barrel erosion

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I have a T3 in 6.5x55. A smith looked at it today and said it had a bit of barrel erosion because I was hot loading it. I've mostly been shooting 120 gr bullets with about 47gr H380. I was thinking of getting it rechambered to 6.5/06 to get more velocity, and I'd like to shoot 130gr Accubonds. If I'm eroding the barrel using 47 gr of powder and a 120 gr bullet, then won't barrel erosion increase if I'm using 60ish grains of powder and a 130 gr bullet? The smith says that barrel erosion will be less of a problem after the rechambering because the velocity will be there without undue pressure. But I'm thinking erosion will increase because of a more over-bore situation. What do think?
 
65./06 is just a hair bigger than 6.5 x 284 ..... i would expect similar barrel erosion between the 2 cartridges .
are you having problems with your groupings ?
you may be able to just polish the throat really well and get things back in order .

i've been reading that some of the carbon fiber wrapped barrels don't have barrel erosion problems due to the ability of the carbon fiber to disapate heat from the steel very quickly , might be something to look into .
 
You're only going to get "X" number of rounds down the pipe before the pipe starts to wear out. It doesn't matter what gun you're shooting....eventually, it's going to wear out. I've got a 300 win mag that won't group anymore. The throat is worn on it. After 2-3 thousand full pop rounds, and God only knows how many cast bullets I've put through it.....hey, it's going to hapen. New barrel time for me shortly.
 
i've been reading that some of the carbon fiber wrapped barrels don't have barrel erosion problems due to the ability of the carbon fiber to disapate heat from the steel very quickly , might be something to look into .

I find that interesting considering that carbon fiber is a decent insulator and is used as such in some applications. The barrel steel will always do a better job of dissipating heat than a barrel covered with a CF sleeve.

Mark
 
I have a T3 in 6.5x55. A smith looked at it today and said it had a bit of barrel erosion because I was hot loading it. I've mostly been shooting 120 gr bullets with about 47gr H380. I was thinking of getting it rechambered to 6.5/06 to get more velocity, and I'd like to shoot 130gr Accubonds. If I'm eroding the barrel using 47 gr of powder and a 120 gr bullet, then won't barrel erosion increase if I'm using 60ish grains of powder and a 130 gr bullet? The smith says that barrel erosion will be less of a problem after the rechambering because the velocity will be there without undue pressure. But I'm thinking erosion will increase because of a more over-bore situation. What do think?

I see the listed max for load is 44.3 grains (hodgdon) which may not really mean anything since the data is mostly meant for 100 year old guns. Did he say that the throat was eroded or the whole barrel ? . Usually if the throat erodes guys either end up seating the bullets farther out to get close the lands again or the get the barrel turned back/rechambered.

maybe a slower powder is what the doctor is ordering...work up another load at lower pressure and keep or improve the velocity you have now.

just an idea.

About 6.5-06....that's a cool cartridge..Dont think the erosion would increase but again that depends on how you load it.

have you tried sticking an 06 case in your T3 magazine to see how it goes ? I was also think the bolt face is a bit bigger on the 6.5x55....maybe a gunsmith or tech guru can step in here but I dont' think the 6.5-06 reamer will cleanup the 6.5x55 chamber....might have to look at other options.
 
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you can try seating your bullets out farther, i have a 303 brit that has it's bullets seated out so far that they are only in the case by maybe 1/8"... they look deadly and group really well. when i load to book specs, not so much.
 
The more powder the more erosion you get per shot. How many rounds have you got on the T3? Just because your smith has noticed some throat erosion, doesnt mean the barrel is shot out! Let your groups decide...
 
The more powder the more erosion you get per shot. How many rounds have you got on the T3? Just because your smith has noticed some throat erosion, doesnt mean the barrel is shot out! Let your groups decide...

I have re-barreled several of my 22 centrefire rifles through the years because of throat erosion. Funny thing is that they all shot sub MOA right up until they were changed out. Just thought it was time to replace with stainless.
 
have you tried sticking an 06 case in your T3 magazine to see how it goes ? I was also think the bolt face is a bit bigger on the 6.5x55....maybe a gunsmith or tech guru can step in here but I dont' think the 6.5-06 reamer will cleanup the 6.5x55 chamber....might have to look at other options.

The 6.5x55 is 0.007" bigger diameter at the rim and 0.010" bigger at the base of brass. I would think you would need to set the barrel back 1.5-2" to get the 6.5-06 reamer to clean everything up. You porbably need to go at least 1" just to clean up the throat, so a bit more isn't really a big deal. A short barrel may significantly hurt performance with a large case pushing the 6.5 bullets, though.

Mark
 
I find that interesting considering that carbon fiber is a decent insulator and is used as such in some applications. The barrel steel will always do a better job of dissipating heat than a barrel covered with a CF sleeve.

Mark

this is a couple of websites i have come upon dealing with this

http://home.windstream.net/mdegerness/

http://www.shootingtimes.com/gunsmithing/ST_carbonsnext_200901/index.html


http://jenseprecision.com/abs-barrels.html
a quote from this website ;
"They dissipate heat at almost 400% faster than conventional barrels, they weigh almost 2/3 less than the same contour/length steel barrels and they balance almost every gun they're on. In two years of using these barrels, I have yet to see one worn out. You can shoot prairie dogs with a bolt gun all day long without stressing the barrel "
 
Like Teenalake just said.


Or, if you set it back a half inch and rechambered to 6.5-284, you would have the extra capacity and the fat case would take care of the lager head on the 6.5x55 chamber.

I wore out my 6.5x55 target barel in about 3000 shots.
 
The more powder the more erosion you get per shot. How many rounds have you got on the T3? Just because your smith has noticed some throat erosion, doesnt mean the barrel is shot out! Let your groups decide...

That's kind of what I thought. I will likely be increasing the rate of erosion by rechambering. Because the rifle is a Tikka, the use most of the same parts and pieces for the 6.5x55 as they would for a .270 or 30-06. The mag size or bolt face size is not different to make it fit well for a 6.5x55. It's the same magazine size and the same bolt as they'd use for a .270, so that's not going to be an issue. The smith said he'd take it back one thread, and rechamber it. Then he'd work up a load for it. He saud if I stay with the load he works up then I'll get another 2000 or so rounds through the tube. Since the job is only costing $240, then I think I'll give it a try. Now I just need to find dies.
Thanks
 
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