6 Dasher Barrel Life

[KenOath]

Hi all,
I know this question is open to a lot of variables, I've read a number of posts on this site dating back to 2009 about 6 Dasher barrel life and the range of info varies from 1200 to 3500 rounds depending..

So if i may ask the more experienced Dasher users than myself, how many accurate rounds have you gotten from a Dasher barrel, more specifically a good quality match barrel in 8 twist, 103-107 VLDs non molly, between 32 and 33.3gns of Varget, shooting 5 to 10 shot strings? By accurate i mean competitive at 600 yards in Club, State or even National levels.

Cheers Rushty

 

[BenPerfected]

Hi all,
I know this question is open to a lot of variables, I've read a number of posts on this site dating back to 2009 about 6 Dasher barrel life and the range of info varies from 1200 to 3500 rounds depending..

So if i may ask the more experienced Dasher users than myself, how many accurate rounds have you gotten from a Dasher barrel, more specifically a good quality match barrel in 8 twist, 103-107 VLDs non molly, between 32 and 33.3gns of Varget, shooting 5 to 10 shot strings? By accurate i mean competitive at 600 yards in Club, State or even National levels.

Cheers Rushty

The second part of the question is how many barrels do the top shooters test to find the barrel they are going to shoot at the Nationals?
Ben

 

[KenOath]

The second part of the question is how many barrels do the top shooters test to find the barrel they are going to shoot at at the Nationals?
Ben

Good point Ben, some do have that luxury i suppose!

Cheers Rushty

 

[Terry]

My experience is that I need to set back the barrel at 1100-1200 rounds.

 

[davidpatton]

My first dasher started giving up around 500. I wasnt shooting it hot. The first 500 were perfect though, many sub 2 inch aggs at 600. I hear most people say their dasher goes between 900-1400. For the second part of your question, i dont have the funds to try multiple barrels so to prepare for nationals i load my best ammo and hope for the best.

 

[savagedasher]

Barrel life is all in the powder choice. 1500 to 2000 rounds Larry

 

[shoot4fun]

With right at 900 rounds on it, my Bartlien 5R 6 Dasher produced my best ever effort of 1.86" at 1000 yards during the nationals. I've had other brands of barrels that were pretty far gone by that number.

 

[johara1]

i saw 3000 rounds and set back 4 times and still shot a 1/4 min. Proper cleaning makes them last longer and not letting the carbon build up. I never one wear out to the point of throwing shots. I had new ones that wouldn't shoot with old 3000 rd. barrels. So it is hard to say how long they will last. some didn't make a 100 rds. they were garbage from new....... jim

 

[bsumoba]

The second part of the question is how many barrels do the top shooters test to find the barrel they are going to shoot at at the Nationals?
Ben

In my Dasher, right now I have 3 barrels. 1 barrel is a dog barrel and now use it for fireforming, 1 is shooting phenomenal and the other has not been shot yet. Because the 2nd barrel has been shooting well, I haven't shot the 3rd one. The 2nd barrel has about 300 rounds down it now and the 1st barrel now has about 900 rounds on it. I tried and tried to find a load with that 1st barrel with no luck. It is an okay barrel and still shoots I would say high 2's, low 3's, but when the 2nd barrel shoots in the 1's and low 2's at 100 yards and has also shot quite a few cleans out to 600 yards, it showed to be a much better barrel.

That being said, I will try not to go to a Nationals with anything more than 1,000 rounds. Reason being, I do not want the risk of the barrel all of a sudden throwing shots or dying on me in the middle of an event. Shooting a barrel with less than 1,000 rounds on it minimizes the chances of this happening, IMO.

It is interesting when you ask the shooters who are placing consistently in the top whether or not they are using a relatively new barrel or not. Chances are it is a newer barrel.

 

[ab_bentley]

Hi all,
I know this question is open to a lot of variables, I've read a number of posts on this site dating back to 2009 about 6 Dasher barrel life and the range of info varies from 1200 to 3500 rounds depending..

So if i may ask the more experienced Dasher users than myself, how many accurate rounds have you gotten from a Dasher barrel, more specifically a good quality match barrel in 8 twist, 103-107 VLDs non molly, between 32 and 33.3gns of Varget, shooting 5 to 10 shot strings? By accurate i mean competitive at 600 yards in Club, State or even National levels.

Cheers Rushty

Fireforming will degrade life and if you like the dasher you should have a dedicated fireform barrel. I'm halfway through my second box of 500 Hornady bullets without seeing any real erosion and I've been running varget.

Adam

 

[BenPerfected]

i saw 3000 rounds and set back 4 times and still shot a 1/4 min. Proper cleaning makes them last longer and not letting the carbon build up. I never one wear out to the point of throwing shots. I had new ones that wouldn't shoot with old 3000 rd. barrels. So it is hard to say how long they will last. some didn't make a 100 rds. they were garbage from new....... jim

Jim, what is your process to manage the carbon ring buildup? With your method, are you able to clean the carbon ring 100%? I seem to get most of it but not all.
Ben

 

[KenOath]

DavidPatton-I don't have the funds for multiple barrels either I have to make do with what I get good, bad or otherwise, sub 2" at 600yrds is impressive.

Terry-Setting the Dasher barrel back seems like the norm to keep and sounds like it worked well for Johara1..

Larry-2000 rounds I would be happy with!

Shoot4fun-WOW 1.86" at 1000.. Id be extremely happy with that at 600 let alone 1000.

Johara and bsumoba-Thanks for your info, I guess its a case of shoot and see what each barrel likes as far as powder, cleaning regimes and setting them back..

ab Bentley-Once im through this first barrel I will have the luxury of using it as a fire former, should save some wear on the next one..

Thanks for your replies much appreciated


Cheers Rushty

 

[johara1]

Funny, i used RL-15 all the time never had issues. I cleaned the LG after the shoot off, and most every time if i had the time. HG. every time i shot that would be 20 shots max. I never pull a rod back through, the only time i did was to feel for carbon build up and it was when i was done cleaning. I use a 50/50 mix of Kroil and Hoppes and i would pull the rod back to see if would stick and just how bad, that is your carbon build up starting. I never had much carbon for years but that is when i could get WartHog 1134. Now i use the off the shelf stuff and i get carbon and have to use Iosso. I had a good fit on the bore guide and an Ivy rod and they have served me well for a lot of years, and could totally clean two guns in 15 min. after wartHog left the market cleaning time increased and you can see it in the bore. ...... jim

 

[shoot4fun]

Been thinking about an experience I just had with a barrel that was chambered 6 Dasher and it makes me wonder just how much fire-cracking a barrel can have and still be set back without issues arising. I have no idea how many rounds the barrel had on it but I had a Dasher rechambered to the longer 6 Creedmoor. It's a known good reamer (other barrels chambered that shoot very well). We didn't cut off the tenon, feeling that everything would clean up including the old throat cracking and it did appear to. The barrel immediately started giving pressure signs with my lowest node and blowing primers with my higher node (which isn't nearly as hot as others shoot). A close inspection showed cracking in the leade and throat that was deeper than the new reamer cleaned up. We cut the tenon off and did the chamber again and those pressure problems went away. Anyone else had an issue like this?

 

[johara1]

Do yourself favor and cut two inches off if it has a lot of fire cracking if it is a little and the lans are still flat and just slight rounding on the edges cut an inch off they still will shoot good. with an exceptional barrel i would still use it down to 24" ...... jim

 

[xswanted]

Mine gave up at 1800 rounds.

Used Varget for the majority of shots through the barrel.