How many rounds must go through a barrel before it is burned-out? It must be different for the 22-250 vs. a 25-06 vs. a 280 vs. a 30-06 vs. a 300 WM vs. a 300 RUM vs. a 30-378.

In your opinions, how many rounds would it take on average to burn-out the barrels from the above calibers - shooting full-power hunting reloads?

Too many variables!

What do you consider "burn out"?

I have heard some state that a barrel is useless after as little as 500 rounds, and others have stated that a barrel should be replaced after 2,000 rounds.

I have several .22-250's that have had probably around 6,000 to 7,000 rounds through them and they still do less than 0.5MOA.

The only barrels I ever "burned out" were in my early days of reloading in the early 1960's, and they were .220 Swift, when I was attempting to get a gazillion feet per second. Once I downloaded to a more reasonable attempt, the same barrel has been on that rifle since the 1970's, and it still shoots extremely well.

It is my opinion that more barrels are ruined by improper cleaning and abuse than by simply shooting acceptable loads.

What I've resorted to in recent years is loading to a level I think produces the best accuracy. To use my .22-250 as an example, I've noticed over the years my prime accuracy with 50 and 55gr. bullets occurs at about 3600fps. The rifle will shoot much hotter, but I know it's detrimental to the life of the barrel so I don't load any hotter. I wouldn't be gaining better accuracy either. New stainless steel barrels cost about $400. That's all the incentive I need to hold it down.
You can't also shorten the barrels life easily enough at the range by firing rapid 5 shot groups. If that barrel is hot to the touch, go for a whiz, drink a coke or smoke a cigarette. Anything but let the barrel cool. It's hard to give you actual figures since most of us don't keep track of the nu,mber of shots we fire. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I experienced some roughness in the first 3-4 inches of the barrel of a Ruger 77/II .300 WM, after firing 700/800 rounds. I don't know if it must be considered a burned-out barrel.... Lorenzo

ricciardelli, what would you consider improper cleaning?

Somebody that I know and respect, once did a test for a magazine article. He was shooting a 308 Win.

As I remember it, he got tired and gave up at 10,000 rounds downrange, while still getting very acceptable accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
ricciardelli, what would you consider improper cleaning?

#1 - No bore guide.

#2 - Cheap, bendy, jointed rods.

#3 - Cleaning from the muzzle end.

When cleaning, can one over use the brass brush? - given that you're using a bore guide with first-rate (coated) cleaning rods.

AIU-

I would think that if you are using otherwise sound cleaning techniques, you'd have a hard time "scrubbing" a barrel to death. But I guess it's possible...

However, with that said, I use nylon brushes (mainly because I don't want to have to keep cleaning "dissolved brush" out of my barrels), and a lot of times, I actually use no brush. With a good barrel, I'll just push patches of good (pick your favorite) solvent through, let it do it's job chemically, and dry patch it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Cold Bore:
Somebody that I know and respect, once did a test for a magazine article. He was shooting a 308 Win.

As I remember it, he got tired and gave up at 10,000 rounds downrange, while still getting very acceptable accuracy.

Was that in an article by Jamison? This sounds very familiar and I'm sure I read it in Shooting Times. IIRC after all those rounds he measured the throat erosion and it was some miniscule amounmt, like .005" or thereabouts, hardly even measurable.

A "burned-out" barrel would be one that's lost its 1 MOA accuracy for good - that is, no amount of cleaning will bring it back.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
A "burned-out" barrel would be one that's lost its 1 MOA accuracy for good - that is, no amount of cleaning will bring it back.

I would agree with AIU.

What matters to me (and most shooters) is accuracy. The amount of erosion is of no concern until it begins to degrade accuracy. No use worrying about it until it happens and whatcha gonna do then?

I found the best groups in my varmint rifles are 2-3 grains under absolute maximum, which has to lessen the effect of erosion to some degree I would think.

One of my varmint rigs has several thousand rounds through it with no appreciable loss of accuracy. What loss it has is probably due more to my gaining in years than the effects of erosion.

That greatly depends on cleaning techniques and whether or not the barrel is heated up by not letting the barrel cool between groups.

We could plainly see barrel errosion after 50 shots were fired in an A-Square 300 Pegasus rifle.

We could see some errosion after about 100 rounds in a 30-378 Weatherby magnum.

I have seen some of the bench rest shooters replace their barrels after 2000 - 3500 rounds. But, these guys are looking for very small groups.

quote:

Originally posted by stubblejumper:
That greatly depends on cleaning techniques and whether or not the barrel is heated up by not letting the barrel cool between groups.

I owm a .30-378 WBY,after two shots I let the barrel cool down at less 5 minutes;I dont know how long the barrel will last,may be 2000 rounds...