Barrle life?
- Thread starter Hamster Tipper
- Start date
I've heard that professional competitors replace their barrels after 5000 rounds, so for someone with an average ability that wouldn't notice some wear I think 10,000 might be about the right figure. I could be totally off though, I've only put 500 through my .223 so far 
Ivan Smythe
CGN Regular
- Location
- Northern BC
Hamster Tipper,
there are a few variables that will decide how long a barrel will last.
first of all, it is not the barrel itself that you burn out, but rather the throat of your chamber that you errode.
excessive throat errosion will cause excessive run-out in the throat of the chamber and this will lead to poor accuracy.
so...the rate of throat errosion is dictated by how over bore your cartridge is(how much burning powder you are trying to force through what size hole).
.30-338 is an extreme over-bore cartridge, .35 Whelen not so much.
i have heard of people blowin' out the throat of their .204 Ruger in as little as 900 rds.
so i believe that an expectation of 5,000 to 10,000 rds. is not reasonable.
i shoot a great deal of .22-250 and .223, i shoot mostly coyotes and do not ever need to shoot my rifles hot and dirty as a person who is say shooting prairie dogs in Montana might have to because of the sheer volume of targets.
so the conditions under which you shoot your rifle will also dictate how long your barrel/throat lasts.
i have the opportunity to pull a bore-snake through my barrel between coyotes and 99% of the time i am shooting a cold barrel once. the prairie dog shooter may shoot 30-100 dogs before he stops to clean or simply switches rifles, his bore in the exact same rifle is not going to last as long as mine.
from my .22-250 i expect 1500-2000 rds. before i am looking to re-barrel or simply have the chamber re-cut and turned back. eg. a .22-250 with a 24" barrel can be re-chambered as a .223 with a 22" barrel.
from my .223 i expect 3000-3500 rds before i look to re-do the barrel/chamber.
the final thing is to what degree are you willing to let the accuracy of your rifle degrade before it bothers you? if 2" at a 100yds is okay then you'll get way more mileage out of your rifles than i will.
i sincerely hope that this has been helpful.
good luck and good shooting,
i.
there are a few variables that will decide how long a barrel will last.
first of all, it is not the barrel itself that you burn out, but rather the throat of your chamber that you errode.
excessive throat errosion will cause excessive run-out in the throat of the chamber and this will lead to poor accuracy.
so...the rate of throat errosion is dictated by how over bore your cartridge is(how much burning powder you are trying to force through what size hole).
.30-338 is an extreme over-bore cartridge, .35 Whelen not so much.
i have heard of people blowin' out the throat of their .204 Ruger in as little as 900 rds.
so i believe that an expectation of 5,000 to 10,000 rds. is not reasonable.
i shoot a great deal of .22-250 and .223, i shoot mostly coyotes and do not ever need to shoot my rifles hot and dirty as a person who is say shooting prairie dogs in Montana might have to because of the sheer volume of targets.
so the conditions under which you shoot your rifle will also dictate how long your barrel/throat lasts.
i have the opportunity to pull a bore-snake through my barrel between coyotes and 99% of the time i am shooting a cold barrel once. the prairie dog shooter may shoot 30-100 dogs before he stops to clean or simply switches rifles, his bore in the exact same rifle is not going to last as long as mine.
from my .22-250 i expect 1500-2000 rds. before i am looking to re-barrel or simply have the chamber re-cut and turned back. eg. a .22-250 with a 24" barrel can be re-chambered as a .223 with a 22" barrel.
from my .223 i expect 3000-3500 rds before i look to re-do the barrel/chamber.
the final thing is to what degree are you willing to let the accuracy of your rifle degrade before it bothers you? if 2" at a 100yds is okay then you'll get way more mileage out of your rifles than i will.
i sincerely hope that this has been helpful.
good luck and good shooting,
i.
I'm at over 3000 rounds with my Savage BTVSS in 223. Still as accurate (maybe even better), as the first day I first shot it. I have allowed for proper cool downs after every 5 shots since new, and cleaned, maybe over cleaned, every time I came back from the range.
Where is this .204 data coming from? If it is a heat/powder issue then you are talking a shell that requires about 40% less powder than a 22-250 to achieve a faster speed.
I did a lot of reading on that caliber and until I seen this thread I was under the impression that the .204 has a substantially longer barrel life than other varmint rifles.
I did a lot of reading on that caliber and until I seen this thread I was under the impression that the .204 has a substantially longer barrel life than other varmint rifles.
Care to back up that ridiculous statement? It burns barely more powder than a 223, and is specc'd to a somewhat lower pressure, to boot (58.5KSI).
Velocity has nothing to do with barrel life, it's all about how much powder is shooting past the throat at each shot, and the temperature (pressure)
my 700 ADL in 204 is shot out after ~1200 rounds.
Fact of life, no biggie.
The 204 has an overbore index of 960 ( high) whereas the 223 has an overbore index of 766 (low).
For comparison, one of the highest OBI's is the 7 mag at about 1326, (extremely high) 6.5X284 at 1204. On the low end are the 30BR at just over 500. The 204 by design is an overbore cartridge and will wear barrels very fast. The 223 has a good ratio of case capacity to bore cross section area. and barrels will genarally last longer.
Overbore indexes are calculated using the case capacity in grains of H2O divided by the area of the bore diameter in inches (PiXR2)
Fact of life, no biggie.
The 204 has an overbore index of 960 ( high) whereas the 223 has an overbore index of 766 (low).
For comparison, one of the highest OBI's is the 7 mag at about 1326, (extremely high) 6.5X284 at 1204. On the low end are the 30BR at just over 500. The 204 by design is an overbore cartridge and will wear barrels very fast. The 223 has a good ratio of case capacity to bore cross section area. and barrels will genarally last longer.
Overbore indexes are calculated using the case capacity in grains of H2O divided by the area of the bore diameter in inches (PiXR2)
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