22-250 Barrel Life

[Dgd6mm]

What kind of barrel life to expect from a Savage 1-12 twist SS 26 inch barrel? I've used Varget and I am currently useing Ramshot Big Game. I'm just curious, not that it will make much difference, just for knowledge. Thanks.

 

[Dimwit Flathead]

You'll find it depends on how hot your powder charges are, etc. Don't machine gun it and keep it clean and you get get several thousand good shots from it. Any hotrod varmint round is going to be a barrel burner, so it will eventually let go on you one day, but if you treat it right that day will come later instead of sooner.

So far in my varmint rifle career I've toasted three 22-250 barrels, but it took a while; one 220 Swift barrel that only lasted about 4 years; and a 243 Winchester barrel which lasted less than a thousand rounds. It depends on how hard you push and how good the barrel is to begin with.

 

[fdshuster]

Donald: Burned out the factory 22-250 chrome moly barrel (Rem 700 BDL Varmint) in a documented 2450 rds. Standard load was 50 & 53 gr. bullets with 38 grs. of H380. Heavy copper fouling and bullets keyholing . Replaced with a Hart stainless, varmint contour, and that was done, also at 2400 rounds, same load used. I got an average of 1400 rounds out of several 243 Winchester barrels. The price you pay for performance.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Thanks for the info. My barrel is fairly new may have 400 rounds down it. I need to take a bullet count on what's left out of 500 and keep a log.

 

[Steve Blair]

Got 2100 from a factory Remington shooting mostly 50 Noslers around 3980-4040, temp dependent. It is being replaced with a Shilen Select #5 stainless. I might have the barrel nitrided when it returns.

My 244 and 6mm Remingtons mostly went between 1000 and 1200 rounds. Speed kills.

 

[k80skeet]

Frank Is right on as usual! My 22-250 barrels last between 2250- 2400 rounds no matter who's barrel I use shooting 50-53gr bullets a 3500-3700 fps. This has been true over (6) barrels. As for 6mm and 243 barrels 1100 and they are all done. The 6.5 X 284 is by far the worst barrel burner that I own 600-700 rounds and it is toast for long range.

 

[fdshuster]

Donald: By all means, start & keep a log book, for each of your rifles if you're not already doing that. Take throat depth measurements every couple hundred rounds or so, and record that dimension. It's also a good reference that you can always look back on to review what loads worked, and just as important, which did not! I use the spiral bound "spell-write steno book"(s), by Mead, 6" x 9", available at Office Depot, Office Max, etc. Each chambering has it's own dedicated book, and over a period of time you'll have a wealth of accumulated references available at your finger tips. I hate it when I try a load, that proves to be sub-standard, then maybe a year or so later get the bright idea to try it again, not remembering how poor it was = wasted time and $$$ components. The log prevents that.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Thanks Frank, it seems the older I get the quicker I forget. Huh what was I saying? Oh yea now I remember. I've been keeping a log on my 6CM and it is right on par with all that Joe Hendricks claims it to be. I shoot it mostly. I do have logs on most of the calibers I shoot but not all. That's a good tip on keeping notes on load info that does not work as well as the loads that do.Thanks everyone for your replies, the information is appreciated.

 

[GrocMax]

Wanna do silly things like push 50's and 55's above 3900 it'll last maybe 800 rds (and brass 3 firings), keep to the speed (and heat) limit they'll go several thousand. Put 2500 thru a Lothar Walther then sold it to a buddy as a 'spare', has around 4000 thru it now, throat has receded a ways but still shoots MOPD for 60-80 rds before it starts tearing jackets up and throwing them all over, but it always did that. I'd echo the 2000-3000 rd mark at avg velocities as being about normal. Might want to give the Tubb TMS a shot, my experience is your amount of rounds before *needing* to scrub doubles or triples, which comes in handy when you're surrounded by PD's and they're comin' right at ya.

 

[Evan]

On mine I have a 26" Krieger SS and it is well over the 2000 mark and still humming. My load is 35.2gr of IMR4064 on top of either 50 Vmax or 52 match and that shoots into the 1s and 2s. I shoot slow though.