.284 Competitive Barrel Life

[kyreloader]

I am trying to save a very good barrel for some big upcoming shoots, I have about 900 rounds on this barrel and I am unsure when I should start getting worried about the end of my barrel's life.

I am shooting a Brux barrel with H4350 (51.4g) with 180g Hybrids about 2820 fps.

I want to continue to be competitive at 1000 yards in F-open.

I have a fellow shooter that has gotten over 2000 rounds on two of his barrels with H4831SC.

What about all of you .284 Win shooters out there? How many are you getting before you think about retiring your barrels?

 

[Immike]

I take it pretty serious when I hit 1000. I've let myself take a beating the last couple years by not replacing soon enough.

 

[gilmillan1]

1800 for me with same load u have. After that it was spraying.

 

[Zilla]

FWIW, the Brux I won the Nationals with had 1400 on it at the beginning of the match. It now has around 1750 on it and I would have no worries about shooting it at another major match.

 

[coford]

My experience has been that around 1800 is where I start to notice my groups open up a little and I start looking at replacement. By then the throat is fire cracked and I can actually feel roughness in the first 3 to 4 inches. Some recut the chamber and recrown around 1200 and claim to have pretty good luck with extending barrel life - I have not tried it with one of my .284 barrels. Back when I shot a 6.5X284 I could never get past 1000 rounds without significant accuracy fall off. With my .284's it seems like they just start to fade - the groups open a little and my X count goes down. YMMV

 

[Jay Christopherson]

FWIW, the Brux I won the Nationals with had 1400 on it at the beginning of the match. It now has around 1750 on it and I would have no worries about shooting it at another major match.

I'd be riding the barrel that set the F-Class 1000 yard national record (and then tied it again) until that thing burned itself to scrap.

 

[coford]

Or he could lend it to me to shoot at Raton next week. I'd take good care of it David - but I'd probably teach it to shoot 8's and 9's instead of X's.

 

[Immike]

I'd be riding the barrel that set the F-Class 1000 yard national record (and then tied it again) until that thing burned itself to scrap.

5000 yrs from now they will dig up his grave wondering why he has a tomato stake. Lol

 

[noload]

My last 2 Shehane barrels went 2300 and 2800, scrub with JB to get the last hurrah out of them. The one with 2800 won the match, then I retired it.