Cost of re-barreling an AR-15 carbine. Savings of bi-metal ammo?

[enefgee]

Wow, you guys shoot a lot. I'm jealous. I'm not a competitor, or action shooter. I'm just a recreational plinker who might shoot 10,000 rounds of 223 in my entire lifetime, probably less. Not because I don't want to, but just due to only having one day off a week (often none), distance to the range, etc. I'm looking at one centerfire rifle session per month during the nicer weather if I try, and a great deal less in the winter, if I even get out. The other range I belong to which I get out to more often is much closer, and has an indoor range but is only handgun and rimfire rifle (which make up the bulk of my shooting).

Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned this in my original post. Taking this into consideration, I would only ever realistically see one re-barrel were I to use bi-metal ammo. Would your recommendations change based on this information? Unless I'm overlooking something, the math in my situation seems to favor bi-metal less. Say I only ever shoot 5k-8k. That's $500-$800, minus the cost of one rebarrel ($250 for barrel, plus tools, gas tube, maybe a low profile gas block, flip up front sight, etc).

Thanks for all of the informative replies so far.

You'll find that shooting high volumes goes in cycles - sometimes you run through thousands of rounds a year, sometimes much less. AR's tend to run through ammo very quickly - like pistol quick. If you don't think you'll run through a barrel, and you're plinking, then it still makes sense to run the cheaper ammo, unless you're shooting for accuracy.