22-250 Barrel Life

[glockmeister71]

What kind of barrel life can I expect out of a Savage heavy barrel with a 1 in 12" twist and 40gr projectiles at 4,100fps?

 

[Bambob]

It depends on who you ask and what their criteria is to decide when a barrel is shot out. My criteria is when it starts to throw fliers for no reason and the velocity drops off by 100 fps or so. The factory barrel on my Remington 788 lasted about 2000 rounds before these problems occurred. I have a stainless Shilen barrel on that rifle right now and it's getting kind of tired at almost 2000 rounds too. Both these barrels were mostly shot with 55g bullets at around 3600 fps. Your barrel may surprise you, but when you're shooting at 220 Swift velocities, you will probably have Swift barrel failure. You can keep track of how much the "throat" grows forward by measuring it after about every 500 rounds. You will notice that the rifling will start to kind of fade out just in front of the chamber and gradually move toward the muzzle. If you continue to shoot long enough, there will be no rifling at all for several inches in front of the chamber and this area will look like the bottom of a dry lake if you can look at it through a borescope. The velocity will be down by several hundred fps by this time and you will surely be seeing "fliers" in your groups. Don't let it get too hot and clean it regularly to eliminate metal fouling. Good luck.
Bob

 

[Silverfox]

glockmeister71--That depends on how hot you get the barrel when you are shooting those rounds. If you don't shoot lots of rounds in succession and heat the barrel up too much, it could last way beyond the 2,000 rounds mentioned by another poster.

In colony rodent shooting situations, it is sometimes difficult to pace your shots so you don't get the barrel heated up. I look at it this way, if barrels weren't meant to be replaced, they would be welded onto the action instead of threaded

 

[vmthtr]

My friend fried his barrel in 750 rounds shooting prairie dogs. No self control with that many targets running around. Came back home and shipped it off for a new barrel.

Mike

 

[mikeinct]

With that barrel & a one in twelve twist I'd be using the new 60 gr V-max bullet...My one in 14 twist did not like that bullet ...Going past 300 yds the extra weight will give better performance..the super light weights in 22 caliber shed velocity too fast..they are subject to more wind drift also...Don't sweat barrel life in that savage, it is any easy replacement when u need it...Go for accuracy not speed & u can increase the useful life of that barrel..I use 35 grains of IMR4064 with 55gr slugs...good shooting mike in ct