barrel life?
 

hello fellow shooters, i am new to this forum.

ok, seems like i bowhunt more than shoot with a rifle.
so that being said, what does barrel life mean? how do i know if it is the barrel going bad and how would i know it's not the scope instead?

Last year, I got a Rem 788 in the 22-250 with a 24" barrel from the father-in-law. I love it, it shoots very well. Obviously, it is an older discontinued rifle.

I put a new scope on it the other day and the guy at the shop stated that they used softer metal or steel back in the 70's when this gun was made. i have probably shot the rifle more than my father-in-law ever did, and i plan to shoot it a lot more. should i be worried about the barrel life for this rifle?

RE: barrel life?
 

On a CF rifle, barrel life is usually a function of the extent of the throat erosion. This can be easily checked by a gunsmith with a Hawkeye bore scope (or similar device). If it is gone, there is no real distinct beginning point of the rifling and it looks washed out for maybe an inch or more ahead of the throat.

I wish I had a dollar for every shooter that brought in a well used rifle, thinking it was "shot out" because it would no longer hold a good group - only to determine all it really needed was a serious cleaning or a re-crown. If you keep reasonably good track of how many rounds are through a particular gun (# of pounds of powder burned?), you can generally tell when you are getting close. Normal hunting calibers like the .270 or .30/06 should have a useful barrel life of maybe 4,000 or more rounds. Faster numbers that squeeze more powder through a smaller hole, like the .22-250, might last less than 3,000 rounds. A .22-6MM maybe only 1,000 rounds. Also, guns that are shot with reduced loads, ball powders, moly bullets only, and generally lighter weight bullets - any of these factors can increase useful barrel life - as well as shooting slowly so as not to heat up the barrel. And stainless steel barrels will generally have a longer useful barrel life than chrome moly (blued) barrels. I wish I had a good digital photo of a shot out barrel throat to attach to this post . . . .

RE: barrel life?
 

thanks for the response Roskoe....good info.

so if my rifle started to not hold a good group anymore it would need a serious cleaning around the throat area? what does re-crown mean? thanks.

RE: barrel life?
 

Recrown is where they cut or mill the end of your barrel. Alot of people do damage here with cheap cleaning rods. Its a important place on a gun that can destroy accuracy if you damage it by not using proper cleaning methods.

RE: barrel life?
 

Mr. Bowhunt - the cleaning would be the entire barrel. Copper will build up in CF barrels over time and need to be removed using a good solvent, like Shooter's Choice or more agressive cleaners like Sweet's 7.62. This process can take awhile, and may involve dozens of patches and a number of brass brushes over a period of days. Sometimes JB paste on a tight patch will help as well. Any reputable sporting goods store shoule be able to advise you on proper techniques. Good luck.

RE: barrel life?
 

As a general rule, slower powders burn hotter and cause throat erosion faster than faster ones. However, the temperature difference across the range of powders well suited to a particular cartridge is not great, and so fire breathin' ultra mags will wear out before standard cartridges.

RE: barrel life?
 

The more powder you burn, the shorter the barrel life.

A .22 LR will last just about forever.

An ultramagnum will burn out a barrel pretty fast.

Even if the throat is badly eroded, it only a very short portion of the barrel. You can have the barrel removed, have a thread cut off the barrel, have it screwed back on and rechambered.

RE: barrel life?
 

This was a well timed question. I was about to ask the same thing. My 270 is reaching a 1000 and I was wondering if it was time to slack off or keep blasting.

RE: barrel life?
 

hey guys that some good info yall have posted.

Roskoe, if i cleaned the whole barrel as you described and then wanted to shoot the same ammo, i would have to resight the rifle again?

I also shoot a 7mm mag. It is a Rem model 700 syn with a 24" barrel.
I have only shot the hornady 139 gr BTSP out of it, it kicks very much with this round, but is stupid accurate. Is this a "hot" load that will wear out the barrel faster or does it fall under the lighter weight bullet that will increase barrel life?

So when I go to the range to practice or sight-in, I should wait a minute or two inbetween shots to increase barrel life?

this is a great web-site!!

RE: barrel life?
 

so lets say my .270 has 4000 rounds through it and the barrel is "shot out" it used to shoot 1" moa now it shoots what 2" or 3" moa? how bad is "shot out"? also if 3" moa is shot out will it take 4000 more rounds do shoot twice as bad?

RE: barrel life?
 

IMHO, I thinks it's tough for the 'average' hunter/shooter to shoot a rifle out. Average being the key word here. I'll go along with Roskoe, a much more common 'problem' with CF rifles is they get dirty. I've seen it in my own rifles where they start to fall off and need a good copper cleaning. Sweets has always worked well although it can be dirty and VERY time consuming. I started using the Outers Foul Out and it works terrific! Nice thig is I now copper-clean every rifle I have about once or twice a year. No fuss, no muss.

RE: barrel life?
 

highpower, did you have to resight your rifle after cleaning it?

RE: barrel life?
 

If its dirty enough. That caliber you have is tough on barrels. You might errosion if its that old. You might not. Most guns I see like that are damaged due to 3 piece cleaning rods.

RE: barrel life?
 

MrBowhunt, no I did not. The rifle in question above, was my .243. For several years it was a tack driver. One day it started falling off and just got worse and worse. I had read an article about copper build up doing that, so, I cleaned it with Sweets. Took an entire day of cleaning to get all the copper out. When I was done, it was back to as good as new. Like I stated above, I've gone to the Outers Foul Out, and now I clean the copper out at least once a year.

RE: barrel life?
 

Those Outers Foul Out type cleaners are great - and will save you tons of time. One little warning, though: they will get a barrel so clean that, if it is an older gun that has never had a really good thorough copper cleaning, the cleaning may actually expose rough metal in the barrel that has been coated with copper fouling for years.

The barrel will suddenly shoot really bad. After a hundred rounds or so, it will come back around - as the copper fills in all the voids. Not a problem with smooth premium barrels that have been kept clean all along - but then these barrels really don't need the Foul Out treatment to clean them anyway. The ones that really seem to benefit from the Foul Out are regular factory barrels, like Remingtons and Rugers, that are a little rough but shoot pretty well. Particularly with the Barnes X bullets . . . . .

RE: barrel life?
 

This is more pure baloney.....Further the barrel life can exceed 5,000 rounds (still shooting 1/2 MOA) from even a .220 Swift.....and that's a statement by Layne Simpson, not me.....The key is keeping the barrel clean and not shooting the barrel until it gets hot!!!

Even a .270-.30-06 class rifle will burn out a barrel in 500 rounds on full auto and no water jacket.