338 win mag barrel life

[Mtstalker]

I have a old ruger 338 win mag that shoots 5 shots in a 1.25" to 1.5" group at 100 yards. I do shoot it alot and was wondering how many rounds the barrels generaly last for you guys. It has roughly 650 rounds through it. Thanks. Oh its mostly been loaded with imr 4831 and imr 4350 witb 225's.

 

[Zero333]

If you heat the crap out of the barrel on a regular basis and keep shooting when it's sticking hot, it will last only 1,500 rounds.

If it's a hunting rifle and rarely gets hot, you'll easily get 3,500+

The 338winmag's barre life is nowhere as bad as the 300winmag's.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Agreed. How hot you get the barrel while shooting is more important to pay attention to than total round count.

Kinda like an engine. You can take the same exact two engines, we'll say a small block V8. Use one for every day driving in a truck to and from work, and the other for racing in a muscle car at the track. The racing engine won't have nearly as many miles or hours on it as the daily driver engine when it needs to be rebuilt.

650 rounds isn't much on a 338 Win Mag if you are just sighting in and target practicing with a few rounds here and there while letting the barrel cool between groups.

 

[Mtstalker]

Yeah i shoot 10 or so sometimes 20 but dont let it get to where i cant hold on to the barrel for 5 or so seconds.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Yeah i shoot 10 or so sometimes 20 but dont let it get to where i cant hold on to the barrel for 5 or so seconds.

All right in a row without cooling the barrel? Or 10 to 20 total shooting them slowly?

If you are running 10-20 shots in rapid succesion with a 338 Win Mag, the barrel isn't going to last long

 

[expiper]

you should never have to shoot a .338 mag more than 3 times quickly ,,,,the game animal will either have gotten away or eaten you,,,,Roger

 

[Mtstalker]

Shooting slowly. Usualy re adjust my bag and look through the spotting scope and then get settled in and shoot. Probaly 45 seconds or more between shots on average. There have been very few 3 round "bursts" practicong offhand.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Shooting slowly. Usualy re adjust my bag and look through the spotting scope and then get settled in and shoot. Probaly 45 seconds or more between shots on average. There have been very few 3 round "bursts" practicong offhand.

That shouldnt affect the barrel too bad then.

However, if there have been very few 3 round bursts then I am wondering how you came up with the 1.25-1.5" FIVE shot group accuracy of the rifle? A 338 Win mag cannot fit 5 rounds in the magazine anyhow unless you have an aftermarket detachable magazine like a Wyatt. Usually only 3 in the mag and one in the chamber. Being that it can only hold 3 in the magazine, a 3 shot group is all you need to determine accuracy, but those 3 shots need to be fired fairly rapidly. Waiting 45 seconds or more between shots is not realistic in a hunting situation and will not show you the true characteristics of the rifle's accuracy in a situation where you may need to get 3 rounds off quickly to take down a wounded animal or follow up after a couple missed shots. I have worked with 2 different 338 Win Mags in the past and both would fire 3 shots in rapid succession into less than 1/2" group at 100 yards. I think if your rifle will not at least produce 1" or less rapid fire 3 shot groups at 100 yards, you need to work on the load development more. By 'rapid succession' I mean, Fire, load the next round, get on target again, breathe, squeeze the trigger. Shouldn't be more than about 15-20 seconds between shots. Even quicker if you can.

Then you want to give at least 5-10 minutes or more between 3 shot groups so the barrel can cool back down. Nobody hunts with a warmed up barrel. I will usually walk up to the target and write my load data on the target just so I am doing something while the barrel cools for the next 3 shot rapid fire group

 

[Mtstalker]

When i say 3 round butsts im not talking about shooting for groups but prtacticing offhand at steel for hunting

 

[PWS]

I used to think a .338WM wasn't too hard on barrels until accuracy dropped off in my #3 PacNor SS. It started life producing accuracy around 1-1.5moa but the last few years it edged up into the 2-3" @100. I scored 1500 225gr Hornady SPs for cheap and used them up in one summer. Accuracy dropped off after at least 2k more rounds and quite a few those were sessions where it got too hot to touch the barrel. I sectioned the barrel to have a look and there's plenty of "gator skin" and even a .025"x.025" chunk missing from the throat.

I'll let you know in 20 years how this next barrel holds up as it's going to be treated a lot nicer with no more youthfully rash sessions of rapid fire!

 

[DocDoc]

I used to think a .338WM wasn't too hard on barrels until accuracy dropped off in my #3 PacNor SS. It started life producing accuracy around 1-1.5moa but the last few years it edged up into the 2-3" @100. I scored 1500 225gr Hornady SPs for cheap and used them up in one summer. Accuracy dropped off after at least 2k more rounds and quite a few those were sessions where it got too hot to touch the barrel. I sectioned the barrel to have a look and there's plenty of "gator skin" and even a .025"x.025" chunk missing from the throat.

I'll let you know in 20 years how this next barrel holds up as it's going to be treated a lot nicer with no more youthfully rash sessions of rapid fire!

The excel sheet that estimates barrel life on this site, gives something like 1900 - 2000 rounds of expected life with a 225 grain bullet and H4350 or H4831 in the .338 WM.