The barrel is one of the cheaper components

[jds holler]

EVERYTHING is expensive at a competitive level. jd

 

[Jayplace]

EVERYTHING is expensive at a competitive level. jd

It's all relative. When I was young everything was expensive. Now that I'm older, nearly everything seems expensive compared to when I was young.

 

[jds holler]

I'm so tight that the bolts on my rifles squeak. But I don't shoot competitively. jd

 

[Clancy]

I don’t care what barrels cost, but I don’t want 500-1000 round barrel life because when I do get an exceptional barrel, I want it to last. Longer barrel life (from a cartridge standpoint) generally goes hand in hand with less intense maintenance and cleaning too.

But, yes, barrels are a very small piece of the pie.

 

[Tangent]

After watching a series about car collecting and concourse shows, I've decided shooting is very cheap and I can't afford the cars! I do like the look of those V8 muscle cars though.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Got to add in fuel, hotel, eating out, time off work, ext. The barrel is a drop in the bucket. The rifle itself is the cheap part if you think about it. And it holds value better than any other hobby item I know of.

 

[William Vogel]

Chambering several barrels at the same time is better. You can get close headspace and if you buy a vise, the load work up begins at the same time. Label the barrel and screw it on after the other one burns.

 

[dgeesaman]

I think my numbers are right on in most situations. How many guys are running a 284 win in comp vs a 22 br?

Last example. 22LR.

1) Competition is not the only context where barrels get consumed. 284Win sees common high volume use in long range only. 22BR and similar see high volume use in several disciplines of competition plus varminting. So I’d venture to guess they are similar in overall usage with smaller calibers seeing more usage.
2) 22LR is not relevant. You started this thread in the reloading sub forum and everyone knows that the discussion of the cost of barrel life is about centerfire cartridges.

 

[dgeesaman]

Got to add in fuel, hotel, eating out, time off work, ext. The barrel is a drop in the bucket. The rifle itself is the cheap part if you think about it. And it holds value better than any other hobby item I know of.

Yes travel expenses are huge.

On the other hand if you’re that serious you probably dont shoot up every barrel. You’d buy 4 or six at a time and only shoot half of them in competition with the other half being tomato stakes. So that could effectively double the barrel cost per shot (in competition) and we hadn’t accounted for that yet.

 

[Fuj]

Got to add in fuel, hotel, eating out, time off work, ext. The barrel is a drop in the bucket. The rifle itself is the cheap part if you think about it. And it holds value better than any other hobby item I know of.

But you can think about it this way.....Without that barrel, You don't need
the fuel or hotels, or, eating out. Without that barrel, you'ld still have that
100 bucks in your back pocket that you sent to Jim Cline.....LOL Lets look
at it this way like the chicken and egg theory. "What came first" ?? The action
or the barrel ??. I'll just say, the barrel is the root cause, and the wallet gets
thinner from that point. The way I look at it......

 

[LVLAaron]

Where are you paying 75 dollars a pound for powder? Are you paying Cabela's prices and tipping the cashier?

 

[JFrank]

Where are you paying 75 dollars a pound for powder? Are you paying Cabela's prices and tipping the cashier

I just spent $258 on three pounds delivered to my door.
Shocking !

 

[Jayplace]

But you can think about it this way.....Without that barrel, You don't need
the fuel or hotels, or, eating out. Without that barrel, you'ld still have that
100 bucks in your back pocket that you sent to Jim Cline.....LOL Lets look
at it this way like the chicken and egg theory. "What came first" ?? The action
or the barrel ??. I'll just say, the barrel is the root cause, and the wallet gets
thinner from that point. The way I look at it......

I think, I can resole your question about which came first regarding, the barrel or the action.
The barrel must be the answer. Firearms originally didn't have actions, they had a barrel that was sealed on one end with a hole in the side for ignition. The action came later to complicate the firing system and another way to spend money. That was just the beginning and now the action costs more than the barrel. Following that came scopes which cost more than either the barrel or the action.

 

[Fuj]

Where are you paying 75 dollars a pound for powder? Are you paying Cabela's prices and tipping the cashier?

Wes was looking for some discontinued Tin Star Powder, and I seen
that Accurate brought some in some time back and rebranded it. A
one pounder was as high as $78 bucks The joke for me would be the
added cost. Adding HAZ, the container is now $100. I also have to add
shipping and the Pa tax. Depending on the powder, an 8 pounder to
my door now pushes $600. Gone is the day of larger calibers, slow
powders, and big VLD type bullets. Even cutting costs in half, Is not
getting it......Used to shoot 3 times per week minimum. Shortly it will
be 3 times per month......

 

[urbanrifleman]

My prefit is $470 plus shipping.

Buy two. Shoot twice as much.

 

[drop_point]

I shoot so I don't spend money things like boats and racecars. Shooting is cheap compared to that. Heck, I know dudes with $500,000 whitetail properties for hunting.

 

[dakor]

Where are you paying 75 dollars a pound for powder? Are you paying Cabela's prices and tipping the cashier?

If you buy it local any of the popular powders are 75 bucks a pound with tax. You buy it online you are going to pay that with shipping and hazmat. Even from my distributors by the time you pay shipping and hazmat you are at 75 bucks a pound. No way around it.

 

[searcher]

Others brought up the cost of other sports, as compared to shooting. Quality fishing gear and boats have increased perhaps much more than the cost of guns and related equipment. I think the average price for a hunting rifle has increased probably 50-60% over the last 20 years. Seems most boats have gone up 100%, at least. I was at Point Loma Landing in San Diego last week, perusing the latest tackle used for jaunts offshore for tuna and such. The average reel in the case was $800.00, the average quality tuna stick was $500+. Just picking up a rod, reel, line and paying tax would run $1,500.00. The cost to go on an over-night boat trip now about $400.00. Add food, drinks, tackle "needed", etc., a day of fishing the salt is surely as much or more than a day of shooting for many. And fishing is supposed to be one of the less-expensive sports (assuming one doesn't buy a boat). Then there is skiing, along with lift ticket, lodging, etc. Baby - there isn't much that is cheap anymore unless you stick to bowling, softball or some other sport that does not require travel or expensive equipment.

 

[Bottom Fodder]

Now days what’s the average price of having custom competition rifle built?

 

[Fast14riot]

Well this is probably going to really stir the pot but I keep reading posts that you cant use this cartridge because its hard on barrels you can only use these. Smith's cost too much and barrels are too expensive.

Yes I understand it is not just about barrel price there is some inconvenience in bringing your rifle to a smith but I decided to do some math and I think some will be very surprised.

To keep things equal we are going to use todays pricing.

High end match grade barrel thats chambered and installed we will say $900.

Now we are going to pick on the 284 win since lots use it.

55gr of powder at todays $75 a pound. We will round it up to 59 cents per shot. I am being nice if I used R-26 price per pound it would be 4 to 5 times that per shot.

180 Berger Hybrid we will say 80 bucks a 100 with tax and shipping. That 80 cents a bullet.

Federal 210 match primer we will say $120 per 1000 so thats 12 cents a piece.

I am going to be nice and not even include the price of brass. Most guys I know that shoot comp have a minimum of 500 cases per rifle.

Now if my math is right one round without the cost of brass is 1.51 per shot.

Guys say they get 2800 rounds down the 284 win before the barrel is toast so we will go with that.

Thats $4,228 dollars without the cost of brass.

Dont worry I wont tell your wives but I think we can agree the cost of a chambered barrel should not cause the heart failure it does after seeing that price breakdown.

Narc.

If my missus sees this and my budget gets strapped, I'm blaming you.

My $1.65/round was enough for me to justify a $7K+ new build. I'm going to try and spend my kids inheritance long before they think anything is there. They need to learn to provide for themselves.