Hello I am new rifle owner and never really shot one before but i recently bought a ruger american pred. and the cartridge is 6.5 creedmoor. Now i came across discussions about barrel life and was wondering as someone who is new to this would this really matter to me? does barrel life mean that when the barrel is shot out it would no longer work? lets say that i shot out the barrel and just keep shooting it what would happen? I most likely would never shoot past 300 yards. i just wanted something i can occasionally pickup and go to range and just have fun.
Should i worry about barrel life?
- Thread starter Nasr
- Start date
It will work.
Accuracy will suffer.
You already have the rifle, so enjoy it.
If this is your FIRST rifle, why not get a 22LR. Practice, enjoy, and don't worry about barrel life.
Thank you and I will. I was just wondering if someone like me would ever notice at that range. I am not planning on becoming a competition shooter or anything i would need skill for that.
Retired Grunt
F Open Shooter
Competition may be one of the best ways to build your skills, search out a club that runs a class on Wind Reading, Cleaning and marksmanship basics, you'll grow faster than you thought you could.
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
'Would you ever notice it' depends on the skills you develop and the accuracy as delivered in the rifle.
An RPR from the factory should, but might not, with factory 'match' ammo produce ~ 1 MOA or less. [1 MOA is very close to 1" center to center group at 100 yards] This level of accuracy should last ~ 2000+ rounds.
So, if you develop a set up and skills that consistently produces 1 MOA or lesss, you would notice groups getting larger somewhere around 2000 rounds.
Nick Caprinolo
Gold $$ Contributor
The 6.5 Creedmoor is relatively hard on barrels. At most you should expect to get 1,500 rounds before fire cracking becomes evident. this does not mean that the barrel us useless. In most cases all you need to do is seat the bullet further into the lands. If you don't do your own reloading, then you can't do this.
That being said, the barrel will still be useful, just a bit less accurate. If used for a hunting rifle, this will have little or no effect on your hunting. If your goal is small groups while target shooting, then you will need to make some adjustments.
Something else to think about. A hot barrel is your biggest enemy. I would most likely never shoot more than three round groups and then let the barrel cool, five at the most. At least not with the Creedmoor. They are usually loaded with around 35gr of powder, which will generate a lot of heat. This will cause fire cracking to happen more quickly.
That being said, the barrel will still be useful, just a bit less accurate. If used for a hunting rifle, this will have little or no effect on your hunting. If your goal is small groups while target shooting, then you will need to make some adjustments.
Something else to think about. A hot barrel is your biggest enemy. I would most likely never shoot more than three round groups and then let the barrel cool, five at the most. At least not with the Creedmoor. They are usually loaded with around 35gr of powder, which will generate a lot of heat. This will cause fire cracking to happen more quickly.
Simple solution - do not shoot your barrel to the point where it is too hot. I limit my groups to 5 shots and then I let the barrel cool to ambient temperature before shooting another group. My rule of thumb for determining if a barrel is becoming too hot is to wrap my hand around it, if it is uncomfortable to hold then it is too hot and needs cooling off. Overheating a barrel is the enemy, overheating causes erosion which generally leads to poor accuracy.
A 6.5 Creed should last for around 4000 rounds of accurate life if it isn't abused. If it is affordable to you get a Ruger American Predator in 22 L.R. and it will be a perfect trainer rifle, it will feel the same as the 6.5 and you can get in a lot of practice with it which will tranfer over to the 6.5. Another rifle sounds expensive but it will not take long in components savings for it to pay for itself.
As far as a benchmark for how the rifle shoots - I suggest that you find a good morning when conditions are calm, and when you are shooting good, then shoot five 5 shot groups and save that target as your reference target.
drover
A 6.5 Creed should last for around 4000 rounds of accurate life if it isn't abused. If it is affordable to you get a Ruger American Predator in 22 L.R. and it will be a perfect trainer rifle, it will feel the same as the 6.5 and you can get in a lot of practice with it which will tranfer over to the 6.5. Another rifle sounds expensive but it will not take long in components savings for it to pay for itself.
As far as a benchmark for how the rifle shoots - I suggest that you find a good morning when conditions are calm, and when you are shooting good, then shoot five 5 shot groups and save that target as your reference target.
drover
p.s. - I have not owned a 6.5 but I have shot a 260 (a near duplicate of the 6.5) for a lot of years, enough so that I shot out 3 barrels and Nick Caprinolo is spot on with the accurate life estimate 0f around 1500 rounds.
drover
ttfreestyle
Silver $$ Contributor
Life is to short to worry about barrel life
As you can gather from the responses, it basically comes down to 3 factors. 1- how much shooting are you planning on doing? 2-How much rapid fire you do if any? How hot are the loads? Barrel life refers to usable accuracy. Which is different to each shooter. Are you just pleasure shooting, hunting or competition? When you lose sufficient accuracy for whatever sport you are into, the barrel needs to be replaced.
I appreciate all the responses and for the most part it will be for pleasure shooting. I do want to hunt in the future.
This is reassuring. If it doesnt matter enough that i wont notice for hunting then i wont really care. As my ultimate goal is to hunt.
You chose an excellent rifle for the semi-casual shooting @ 300 you’ve planned.
Your factory barrel is hammer forged; you should get good life from it with your stated expectations.
AND, tons of inexpensive factory take-off barrels or high end prefit custom barrels out there that you can swap yourself with minimal tool investment and no gunsmith required.
Well done Nasr!
Your factory barrel is hammer forged; you should get good life from it with your stated expectations.
AND, tons of inexpensive factory take-off barrels or high end prefit custom barrels out there that you can swap yourself with minimal tool investment and no gunsmith required.
Well done Nasr!
figure out how long it'll take to run 3000 rounds out of it. If that's just in this lifetime don't worry about it. If it's in the next 5 years plan for it. If it's in the next year deal with it. If it's in the next month, please adopt me.
HTSmith
Silver $$ Contributor
Amen! Go shoot. Have fun. Clean it properly. When you wear that barrel out you can get a new one that will shoot even mo' better.Life is to short to worry about barrel life
gambleone
Silver $$ Contributor
Unless your going for extreme precision, I wouldn't worry about barrel life. When your groups start opening up and you can't find another cause, then maybe your barrel. Keep a record of shots fired as reference.
Happy shooting.
You won’t put enough rounds on a hunting gun to shoot it out unless you’re doing regular competitions with it. Even then you’re looking at a few hundred bucks every year or two. Way less than you’ll spend on components, match fees, gas etc
mike mccormick
Silver $$ Contributor
If you are only using it for hunting and occasional target practice, you will likely not see a shot out barrel. Of course, what one calls acceptable accuracy is subjective. When I was a teen, it was great if a new factory rifle would shoot a five shot, 1 moa group. Now, the cheapest of factory rifles do it regularly.
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