I just finished my second brick of primers so I've shot 2,000 rounds shot through my Model 70. About 200 of these are lightweight bullets at 3,000+ fps but the rest have been 260 - 300 grain bullets at 2700 - 2500 fps.

I'm hoping that the larger bore (greater surface area) means less heat per unit area. My match 6mm and 6.5mm barrels only last about 1,500 rounds but they get hotter due to longer strings of shots during competitions.

What's the life expectancy of a 375 H&H barrel?

My guess is 5,000 plus. Because that's 30-06 life expectancy.

At a buck (or more!) a pop, this is an expensive hobby. A good reason to go big bore!

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
At a buck (or more!) a pop, this is an expensive hobby. A good reason to go big bore!

I got lucky about 10 years ago and bought 1,000 old stock (1970's vintage) Hornady 270 and 300 grain softpoints for $100. So, my average cost per shot is pretty low.

In my experience, the barrel itself is not worn out by shooting it repeatedly. The throat of the chamber is the crucial point. When erosion becomes noticeable, then it's time to set the barrel back and rechamber.

I routinely did that to my target rifle barrels after about 1500 rounds, and the accuracy, if anything, was better than when the barrel was new. All the irregularities in the barrel proper had been eliminated by the friction of the bullets passing through it.

A rough estimate of throat erosion can be obtained by inserting a cleaning rod in the rifle barrel until it encounters the closed bolt face, marking the spot on the rod at the muzzle, then removing the bolt and pushing a bullet of the appropriate caliber into the chamber with a wooden dowel, causing the cleaning rod to move backwards in the bore.

Then mark the second spot on the cleaning rod at the muzzle. The distance between the marks will reflect the approximate OAL of a cartridge loaded so as to allow a bullet to touch the lands. If the OAL length obtained in this way exceeds the length of the magazine, then it's time to set back the barrel and rechamber or rebarrel.

About the only real research of barrel"wear" wasnot wearper se but the heating of the barrel in the forcing cone area. the hot gases and carbon are absorbed by the steel and the subsequent heating ang cooling of the carbon rich steel cause cracking. That of course increases until the accuracy is gone .That study is the only one I can think of that was a proper metallurgical study .Off hand I can't remember the author .

I would think 2500-5500.

The quickest barrel we ever killed off was a 7.82 Warbird, it was under 500 rounds.

Most of my target barrels are done in under 2000 like yours.

Much will depend on what you expect for accuracy, how good it was in the first place, and how hot you get it. My first .375 lasted 2400 shots and 14 months. It probably wasnt the greatest barrel in the first place, and I typically would get it screaming hot and keep shooting. I was at a stage where I felt that I needed to get a grip on rapid fire offhand shooting with something with a bit of recoil. If it wasn't for the long mag-box on the CZ it would have been done in a bit over half that time.

You can get 10,000 shots by setting the barrel back & recutting chamber to clean up the throat.

Ross Seyfried did an old article on a 222Rem IIRC.

After the rifle stopped shooting small groups despite all the tricks, he took the barrel off and sectioned it to see that a significant part from throat down had worn out the rifling ......

Using the formula benchrest shooters use, it calculates to about 2000 rounds. That's for a benchrest rifle, so I would expect 2 or 3X that for a hunting rifle. I have a 308 Palma rifle with nearly 10,000 rounds down the tube. The accuracy has decayed from .28 MOA when I first fired it to a tad under a MOA today. The throat looks like hell, but the test targets tell a different story.

I wonder which would wear out sooner...a 375 H&H barrel or your shoulder. I predict your shoulder.

thats the bueaty of shooting cast bullets...minimal wear and tear

quote:

Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
I wonder which would wear out sooner...a 375 H&H barrel or your shoulder. I predict your shoulder.

I bet the brain will wear out the fastest!

I've burned to a few barrels in smaller calibers but using up a 375 barrel is not something I'd worry too much about

A guy can always just get another.

Your shoulder will wear out faster than the barrel. !!

IME the cartridges that wear the least are those with a relatively large bore in relation to their powder capacity and given that criteria will have medium to low velocity. OTOH the barn burners generate a lot of heat which kills barrels.
For example a 25-06 will wear out a barrel faster than a 35Whelen. And a 7STW will wear out a bore faster than a 7x57.
You should be good to 5000 rounds or so but remind me not to buy your M70 if/when you sell it.

No worries, when it start shooting greater than 1 MOA, I'll just get John (Toomanytools) to put a new barrel on it.

I have burned out a .416 Rigby. The thing looks like a shotgun barrel now... Complete with forcing cone.

The things the manufacturer said make the biggest difference are how hot you get the rifle, and bullet selection.

Rapid fire with monometal solids is very bad, m'kay? In the future I will disassemble solid ammo instead of just blazing away to get my brass back!

quote:

Originally posted by M 98:
thats the bueaty of shooting cast bullets...minimal wear and tear

+1. And Blaser/Mauser/Sauer barrels are known to be very tough, though shooting characteristics (overbore pressures, rapid fire, monometal bullet etc) probably have a greater effect on barrel life.

Unfortunately with the Blaser/Mauser/Sauer barrels, 'setting-back' is impossible due to the location of the locking lugs. But replacing a spare barrel is a cinch!

Jacketed, about 3000 rounds.
Cast, you should live that long...

quote:

No worries, when it start shooting greater than 1 MOA, I'll just get John (Toomanytools) to put a new barrel on it.

For sure a 375 that shoots more then 1 moa is worthless on big game. Half a MOA is needed for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

No worries, when it start shooting greater than 1 MOA, I'll just get John (Toomanytools) to put a new barrel on it.

For sure a 375 that shoots more then 1 moa is worthless on big game. Half a MOA is needed for sure.

I'm glad that we agree: