I hear over and over again about burning out barrels. I have been predator hunting for about 17 years now and really got into the pdog shooting now for the last 3 years but I have never had a barrel go bad.

How many shots is it going to take to burn out my 22-250 or 243? I know it depends on how you treat the barrel (heat) and how fast you reload your rounds but should I expect 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 rounds out of my new Tikka varmitter or what?

Greg

What difference does it make? You have the the rifle, shoot... it. The cost in reloaded ammo will exceed the price of a new barrel by the time its worn. My 22-250 did not loose much in accuracy but a ran out of room seating bullets out.

Coyotecaller: I have a couple of examples for you. The first was an amazingly accurate Remington 40XB Rifle in 220 Swift my friend owns. This Rifle I saw shoot on several occassions 5 shot groups at 200 yards of .500"! This is amazing in that the owner was using Varmint bullets and a 20X scope! My friend and I Hunted Rock Chucks together in the west and he went off on a couple of Prairie Dog shoots and burned out his barrel in what he figured was 1,600 rounds. He shot it hot - a lot! Anyway he showed me the barrel wear after he noticed the accuracy diminishing. There was very little rifling for about 2 1/2" up that barrel! The accuracy was now in the 1 3/4" group size at 200 yards. My friend only shot for group at 200 yards. He had it rebarreled at the Remington factory custom shop a la $400.00! This was about 7 years ago. I had the exact same Rifle at least two years before my friend bought his and I still shoot it to this day with the original barrel. You see I had learned that hot barrel lesson a long time ago. I baby my 220 Swift 40XB-KS's barrel and it still shoots very well for me. I am guessing but I am sure I have close to 2,000 rounds down my barrel and it shoots as good as ever.

The other Rifle barrel life story pertains to caliber 222 Remington! I was at a Bench Rest Match in Washington State about 7 years ago. My friend Russ Haydon pointed out an unlimited BR Rifle on the firing line. He asked if I knew the story behind that Rifle. I did not. He relayed that the late L.E. Wilson of Cashmere, Washington (Wilson Dies Co.) had made that unlimited Rifle quite some time back and it had 16,000+ rounds down the barrel! The original barrel had been made long and heavy! At about 5,000 rounds Mr. Wilson took the barrel off cut off the original chamber - turned the barrel around and chambered the other end! The bullets were then shot going the opposite way of original! Then after another 5,000 or so rounds he did the same machining and cutting so as to be sending the bullets down the barrel in the original direction! The new owner who was shooting it the day I saw it was doing pretty well in the unlimited class! I watched as he shot it through my Unertl spotting scope and it amazed me that a barrel would have that much accuracy after that many rounds down the barrel. Not much barrel heat from a 222 though. A barrel that was cleaned carefully and cared for properly I am sure.

You can, I am sure, wash out the leades to the Rifling with a 22-250 if you shoot it HOT in 900 rounds! I would not shoot a 22-250 barrel to the point of being hot! My last trip to the re-barrel man REALLY got my attention - money spent wise! I now go to special lengths to avoid that again - including careful cleaning and never shooting barrels "hot".

Having said that I must relay my 243 Winchester story. Years ago I bought a custom stocked pre-64 Winchester Model 70 Varminter in caliber 243. The barrel was obviously "shot out". The rifling was washed away for at least 2" up the barrel from the chamber! I knew that before buying it because I have a Wally Siebert bore inspection tool. I never buy a used Rifle without using this tool to inspect the leades, bore, chamber and crown of the gun. Anyway I got the Rifle for a song from an estate kind of thing. I wanted the beautiful custom stock and the action. I planned on rebarreling the Rifle immediately. Out of curiosity I shot it with some handloads for another 243 I had. That Rifle shot like gangbusters! I bought that Rifle in 1986 and still shoot it with the original Winchester stainless steel barrel today! It shoots in the 5's and 6's today. Fine for the Varminting I do with it. I think I have shot it at least 1,200 times myself and I have no idea how many rounds were down it when I bought it. The point I am making here is even though the barrel is quite worn in front of the chamber it still shoots pretty well. I just love the old Model 70's and it gives me pleasure to shoot this old timer with the factory barrel. Or saying it this way - centerfire barrels begin wearing out with the first shot. Some barrel wear does not make a Rifle inaccurate!

You have asked a tough question to give a very quantifiable answer to - but, with care, you should get 2,000 rounds of barrel life before you notice any diminishment of that Rifles accuracy in 22-250 or 243 calibers. Shoot it hot or clean it incorrectly and it WILL be less! I hope you get 3 or 4 thousand rounds of good accuracy out of your rig!

Give us a report in about 10 years!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

I like to have a minimum of 3 rifles when shooting in a good dog town, I shoot 5 shots and change rifles. If the shooting is slow I might shoot more through the same rifle.


www.duanesguns.com

I think the answer to my question is too get another varmit gun in 223. Yes, that is definately what you guys are telling me. Seriously, I was just wondering what others have experienced.

Greg

Like Duane said, if you are shooting in a very active dog town you're going to need more than one gun. I prefer to use a .22 Hornet or .222 for the closer shots and save my .22-250 and .243 for the much tougher ones. Rotating guns (and rotating shooters if you are hunting with partners) will extend your barrel and your fun.

Also, as Varmintguy observed, a barrel with a worn throat may perform splendedly. Don't overheat your barrel with rapid and extended fire; clean judiciously; don't push the limits of pressure with your handloads. If you do these simple things, most barrels will outlast your grandchildren.

When my son and I go we usually take four complete guns and two extra barrels for my Contender carbine. There are times when we still need to stop and just let things cool off a bit.
Looks like your only solution is to buy more guns........damn!

By all means, get another rifle. Never pass up that opportunity.
In another forum, the same question was asked and a poster quoted two or three cases where the rifles got around 8000-10,000 rounds before needing to be re-barrelled. This was with, as posted, a good deal of prudence in rate of fire and general care.