Barrel burners? The real numbers.

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There is a neat little spreadsheet for calculating barrel accuracy life on the 6mmBR site.
It considers caliber, powder charge, powder type, and chamber pressure.
Results will be a lot below what is commonly claimed, but bear in mind this is for competition accuracy. Competition WINNING accuracy.

About halfway down the page at:
http://www.6mmbr.com/BlogSept2005.html
 
I guess I should add that I am as much a promoter of high load density as anybody...it generally helps accuracy...and for a hunting load that I'm not going to shoot hundreds of rounds of such as my 30-06 (168 NBT, 58 grains of H4350) I prefer a full case...thats a big game round though, slow fire is the norm.

For my 243...my chosen varmint rig...its actually a youth gun, a pure joy to carry, easy to maneuver in the blind, and delightfully accurate...Varget is the slowest powder I use (and in the 243, its at the fast end of the scale)...just have barrel life in mind when you decide on a load.
 
"Yes...but you can pick your powders and use less of it...

For the 22-250...either Benchmark or IMR 3031 will work for the 40 grain(I used Varget when I had a 22-250)"

While that is true, there are heavy weight loads that work with relativly small powder charges, like 60gr of IMR 4064 in a 300 win mag, that is 10-23gr less then other powders and pushes 180gr to 3000fps! I use larger powder charges then that in my 30-06.
 
Yep...that 300 WM load is an extreme example...but a good one!

That 300 WM load will yield barrel life comparable to a 30-06...With load density that low though, it may be a bit fussy where accuracy is concerned...or maybe not...never know until you've tried it.
 
Yeah usually I get better groups with higher load density, but I have seen exceptions to that rule too. Some very low density loads in standard calibers work best with a magnum primer to ensure a good burn. Handloading is something of a crash course in physics, we don't use all the science lingo but we learn the principals pretty quick :)
 
According to the barrel life spreadsheet, my 257 Weatherby should be getting pretty close to dead by now. I have settled on 72 grains of Reloder22 behind a 90gr Hornady GMX bullet as my standard hunting load.
 
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