Barrel life of 6 Creed ?

[Baddog0302]

Been reading a lot trying to decide between a 6 & a 6.5 for a up to 900 yd. metal banger. One point that keeps coming up is a lot faster throat erosion in 6 CM's over the 6.5 CM .
Any actual knowledge and experience with this ??

 

[10XSHOOTER]

With the smaller bore diameter of the 6mm you will get faster throat erosion. that's one reason a .308 will last longer than a .243 win.

 

[K22]

I don't know but I've owned and shot many 243's since the late 60's. I've read all the warnings on the 243 as a barrel burner. Speaking from a hunting accuracy point of view; I believe if you don't shoot your rifle like "Rambo" heating the barrel so hot you can't touch it, shoot moderate loads which often are more accurate, and clean properly a 243 barrel will last a lot longer than the "experts" claim.

Case in point, I have a Remington 700 stainless in 243 which has over 3,500 rounds though it and was still grouping about 1.5 moa; still serviceable for a deer rifle. However because I also hunt varmints and predators I was ready to rebarrel when a friend suggested I try Bore Tech's Copper Remover (I was using Shooter's Choice for years). It took about 30 applications but I got out a load of copper. The rifle now groups about .75 moa. Not going to win any matches with that level of accuracy but its serviceable even for varmint and predator hunting within the ranges I normally shoot, i.e. under 300 yards.

If you want a 6mm Creedmore then I'd get one. Use it sensibly and enjoy it and don't worry about all the internet claims about barrel wear. I'm not saying that overbore cartridges like the 243 don't burn out faster than cartridges like the 308 but I love shooting the 243 (the low recoil and superb accuracy) and never considered switching to another caliber solely on the basis of barrel wear concerns. Barrels are like truck ties, they wear out and you replace them and keep driving or in the case of a rifle - keep shooting. A buddy of mine just got one of the 6mm Creeds, he loves it; the low recoil, excellent accuracy.


PS: I now use Bore Tech's Carbon and Copper removers exclusively.

 

[Baddog0302]

K22, THANK YOU

 

[jaygorski]

My wife has over 1200 rounds thru her 6 Creed, it's still going strong, shoots like this at 600yds, in fact.

 

[jaygorski]

I use good ole Hoppe's #9, never had to use copper removers on my bartleins.

 

[Hrsmn51]

I have around 2000 rounds on the last barrel. Set it back at 1700 rounds to 16.5 inches and it is still good for P Dogs to 400.
Fellow I shoot with has over 2000 rounds on his and still good for PRS (using 4831)

 

[Baddog0302]

Thank you all for the info.
Hrsmn51 , In my research / reading some say using slower than normal powders,and bullets in the 105 / 107 range helps slow the throat erosion.
What Wt. bullet is your friend using, and is he using the SC 4831

 

[steve123]

Not 6 creed, but in 3 barrels of 6x47L, mostly using H4831sc, I haven't got much if any more barrel life with it than H4350. I know that N160, H1000 and H100V have lower flame temps.

Supposedly VV has been working on the temp sensitivity of the single based N powders?? My first 6x47 barrel went 2400 rounds which was quite a bit more than my other barrels and for part of that barrel I used N160 so there's that.

 

[Baddog0302]

Not 6 creed, but in 3 barrels of 6x47L, mostly using H4831sc, I haven't got much if any more barrel life with it than H4350. I know that N160, H1000 and H100V have lower flame temps.

Supposedly VV has been working on the temp sensitivity of the single based N powders?? My first 6x47 barrel went 2400 rounds which was quite a bit more than my other barrels and for part of that barrel I used N160 so there's that.

Steve 123, how does your accuracy & velocity with 160 compare to your other loads, like say, H4350 or other powders ??

 

[steve123]

Steve 123, how does your accuracy & velocity with 160 compare to your other loads, like say, H4350 or other powders ??

I used N160 in 6x47 for a thousand rounds or so before I switched to H4350, I actually remember the velocity for the N160 but not the powder charge. I was getting 3089 fps with 115's in a 30" barrel. It was a warm load but I'm still using the same brass and that was many years ago. Accuracy was very good, enough to hit a MGM mini popper half the time at 1000Y in calm-ish conditions

 

[bullzeyenj]

980 rounds before I started getting a mystery flyer here and there. Barrel cleaning did not help. Using 105 berger hybrids and 42 gr H4350. Going out at 3100 FPS.

 

[ballisticxlr]

Barrel life is an undefined term. It totally depends on how you actually define it and on IF you bother to define it. 6CM is popular in the matches I shoot and the competitors have all said about the same thing, they pull their barrels at around 1300 rounds and they're all running snotty loads. If you don't run them quite so snotty fast and you don't get your barrel hot at every stage you shoot then you could easily see quite a lot more than that but I wouldn't go so far as to predict more than about 1800-2000 under the best of circumstances as far as being up to the standards of a match shooter.

So to answer your question, first you have to define your use case, then you can use that to define what barrel life means to you and then you can get some very concrete numbers. For my purposes, the expected barrel life of a 6CM is 1500rds.

 

[ngb1787]

Just shot out a 6bra barrel at 2250 fclass shooting.

 

[JBT47]

Had a Bartlein that lasted 1400 rounds with excellent accuracy. Have a Mullerworks on right now with 500 rounds through it.

 

[LCazador]

Wow 3500 rounds thru a 243, never clean with anything but Hoppes No. 9! Those are the things myths are made of! That reminds me of the Texan who said "I can drive all day and never reach the back end of my property". A guy listening to him said "I used to have a car like that"! Or for us old guys it's " one man's junk is another man's gold". Everything is relevant.

 

[LCazador]

Been reading a lot trying to decide between a 6 & a 6.5 for a up to 900 yd. metal banger. One point that keeps coming up is a lot faster throat erosion in 6 CM's over the 6.5 CM .
Any actual knowledge and experience with this ??

Here's the formula for figuring overbore. You can do the math yourself. 6.5 has longer barrel life. Formula is: case capacity in grains of water divided by diameter of bore in square inches.

 

[Raptor]

ballisticxlr is correct and dead on for a response to your question. You need to define how you will use it and what your accuracy expectations are. If you use it for hunting only it will out live you!! If you shoot it in matches then you can plan on replacing the barrel about every year depending on the number of matches you go to and how hot you get it on each stage. I used to shoot 260s in matches and shot the barrels out of three of them. They got hot and were toast at just over 2000rds. My 4th barrel only had a couple of matches on it and I had it set back at around 1800rds and when I pulled it off it had over 3200rds through it and would still group around .5 MOA at 600 but after that I would get flyers. However I never got it really hot after I quit shooting matches so it makes a lot of difference. Same with a 6SLR I had. It started life as a 6BRX and at around 1400rds I decided I needed to shoot 115s so I rechambered it to the SLR and it didn't shoot the 115s all that well so I went back to the 107s . I pulled that barrel at around 3400rds. HEAT is what will determine your barrel life. You get it hot and keep shooting it your barrel will be toast in a short period of time. If you shoot and let it cool you will get a lot more barrel life out of it. End of story....

 

[steve123]

So to give a better idea of barrel life in 6x47l, with H4350, and H4831sc...

1st barrel 2400 - used N160 for about half of it.
2nd - 1500, this barrel wasn't a good one from the start. H4350.
3rd - 2900, it was melonited, great barrel, H4831sc.
I used all three of those to the bitter end, lol.
4th - 1600, I pulled it, it still shot decent but had lost 77 fps so... H4831sc.

Sold two rifles - two barrels, 500 rounds or so each, H4350, R17, both shot great. Friend owns one but he doesn't shoot it much.

I wouldn't take a 6 Creed to a match past 1300 or so.

1500-1800 life would be about what I would expect with most powders.

 

[Catfur]

I burn 6XC barrels out in 12-1500 rounds, or so. For F-class accuracy (and F-class "rapid" fire strings).