22-250 Barrel Life

[Grimstod]

So I was thinking 700rd for competitive shooting, and maybe 1200rd for hunting quality shots maybe 2000rd at best if your standards are low enough?

I ask because someone said that they have friends that claim they can easily get tens of thousands of rds down theirs for prairie dog shooting. I say thats bullcrap unless they are willing to sacrifice accuracy. Do not have any sources though to confirm it except perhaps the barrel life calculator on the website here.

 

[Laurie]

Let's put it this way by quoting a rifle builder / gunsmith friend. Whenever he is offered a used 22-250 in part-exchange, he simply factors in rebarrel costs. As he says, it's a rarity to get a used one with a serviceable barrel on it.

Bear in mind too that we don't have fast & furious prairie dog type varmint shooting in the UK - it's foxes and crows here and they are nearly all single cold-barrel shots. Also, partly because of the cartridge's characteristics, but also because much of our fullbore target shooting is on Ministry of Defence military ranges that have a 3,275 fps upper MV limit as a condition of use, target shooting is pretty rare here with this cartridge.

 

[vmaxpro]

High volume minute of pdog and you can cook one in just a few hundred rounds. Atleast I have lol. Normal target/hunting Id say 2000 give or take. I had a fast twist go 1500rnds before I even had to chase the lands just a lil.

 

[drover]

I have had quite a few 22/250's and for general use such as rockchuck and coyote shooting where the barrels rarely get warm I generally start to see accuracy decline to unacceptable around 2000 rounds. When shooting PD's I try not to exceed 5 quick shots before letting the barrel cool back to a temperature cool enough that I can hold the barrel in my hand comfortably, even then I see accuracy drop to an unacceptable level by 1200 - 1400 rounds.

While I have a fondness for the 22/250 I find myself using my 223's more and more. Under the same conditions I can get the same level of accuracy up to 4500 - 5000 rounds from them.

Note - my acceptable accuracy level for a varmint rifle is 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch, when it begins to get flyers or 5 shot groups begin to exceed one inch it is no longer acceptably accurate for me.

drover

 

[JBT47]

Had a Brux 8” twist .22-250. Shot 80gr Amax’s and 80gr VLD’s and it was accurate for 900 rounds.

 

[Sniper338]

Ive done several 22 250s. Im going 22BR next barrel.

 

[Tommie]

Barrel life predictions are a ballpark guess - at best. Rate of fire (especially with low expansion ratio cartridges) figures into the equation in a huge way. It’s like trying to predict brake pad life in a car: does the car spend it’s life driving across Kansas or going up and down the Rocky Mountains?

 

[mikeinct]

For normal eastern hunting, chucks crows coyotes...I think between 1200 to 1500 shots..I've owned 3 factory barrel 22-250 & one custom..For regular one shot cold bore hunting not really an issue...If you like it, shoot it..For Pdogs & high volume shooting you need something with less powder behind the bullet...Mike in Ct

 

[searcher]

I think your numbers are realistic. I would not expect tens of thousands for targets if you are in any way serious, let alone hitting a prairie dog way out there with any consistency half way to your friend's count. Still, prairie dogs aren't that small relative to being able to hit them even at 300 yards or so with a pretty shot barrel. You didn't mention how far out for target work. I'd expect a fair amount of "extra" barrel life with the light weight bullets. I have a friend with a REALLY toasted barrel but he loves to shoot it. I think the rifle is only capable of about 1 1/2 moa. He still hits about half of everything inside 250 yards or so and blames the wind on the rest...

 

[joed49]

I have 1 .22-250 that I've owned for 7 years, so far 143 rounds thru it. I like to keep records on all my rifles as to how many shots they've made. The rifle only sees use for hunting and I never let the barrel get hot to the touch. My guess is about 1k I'll be looking for a new barrel. It may still have some life in it but there is nothing like a good after market barrel.

Never considered a worn out barrel to be the death of a gun but a new beginning. After wearing out my first barrel on my first rifle I became hooked on quality barrels. So, when that .22-250 wears out it will get a new barrel.

 

[Bigguy1951]

I had a savage barrel go south at 1050 rounds. However it had been a test bed for many a 4000+ fps rounds and I was not surprised when it died. I have an Xcaliber barrel now, 8 twist, that has never seen anything but 80 and 90 gr SMK's. It will exceed 1300 rounds this saturday at our club shoot. Accuracy is still amazing. I would guess that 2500 rounds would be real upper limit for a babied barrel.

 

[SBS]

Only shoot the .22-250 in the summer months in PD towns. Reason for the caliber is to reach out past the smaller calibers, particularly on higher wind days, so accuracy under 1/2" is necessary -- given you can't always judge the wind or distance exactly. I shoot this caliber until it gets quite warm and 1500 rds. is about the average, using 53-55 gr. bullets. Will still usually shoot well enough under 300 yds., but makes no sense when smaller cases can do that job with less powder, heat and recoil (nice to see the dog show).

 

[K22]

The 22 250 is an excellent long range varmint cartridge but I would not select it for competitive shooting because there are better choices relative to barrel wear.

I shot mine for many years ghog hunting and took a lot of ghogs but these were not high volume shots. Several years ago I began using the 223 Rem more and more because most shots were in the 100 to 250 yard range.

 

[long40shot]

I had close to 5000 rounds through mine when i had it rebarreled. Still shot 3/4 mpa, but would get wild flyers.

 

[AckleymanII]

Some of the barrel life issue is how much freebore do you start off with, start at the start. If you are long throated for heavy bullets, figure 800-1200 rounds, lots of variables.

If you had a custom built with zero to .030 freebore, for use with 60g and lighter bullets, then you could expect a LOT more barrel life than a stock factory rifle.

If you are dealing with a gun made in Europe, you may have .100 freebore to start off with, accuracy with 55g will fall off quicker than a barrel that started off with .050 freebore.

Sniper 338, I got the same amount of barrel life on p. dog towns with two 22 BR's as I did Rem 700 in 22/250's. I shot 30.5g of R#15 with 50g noslers in the 22 BR and 35g of IMR 4064 with Sierra 55's.

People have different applications. For my varmint shooting going with a 223 AI shooting H335, with 50-55g bullets gets me much longer barrel life than the 22 BR or the 22/250 loads above, at least twice.

H4895 in a 22/250 runs low pressures with 55's with good barrel life, so does H335 with 50g.

As the throat gets long, go to a Sierra 55g Semi point, then the 63g Sierra semi point where the bullet is not jumping as far to the lands. Both of these bullets produce amazing accuracy.