barrel burners

[jraney]

hey i have seen the term barrel burner mentioned when
talking about a .243 what does this mean? and also
when you br shooters say a barrel is shot out and
will no longer do for yawl what kinda accuracy are we
talkin about there?
thanks jraney

 

[tightneck]

A barrel burner to me is a cartridge that erodes the barrel throat quickly compared to other chamberings. Some consider any chamber that is overbore to the caliber in question to be a burner. There are many of them from the 22-250, 243, 6.5 X 284, 7STW, etc. The list is very long. From a shortrange Benchrester's standpoint, I say a barrel is shot out when it is no longer competitive. To me that means when it is no longer capable of agging in the .1's. Capable of agging in this range and actually doing it are two different things. But the barrel HAS to be capable, or doing it is impossible. Anyhow, that could be anywhere from 500rds to several thousand, depending on the barrel, and caliber. I probably have 10 barrel's or so that are plenty capable of shooting .25 MOA out of a quality rifle, but that don't do you much good against sub .200 rifles.

 

[mikecr]

There are those reaching a point where chasing retreating lands no longer gets it.
Some reach a point where the barrel has marginally slipped away from needed accuracy.
In both cases, a barrel can be cut/rechambered to fight another day. But eventually, sooner,, that barrel is toast.

Personally I suspect carbon, impinged at great heat/pressure into lake bed cracking, is the root killer of a barrel. This, causing throat/groove constriction at the wrong end of the bore.
I don't know if relapping could even help here.

 

[Twud]

Whether a barrel is going to burn out quickly, say 400 rounds, is somewhat up to you. If you keep your loads on the mild side and don't allow the barrel to get hot it will last 4 or 5 times longer.
Shooting 3 shot groups can make a big difference.
I have a 257 Weatherby out being rebarreled right now. I'm guessing it had about 400 rounds through it. Even shooting 3 shot groups through it the barrel would get hot. I also used a very warm load of 4350. I'm not complaining. I knew this was going to happen when I bought the gun 20 years ago, it was just a question of when.