What happened to the concern with barrel burners and over-bore cartridges?

[jackieschmidt]

The Short Range Benchrest Shooters probably are as responsible as anybody for propagating the round count/barrel life debate. Why, because in that particular Discipline, it is a reality.

If your nice custom prairie dog goes from shooting 3/8 inch groups to shooting 1/2 inch groups, that is not a death knell. However, if you LV group Rifle goes from shooting .sub .200 groups to .300 groups, it is gone.

I bring barrels back to life by setting them back. From what I gather, I am in a small minority in this respect. Everybody seems to have some type of claim against the practice, but I find it a very useful tool in keeping a really good barrel going.

Of course, you do have to know what you are doing.

 

[Shurefire]

It seems like not too many years ago there was real concern with picking cartridges that weren't going to shoot out barrels too quickly. But now we have the 6.5 PRC and 22 Creedmoor and no one seems to be complaining about barrel life. Are barrel materials better now, or was the original threat of shooting out barrels just overblown?

Overblown. At least for the XTC target. 2,000 plus rounds easily for 243 win and 22 Creedmoor. I’m not pushing ludicrous speed with either, but they aren’t running in slow motion.

 

[boltman13]

Speed kills barrels: ultra high velocity, rapid fire. When I started shooting F-Class the hot round was the 6.5/284 at 2900+fps. Many fellow shooters were loosing match winning accuracy at about 700 +/- rounds. I simply couldn't afford that so I went with my 6.5 Creedmoor at about 2,815 fps. My first barrel a 30" Hart lasted about 2,300 rounds and still could be taken off and shortened 4" and rechambered in 6.5X47 and made a Junior Shooter happy in Mid Range F-Class as a starter. My new barrel was a Brux 32" and it still doesn't hold me back at 2,846 fps at a round count just short of 2,100. It has about 2" of fire cracking with some erosion of the lands but I keep it mostly carbon free with Flitz. I think if I didn't have to shoot about 25 rounds in such a short period, usually about 15-20 minutes or less I could get much better barrel life. Most F-Class shooters have moved on to the 7mm's in 284 Win or wildcats of it and the 7 SAUM. They do get somewhat better barrel life but not as good as my 6.5 Creed. I am not a high volume competator any more so I may never need to re-barrel this rifle to shoot scores I am happy with. My 6 Dasher that I use in F-Class Mid Range still shoots possables when I do my part, but my X count is dropping. I have another Kreger 28" waiting to be put on at the end of this season.

 

[jelenko]

Shipping each way $100

Which carrier? It costs me about $20 to ship a barrel within CONUS.

 

[jelenko]

you do have to know what you are doing.

Indeed!

 

[nakneker]

What speed are you getting with that 22-6.5prc? And what bullet?

Reply #26 - I’m not really pushing on it yet.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

I know of two diffrent cases that shooters thought their barrel was “ shot out” with nothing to lose there did a very aggressive deep cleaning and it brought their barrel back to life. Yes barrels do shoot out, but I think with newer/ better cleaning produces and shooter learning not to over heat among other things has helped extend barrel life.

Well, we don't clean them with ammonia these days, do we?.

 

[Charlie-NY]

Which carrier? It costs me about $20 to ship a barrel within CONUS.

That was the cost to ship the rifle for rebarrelling, not the cost to ship a barrel. I shipped a heavy bench rifle USPS and it cost $115 with no additional insurance. The gunsmith was able to return ship for $85.