I'm interested in the 7mm RUM, in the Rem Custom Shop's African Plains Rifle. Is this cartridge really a barrel burner, I mean, how many shots before you have to replace the barrel? I've heard since it has so much powder in the .404 jeffreys case it will burn out the rifling. Is this a major consideration over 7mm stw or rem mag?

Thanks,
Jason

Of course, with its case volume and the pressures at which it works, it is a "barrel burner". I doubt you'll get more than 500 rounds through it before you start to find signs of throat erosion and maybe only 1500 more before performance is measurably affected.

Now, what kind of serious big game hunter, using 100 rounds once for inital load development, 3 more per year for sight checking, and 5 per year for actually shooting at game can possibly make a 7mm RUM, STW, or any other big magnum barrel last for more than 4 or 5 lifetimes?

My 36 year-old .264 Magnum (which was the only rifle I had for most of the early years) has had countless rounds through it, killed ground squirrels, badgers, coyotes, bobcats, turkeys, feral hogs, whitetails and muleys, pronghorn, elk, refrigerator boxes at 1000 yards, and even stray watermelons. It does now show throat erosion, requires one more grain of powder for the same velocity than it did 20 years ago, and still shoots Nosler Partitions under an inch. I anticipate my great-grandchildren may seriously wish to consider rebarrelling it in another 50 years.

In other words, it's damn hard to burn out a big game rifle barrel as long as you're just using it to hunt.

[This message has been edited by Stonecreek (edited 01-06-2002).]

Very well said Stonecreek. I would tend to agree. Unless you burn alot of powder shooting targets with it you won't wear it out in your life time. By the way welcome to the group AZOnecam!
X-Ring

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Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!

If your living like there is no HELL, you better be right!

[This message has been edited by X-Ring (edited 01-06-2002).]

Thanks for the replies. Seems like a great rifle for these AZ coues deer. I appreciate the welcome! This is a great site with lots of very knowledgable folks.

I never understand these "Well it will out last you" replies. You never stated how much you shoot, so I can't see how anyone can say how many years or lifetimes your rifle will last.

I read in one of Jeff Coopers' articles the military replaces the barrels on their sniper rifles after 1,000 rounds for 300mag and after 8,000 rounds for 308win. I am sure these barrels still have some life left but this gives you an idea of how long a barrel lasts.

Because the 7mmRUM burns more powder than a 300win and also has a smaller bore it will be harder on barrels. I would expect it to have the same life as a 7STW which shows extreme throat wear after about 1,000 rounds.

If you follow Jack O'Connor's advise which is a person who wants to become a competent rifleman needs to shoot 20 rounds per week you will shoot out your barrel in less than one year. Your best bet is to shoot a few shots with your 7mm each week and do the rest of your practice with a .22 or other rifle once you are proficient with you 7mm.

Jason

I am interested in what has just been written, and am getting the idea that bore size contributes to barrel wear more than grins of powder. So how many shots do you get from .416 rigby's, .375's, 45/70's and the like before you would say they need a re-barrelling, assuming they have been cared for ??. I would have thought something like my .416 rigby barrel would need re-barrelling after 700-800 shots due to the amount of powder it burns. And I will shoot that easily as I will blast a lot of ferals with it.

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PC

I don't know how long a 416 will last but I am willing to bet it will last much longer than 800 rounds.

If the amount of powder and pressure is the same a smaller bore will wear faster than a larger bore as the heat is more concentrated.

I am not an expert, I am just relaying what I have read. I myself have never shot out any barrel, not yet anyway.

Jason

[This message has been edited by J Brown (edited 01-07-2002).]

There was a good article on this subject in the June 2001 issue of Rifle Shooter. From what I was able to gather, one of the big issues is the burn rate of the powder used. For example, for 27-30 caliber, the typical barrel life using 4064 is 4,500 rounds and only 1,500 rounds using H1000. Since most knowledgable reloaders would use the powder that produces the highest velocity and the best accuracy, one can expect that the barrel life will be relatively short for the subject cartridge.

Off topic a bit but have you considered the 7mm WSM? Seems to me that this could be a better choice than the 7 RUM.

In my view the very best most well balanced big game cartridge you can own is the 300 Winchester magnum. Good barrel life very accurcate and will harvest any Game animal in North American.
If you hunt Africa the 300 Winchester Magnum and 416 Rigby are the ticket hands down.

AZ,

Another way to re-state the barrel life answer is to say that if the military-equivalent powders (IMR4096, IMR4895) get close to top velocity in your cartridge, the barrel will likely last 3000-5000 rounds with good accuracy, even if shot with rate-of fire profiles like the NRA high-power competition.

Shooting a 308 in NRA competition, most serious shooters replace the barrel every year (3000 rounds or so), I got by with two years, as I was not "serious"! NRA competition often includes back-to-back rapid fire strings resulting in shooting 20 rounds in 2-3 minutes. Slow fire is one round per minute in ten or twenty shot strings.

Thus a hunting 308 should last at least 5000 rounds if you don't go crazy in practice.

The 416 Rem Mag does well with IMR4895, so I expect it also will last at least 5000 rounds. Not coincidentally, the velocity is about the same as the 308.

I always figured a 300 WinMag was good for 1500 rounds. By that ratio, I'd expect a 7RUM to only last 500 or so!

For my main hunting rifle, that would only be a year or so, due to practice.

Don

My 300 Win Mag shows throat erosion. I bought it new in '92 and it has about 1000 rounds through it. I shot it a lot the first 3 years and lots of those loads were HOT with 168 boatails.Up to 76 grs IMR4831.It still puts 3 in an inch on a good day so it's not ready for a trip to the gunsmith yet.My 220 Swift was fired about 1000 rounds also,most with IMR4064 and it showed no wear at all that I could see.Depends on a lot of things.

Optimum accuracy from a group size standard starts to deteriorate at around 500 rounds with a 7mmRem mag, hunting accuracy will continue on for another 1500 or so. This is based on shooting prairie dogs and checking with 5 shot groups until the accuracy went from sub 1/2 moa to 2 moa.
This would be harder on the barrel than any big game hunting conditions. Rate of fire has much to do with barrel life. The 7 RUM will be hard on barrels, but if you can only shoot 1 deer a year and don't "cook" the barrel while practicing it should last 2000 with ease.

As I see it, the real concern is not barrel life, but how concerened you are with reality. In the real world, the vast percentage of hunters can't hold MOA on a game animal anyway. Unless you are strong enough to carry a bench rest with you, MOA is not a reasonable expectation. When you add physical exertion, adrenalin buildup, crosswinds, lack of a defined aiming point,(bullseye) the probability of uncertain range, and shooting from a field position, you are long out of the MOA range. I define hunting accuracy as being able to place my FIRST shot within a 6" circle of where I want it. From a field position. No bench. As soon as I can't do this, I know I have to get closer. That's why it's called hunting. My 7mm RUM will let me do this out to over 350 yards. What more can you reasonably expect? This isn't MOA, but it is all I need. Therefore, if the barrel should wear out a little with usage, I don't care. Bottom line is that while a MOA rifle/load combination is great to have, it isn't really needed. My 7RUM will in fact shoot MOA of a bench. My point is, so what?
Jay

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Jay
"For God and Country"