.

Get a good barrell, use stick powder instead of ball and don't shoot so fast that the barrell gets hot enough you can't touch it.
You should be fine. Reputation of barrell burners was over 50 yrs ago before they came up with better compounds for steel.
 
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So what do you competative shooters do with those barrels when they dont shoot to your standards, sell them to varmint shooters like me?
 
I bought a brand new Ruger M77 V in around 1979/1980. Started loading for it and to my delight, found it to be superbly accurate, particularly with two loads. The 52 grain Sierra and 40 grains of IMR 4064, or the 55 grain Hornady and 43 grains of H380. Over the next few years, I shot 2500 rounds through that barrel without noting any appreciable loss of accuracy. I did not shoot it "hot" and claened it carefully, using a good bore guide. Somewhere between 2500 & 3000 rounds, it started to open groups slightly. I seated the bullets out a bit more & it tightened up again. Finally at 3000+ rounds, the accuracy was unacceptable, and I sold it to a guy who was happy with 1½ moa in a varmint rifle. I have in my gun safe, another, recently purchased,[Estate sale, unfired] early production 77V Ruger that shoots just like the original one did, but, at this point only has about 300 rounds down the pipe. I expect a long and enjoyable relationship with this Swift also. Barrel burners? Yes, I guess so, but not as bad as many would have you believe. Mind you, if you insist on shooting it till it cannot be held in your hand, barrel life will indeed be short. Regards, Eagleye.
 
I have owned two 22 250's and one swift, and neither had the barrel toasted. I didn't shoot them hot though. I certainly didn't clean them after each shooting either, so 6 one cancels my half dozen the other.

As you know, 22 250 and 223 and even the 220 are common seal calibres and thousands of bulletes are often fired through these guns. I firdt heard the barrel burning bit from a gunsmith telling a sealer. I imediately did not want a used sealers rifle.

Over the years though, and after moving around provinces with varmint hunters I began to wonder just how much credibility was in my second hand oppinion of 22 250's and the likes as barrel burners.

I ended up shooting many a "barrel burner" that was still MOA or damn close after thousands of rounds.

I soon came to the conclusion that the reputation is not as deserved as it is propigated, and certainly not with hunting rifle accuracy as compared to competition shooting.
 
Really if you sit down and think about it, custom barrels as mentioned above shoot 5 shot groups in the .1s and 2s, at 100m and if in the 3s and 4s you are not competative. This may be after 1500 rounds. This does not mean the barrel is junk, and for a average shooter that wants MOA that barrel after its set back and threaded for a different gun could still have a 10000 rounds of MOA accuracy left in it. depending the cartridge.

I have heard of guys setting them back 2 times with 3000 rounds down the pipe, and its only issue was velocity so it was usless to them.
 
In 1968/69 I bought a Rem 700BDL heavy barrel varmint rifle in 22-250. Handloads only, no rapid shooting, no high power loads, after 1500 rounds the barrel was "toast". My father built a 22-250 in 1950 (a true wildcat at that time), using almost the same load, 5000 + rounds.

I suspect poor barrel steel on my Rem.
 
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