barrel life of 6br..

[cocopuff]

this barrel is the standard rem chamber,shorter than the Norma...My question is what do you all consider to be a fairly normal life time of the barrel..It is heavy varmint with 1 in 8 twist..

I have heard anything from 3000 to 6 thousand..Mine has a little over 3000 and it appears to be loosing accuracy compared to last summer...Critarion barrel if that matters..Thanks..

 

[fdshuster]

A lot will depend on the bullets used. A steady diet of 105's have been good for approx. 2000 of useful barrel life, on my 6BR's. When I say "useful" barrel life I am referring to whether or not you would trust it in a match.

If the short, lightweight 60 to around 68 gr. bullets are used, longer barrel life can be expected. I've never burned out a 14 twist 6BR barrel yet and one is approaching 2000 rounds, the throat is in much better shape than the 8 twists with 1600 rounds. All as verified with my borescope.

 

[mikecr]

fdshuster, you can provide loads for your heavy bullets and light bullets?

 

[johara1]

I never had one give up, just set them back and go again. If you take care of it, most damage is from improper methods of cleaning. High end loads don't help either. I just shot an old barrel that was set back 3 times and it can still shoot .2 and with well over 3000 rds. with 105's, good enough for your local ground hog matches, or live varmints ……… jim

 

[fdshuster]

For years, I've been using 30 grs. of N133 with the 68 gr. Berger #24411 seated to touch, 205 primers, Lapua brass, .269" chamber necks. Not a hot load, velocity averages approx. 3350 fps, in my 14 twist 6BR's. Very easy on barrels & consistantly accurate for me. The one with the "high" time coming up on 2000 total ( I keep a log on each chamber, so know the exact round count) is still shooting as it did when new.

My standard 8 twist load is the one recommended on this sites 6BR cartridge thread: 30 grs. of Varget, 105 Berger #24428, seated to touch, CCI 450 and/or BR4 primers, Lapua brass, .269" chamber necks. This load works very well in all 4 of my 8 twist chamberings. I can always count on it. Velocity averages 2810 fps out of 26" Kriegers and Bartleins. Just what works for me, everyone has their favorites.

 

[mikecr]

I believe your numbers most fdshuster.
And if shot at the same rate you'll get ~twice the barrel life(match trustworthy) with N133, as it burns way cooler than Varget.
N133 is truly magic stuff

I'm running 31.6 IMR4895(even hotter than Varget) with 95VLDs, and can expect no more than 2,000 of my best.
As mentioned, it could be set back a couple times for more. But it won't last as long between setbacks and it's the same effort for me to just replace it.

 

[Shynloco]

For years, I've been using 30 grs. of N133 with the 68 gr. Berger #24411 seated to touch, 205 primers, Lapua brass, .269" chamber necks. Not a hot load, velocity averages approx. 3350 fps, in my 14 twist 6BR's. Very easy on barrels & consistantly accurate for me. The one with the "high" time coming up on 2000 total ( I keep a log on each chamber, so know the exact round count) is still shooting as it did when new.

I ran that very similar load in my Savage Benchrest Model 12, but shot Bart's 68's being pushed by the same VVN133. I exceeded well over 2000 rds and it wasn't until I got just past 3000 (with a steady increase in powder load...29.3 to 30.8 over three years that became necessary due to erosion I suspect) to maintain the same "near accuracy." But as I got closer to 4,000. the drop-off was dramatic and now she has a new barrel. I doubt that the "stock" barrel equates to that of a top grade competition rifle, but I thought it was still impressive nonetheless. Of course my new Kreiger 1:13.5 shoot really nice groups, when considering the action it is on which I do not consider is Match Grade quality and is partially the reason why I don't compete.

Alex

 

[cocopuff]

I appreciate all your replies....I have been using the berger 68 gr flat base and H4895,,,Like I mentioned above this barrel has the rem. chamber ? I can not seat my bullets out as far as the norma allows..So if I get a new barrel with the norma chamber,will the 68 gr. still work in that with a 1 in 8 twist..This is a Savage action,etc..Thanks : : :

 

[fdshuster]

cocopuff: It will depend on the freebore dimension that is on the chambering reamer. If I were ordering a reamer for the "little" 68 gr. bullets it would have no more than .030" of freebore. If not specified the freebore length could be anything.

 

[amamnn]

It will also depend upon the application and your personal tolerance. Someone shooting at coyotes is not going to require the same accuracy from the barrel as a BR shooter. Eventually BR shooters either run out of inches to set back a barrel or do not find it cost effective...so.. a BR competitor who is appalled at the loss of .1 MOA is going to be looking at a rebarrel/reset a lot sooner than a guy shooting at the local rock quarry ot shooting certain varmints............

 

[brxbrad]

BRX with 33.4grs of Varget with 105's.......about 2800.....

 

[mikecr]

Someone shooting at coyotes is not going to require the same accuracy from the barrel as a BR shooter.

W/resp to field accuracy, reality is just opposite of your notion here. But it is true that point blank BR precision leads to earlier detection of degraded results. Barrel life from BR shooting in general, while a solid indicator, cannot be considered without accounting for their fast shot rate and high pressure loads.

 

[cocopuff]

I think it's all a bunch of hype.... :-*

 

[AckleymanII]

For those that shoot short leade and 12",13", and 14" twist......

I had a barrel cut with normal freebore in 6ppc, 14" twist barrel. The load is 30.5g-32.5g of 2230-S that has not been available for a very long time(very fast lot of H335). I shot 2000 rounds through the barrel in BR, then quit shooting registered matches...p. dogs were my game. I made my own bullets at that time. My load of 30.5g of 2230-S shot my 60's at 3550, and I shot 8000 more rounds of this load at p. dogs, generally shooting as fast as I could acquire targets and pull the trigger. I cleaned the rifle in 300 round increments for almost the 8000 rounds fired.

The Hart barrel was getting very hard to get the copper out of, I could see extensive fire cracking when I pulled the barrel off. I worked up a load at the 10,000 round mark and the accuracy varied between .285 to .315 for five shot groups at 100 yards.

I was ready to try a barrel that I had chambered, and gave the 10K barrel to a gunsmith to make muzzle breaks out of.

Next, I had a 20" 6 BR barrel set up on a Remington 700, the 60's shot in the extreme low 2's with a load of about 32.5-33.5g of H335. I shot 2000 rounds through the barrel and the leade only grew .006. I gave the barrel to another hunting partner, and he was still shooting last I heard.

Another hunting partner upon seeing how little the leade was growing on the 20" 6BR with H335, had a 27" hart 1-14 twist chambered up to shoot the 60's in, he got 3700 out of the 60's with really amazing accuracy. He had 6000 rounds through the 6BR shooting the H335/60g and accuracy was still in the 2's.

Today, I have long barrel'd 6BR's set up with zero freebore, 12 twists. Leade growth is almost non existent, and I shoot AA2230 with the 55g Nosler at 3900+ and the 65g at 3700 fps, with very, very tiny groups resulting.

I can not claim to have discovered this fact of the light bullets in the 6 BR with H335, Gene Harwood who had been the NBRSA director sat a World Record in the 80's with his 6 BR shooting H335 with his own 60g bullets at 3700 fps. He saw me shooting the 20" 6BR with H335 and encouraged me to shoot H335,

There are thread types of shooters that will read this thread, pure competitiors shooting heavy bullets, casual benchrest shooter that just shoots for fun, and guys that shoot live varmints. My post is for those that are shooting for fun who love to see small groups and varmint hunters.

I can tell you that the 55g Nosler and 60g Sierra's are super accurate and very destructive on p.dogs and jack rabbits. The 60g Sierra is an exceptional bullet, accuracy wise and it is tough enough for 45lb coyotes on shoulder shots.

H335 will vary from lot to lot, and AA2230 is a great alternative.

Guys mention just how long barrels last with the N133-N135, and I can tell you that the barrel life is just MUCH shorter than H335 or AA2230. From my observations, Fire cracking happens very quickly with the N powders, and I only use it for special purpose applications ONLY.

I worked up loads for my 12 twist 6 BRs with bullets up to 75g and have had amazing accuracy with the extremes in speed with AA2230. For guys that have tried H335 and have seen high pressure, try AA2230, or another lot# of H335 with the lighter bullets. What I can tell you is that with H335 at max pressures, if you pull the bolt and look down the bore, you will see what appears a gun that just got through being cleaned, even at 250 rounds down the bore. If you are finding that h335 is burning dirty, you are shooting a mid pressure range load, and this is the same with all ball powders.

Some will say that H335 is very temp sensitive. H335 for me, had the tendancy to get more accurate the hotter the load on the upper pressure accuracy node. Also, H335 shot very accurate over about 2.5g spread. So, we would back off on the load about 1.0g to go from shooting 75* to 95* shooting.

Good shooting

 

[cocopuff]

I truely appreciate all your kind and well thought out replies..I have a new McGowin 1 in 8 on order..I hope it last as long as my critiorn did,lol...

 

[AckleymanII]

a huge issue on barrel life is how long the throat is cut when the chamber is new. Gunsmith's order reamers with very little freebore(zero), about 0.060, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.100 freebore.

 

[expiper]

op,,,,as stated previously the throat does wear/erode with every shot,,,it depends on the type and ammount of powder used and whether the bullet is coated (I use WS-2) along with how well and frequently you clean the bbl......(the brand of the bbl is prolly the most important ,,,I havent found any to outwear a Krieger,,,I wont talk ill of others but some are not worth the co$t of chambering !!!),,,,,the throat in most of my 6 BR's seem to erode ~.002" per 100 rounds,,,,soooo 2000 rounds = .040",,which is not enuff to cause drastic seating issues with any bullets I use when throated at .040 in a short range 14 twist bbl using 60-70gr bullets and .100 FB with 8 twist bbls. and the 105 class bullets,,,,the thing that has not been mentioned is the bbl also wears out radially ,,,the hole gets bigger,,,it wears out all the way down the bbl. !!!!,,,,I remember the first bbl I shot out,,,I saw the chariciteristic sparks fly and was too young and dumb to know what happend and shot so randomly and un organized that I missed it and just wondered why I culdnt shoot a descent group any more,,,,then year later when shooting a "real" rifle I saw it again and thought that was strange and then Immediately saw a digression in accuracy !! ,,,and the light bulb went on,,,now I have seen that several times since and my explaination is that its like a nut stripping on a bolt,,,once it does so ,,it will do it again and again and easier and easier shot after shot and quickly get to where it wont hold or stabilize a bullet enuff !!!.....lots of folks talk about this but few have ever shot enuff to experince it,,,I hope this answers your/and others questions,,,,,,this is not conjecture or hear say ,,,this is 50+ years of shooting accurate well built varmint rifles and "true" "B"enchrest rifles (both short and long range cals,,,)....Roger

 

[johara1]

I've shot a fair amount of rounds out of a lot different makes of barrels and i have never had to quit shooting under a 1/4 min. unless it was bad from the start. I never chase the lands and never saw much throat advancement in the Dasher with 103 to 115 bullets. I have last years light gun barrel i shot in heavy and it can still shoot small 18 HG. matches and bunch of shoot offs. It looks so good i didn't set it back. I had one with over 3000 rds that can still shoot under a 1/4 min. My free bore was from.135 to .155 and RL-15. I also had PPC barrels from Kreiger that went south in a 1200 rds of 63 Gr.bullrts and 8208,so it's not the brand of barrels. Maybe i just learned how to take care of them and not wear them out cleaning them……. jim

 

[fm1947]

I burned my 6br shilen out at 2500 to 3000, I have another coming tommorow, it stay running 1/4 moa up until the end , it was like overnight it just lost it's accuracy.

 

[cocopuff]

thanks some very interesting reading...About cleaning..I have had guys tell me they never clean..Now my 223 with a shilin barrel was cleaned a few times during the break in period...It has over 3500 rounds and I never clean it unless I run a wet patch thru..No brush..Just a wet patch with butch's bore solvent... :