It's not really the life of the barrel we're talking about, it's the "burning" of the throat. Many times simple setting the barrel back and rechambering will resurrect a seemingly worn out barrel.
Posts: 4360 | Location: Sunny Southern California | Registered: 22 May 2002
Velocity has nothing to do with barrel wear. The bullet passing down the bore produces neglegable or almost no barrel ware. Nor does bullet weight have any thing to do with barrel ware. The only culrit in the barrel ware is the amount per charge of powder consumed by the particular cartridge you are shooting. example: the 22 Hornet compared to the 30-378 cartridge. The 22 hornet will last from 5,000 to 7,000 rounds. and the 30-378 will be gone in 660 to 1500 rounds. Reason the 22 hornet burns 11 grains of powder per charge and the 30-378 burns 120 grains of powder per charge.
I read an interview with 'Boots' Obermeyer in Precision Shooting recently. On top of being a barrel maker, Boots is a highpower shooter.
Boots is of the opinion that heavy bullet long range load combinations are harder on the throat than light bullet rapid fire loads. He has monitored the wear of many match barrels over the years and causing him to come to this conclusion.
Boots's opinion is opposite to conventional wisdom on this topic and I suspect he gathered much data before he offered his opinion for public scrutiny. It is food for thought.
