Two barrels in the same caliber, which will wear out faster?

[amlevin]

Consider two barrels in .223 caliber. One is 20" long and the other 26" long and on a bolt action rifle. For the purposes of discussion ALL other parameters are the same, especially bullet weight and muzzle velocity (yes, charge weight will vary due to barrel length in order to achieve same velocity).

Which barrel will last longer, all things being as equal as possible (rate of fire, ambient temps, etc).

It's my belief that the longer barrel should be able to develop the velocity easier than the shorter barrel which would require a hotter load to do likewise. In theory wouldn't this result in less throat wear?

Since I'm basing my thoughts on conjecture are there any others with actual experience? For the sake of discussion let's assume a muzzle velocity of ~2800 fps using a 77 gr bullet.

Just curious.

 

[Phil]

I would think that burning more powder would result in faster wear......

All else being equal..

 

[Erik Cortina]

I would think that burning more powder would result in faster wear......

All else being equal..

More pressure = shorter barrel life.

Do a search on the daily bulletin for barrel life calculator. The shorter barrel will last shorter, but I bet not by much.

 

[artbosco]

It depends on how many rounds are fired through each one! Fire one round through one barrel and 5000 through the other and you tell me which one will wear out the soonest regardless of barrel length.

 

[bheadboy]

longer bbl will allow slower burning powder to be used to achieve the = velocity, thus the heat/pressure curve will extend out of the throat area and down the bbl. thus the throat will last longer in the longer bbl.

Bob

 

[mikecr]

Barrels don't really 'wear out', and all of them will 'last' forever. The real question should come down to estimating accurate barrel life, and this has to be defined/qualified.
I see accurate barrel life as the last point where best performance from a barrel departs. That is, not the point where accuracy is no longer good enough for the owner(totally different).
Do you follow what I'm sayin?

Since the early 80s(BBS back then) I've been watching claims of accurate barrel life, and read every book related, and just took an interest in it. It didn't take long to see that for every credible claim there were a few bogus claims, and nothing has changed since..
The very best claims and the very worst come from competitors(in all disciplines). Those I believe, are the ones who can detect departure from best, and who are consistently forced to give up their greatest shooting barrels -to stay competitive.
With their help over the years I put together defining math for 'accurate barrel life' in the form of a spreadsheet(about 20yrs ago) and I've been testing it ever since, tweaking a touch here & there.
Someday, I'll have information from melonite treating, and will add adjustment for this. I've dropped moly adjustment, since few mess with it anymore.

Try it, and it will answer your question.

 

[JASmith]

Assuming one loads to the same velocity, the higher pressures needed for the shorter barrel will, on average, cause it to lose accuracy sooner.

BUT, we are talking about averages, and the difference in 'life' is small enough that you will have to wear out a lot of barrels to statistically prove it.

 

[amlevin]

It depends on how many rounds are fired through each one! Fire one round through one barrel and 5000 through the other and you tell me which one will wear out the soonest regardless of barrel length.

You must have missed the part where I said " ALL other parameters are the same". I thought that would cover "shots fired in each" ??? ???