I like to consider myself an intermediately knowledgeable reloader. I have a simple question about pressure, burn rates and barrel life in light of new cartridge technologies like the 277 fury. I’m guessing it requires a complicated answer and I’m perfectly fine with very technical answers. I’d just appreciate some more community discussions on the topic.
With faster burning powders, it seems there’s a general understanding that barrel life tends to be longer than [with] slower burning powders. There’s obviously many caveats to that notion, but given the same cartridge, brass, projectile, shot interval, and same barrel, etc., the premise goes that a faster burning powder will have somewhat longer barrel life than a slower burning powder. I wish my only question was how much longer is it really lasting, but right now I’m more curious about that principle in relation to the new high pressure cartridge from sig. The 277 fury is supposed to handle 80k psi, which I’m assuming is from a proprietary fast burning, possibly double-base powder. Supposedly the military is getting a version with a special coated barrel to handle the extra pressure so the barrel life isn’t trash.
My question is if you use a fast burning powder and the right powder charge so the pressure sits closer to 65k-67k psi, would the principles I’ve layed out still potentially result in a reasonable gain in velocity without an unreasonable loss of barrel life? Does the higher pressure overpower the burning characteristics of a faster burning powder?
I know most people consider barrels consumables. For now, I’m just curious if my theory is sound enough to suggest a larger caliber cartridge can go from shooting 1k-2k per barrel to 2k-3k per barrel. Could a hotter load that would otherwise torch a barrel now get the same barrel life as the milder load? I don’t have the means of testing this so hoping to spark more interest.
--------------------------------------------
Forum Boss: "The premise goes that a faster burning powder will have somewhat longer barrel life than a slower burning powder." I don't think that is a general understanding at all. In the 6BR, the opposite may be true. Many variables at work, including powder type, not just burn rate.
With faster burning powders, it seems there’s a general understanding that barrel life tends to be longer than [with] slower burning powders. There’s obviously many caveats to that notion, but given the same cartridge, brass, projectile, shot interval, and same barrel, etc., the premise goes that a faster burning powder will have somewhat longer barrel life than a slower burning powder. I wish my only question was how much longer is it really lasting, but right now I’m more curious about that principle in relation to the new high pressure cartridge from sig. The 277 fury is supposed to handle 80k psi, which I’m assuming is from a proprietary fast burning, possibly double-base powder. Supposedly the military is getting a version with a special coated barrel to handle the extra pressure so the barrel life isn’t trash.
My question is if you use a fast burning powder and the right powder charge so the pressure sits closer to 65k-67k psi, would the principles I’ve layed out still potentially result in a reasonable gain in velocity without an unreasonable loss of barrel life? Does the higher pressure overpower the burning characteristics of a faster burning powder?
I know most people consider barrels consumables. For now, I’m just curious if my theory is sound enough to suggest a larger caliber cartridge can go from shooting 1k-2k per barrel to 2k-3k per barrel. Could a hotter load that would otherwise torch a barrel now get the same barrel life as the milder load? I don’t have the means of testing this so hoping to spark more interest.
--------------------------------------------
Forum Boss: "The premise goes that a faster burning powder will have somewhat longer barrel life than a slower burning powder." I don't think that is a general understanding at all. In the 6BR, the opposite may be true. Many variables at work, including powder type, not just burn rate.
Last edited:
