Barrel life and rifling

[wdl1]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to forums and just started shooting this year. I'm curious if someone would be able to enlighten me on the correlation between rifling and barrel life for a .223 Rem bolt action. I've heard that more rifling is prone to wearing down a barrel quicker. In other words, it seems that the most commonly adopted twist rate is 1:12, however, I'm seeing that Savage and Tikka provide 1:9 and 1:8 twists respectively (even Remington uses 1:9 for their tactical lines). My question is, holding all things equal (cro-moly barrels vs stainless, barrel length, ammunition, etc), would something like a 1:8 twist have a significant reduced barrel life when compared to a 1:12 twist?

I understand that the 1:9 and 1:8 barrels are designed to shoot heavier bullets better, but assuming 55-grain .223s were used throughout, what kind of differences would be expected over the life of the barrel when compared to the 1:12?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Zullo74]

With all things being the same as you stated, the slower twist (1:12) would last a wee bit longer than the faster twist (1:8 or 1:9) because the slower twist develops slightly less pressure.

 

[sansone]

I like more twist if given the option. sure high twist rates are intended for heavy bullets but It's really rare for a bullet to be overly stabilized.(more twist=more stable) a really light bullet for any given caliber can be driven so fast that too much twist can cause the jacket to fail. this is what I've read but never seen it happen

 

[fineredmist]

Barrel life is a subjective topic, what defines a "shot out" barrel is not the same to everyone. A bench rest barrel that doesn't shoot in the "1" is unacceptable to a brench rest shooter but it would make a average shooter happy. I have replaced barrels on my varmint rifles because they would not group less than .75" @ 100 yds. The rifling was still in usable condition but the bore throats were erroded which is what cause the problem. The .223 AI had 9000+ rounds throught it and the .243 about 5000+ before I changed them. The intense heat generated as the bullet leaves the case burns the throat. The metal becomes very coarse and the bullet does not get a smooth start down the barrel and accuracy falls off.
Target accuracy is one thing, hunting accuracy is another. The rate of twist doesn't really matter, it's the number of rounds and how hot you shoot the barrel.

 

[Zullo74]

If you guys read the OP the fellow asked only about the twist rate effecting barrel life with all other things being equal. We seem to have drifted away from the original question!

 

[wdl1]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm actually curious how significant the difference is between the barrel life of the 1:8 compared to the 1:12. The guys at my local gun store feel quite strongly against the 1:8 and 1:9 twists, but I think that they may be a little bit of the old school philosophy since it seems by all user accounts that the 1:9s shoot very well.

Having all this considered, the barrel life is one of the things I'd like to clarify in regards to twist, although I have a feeling that the difference in barrel life may be a tad blown out of proportion by the guys at my local gun store. On average, I'm hearing approximately 10 000 rounds through a 1:12 bolt action, so I'm curious if a 1:8 would something significantly lower like 6000 rounds or if it'd be closer to 9000 rounds.

Thanks very much for the responses and your help!