Barrel life question

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LUCKYDAWG13

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I have a question about barrel life I'm looking at getting a target rifle / Range rifle just something to
punch paper with was thinking about getting a 6.5 Creedmoor I read that the barrel will wear out
around 3000 rounds is this true if so just how bad will it shoot after that would a 243 or a 223
be a better choice
 
Eh its going to be a can of worms. Your about to hear all the guys whos barrels last 1,123,231,132,545 rounds because they did something special or whatever. Fact is, depends on how you shoot...as in how hot the barrel gets in a session, what you shoot, how often and how much you shoot, and of course the quality of the barrel. It's the design of the casing is the primary culprit. The design of the cartridge is generally of higher pressure, and what effects barrel life (rate of throat erosion) is heat and pressure. Your 243's and 6.5 lupua and 260s will all have have a faster wear than a .308 all things being equal.
You can always maximize barrel life by letting the barrel cool, and not engaging in fast long strings of fire. However for those that do PRS and other competitions, it is unavoidable and needs to be accepted that barrels are a consumable item...like tires.
As to what will happen, you will see groups start to open up as the bullet has to jump more. If you reload and you dont need it at mag length, will help a little. A barrel can always be set back as well.
 
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243 will have roughly half the barrel life.

experience varies, but usually, there are two things that cause precision rifle barrels to be discarded: velocity slows down, and you'll start getting fliers. at some point in the more distant future, groups start opening up, but i don't usually let it go that long.
 
yes. look at it this way: 308 and 243 are the exact same case, with the sole difference being the neck diameter. IOW, same amount of powder = roughly same amount of gas, but you're running it through a much smaller hole, which causes erosion faster. do a search on "overbore cartridges".
 
I haven't seen anything on the 6.5 Creed, but it should be very similar to 308, maybe better. Based on the research I've done a 308 is going to be good for at least 5000-7000 rounds and still be good enough for match use. Most hunters could get 10,000-15,000 rounds before accuracy became a problem.

The smaller the bore, the more powder you burn, and the more velocity you develop the faster you'll wear out a barrel. Anything leaving the muzzle at less than 3000 fps should last a very long time. The 243 is known to burn up barrels faster than many other rounds. I can guarantee a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel will last a lot longer than a 243. The 6.5-06, the new 26 Nosler and 264 WM are barrel burners, but not the 260, 6.5X55, or 6.5 Creed. Rounds like 25-06 and even 7mm mag also have a reputation for wearing out barrels at around 3000 rounds or less. A 270 is a little harder on barrels than 30-06, but it doesn't have a reputation as being particularly bad. It is 6.8mm vs 6.5mm and shoots similar bullet weights even faster than the 260 or 6.5 Creed.

One of the selling points of the 6.5 Creedmoor is that it should be easy on barrels. With the 140-147 gr loads commonly used by target shooters MV is a very mild 2600-2700 fps compared to 2900-3000 fps target shooters push hot 308 loads. If you are planning on using 100 gr bullets at 3100 fps you could wear it out sooner. But the cartridge and rifles were designed with the heavier bullets in mind.

Barrel life wouldn't even be on my radar here. Even if you wear out a barrel in 5000 rounds you will have spent $2K-$3K on ammo.
 
I haven't seen anything on the 6.5 Creed, but it should be very similar to 308, maybe better. Based on the research I've done a 308 is going to be good for at least 5000-7000 rounds and still be good enough for match use. Most hunters could get 10,000-15,000 rounds before accuracy became a problem.

The smaller the bore, the more powder you burn, and the more velocity you develop the faster you'll wear out a barrel. Anything leaving the muzzle at less than 3000 fps should last a very long time. The 243 is known to burn up barrels faster than many other rounds. I can guarantee a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel will last a lot longer than a 243. The 6.5-06, the new 26 Nosler and 264 WM are barrel burners, but not the 260, 6.5X55, or 6.5 Creed. Rounds like 25-06 and even 7mm mag also have a reputation for wearing out barrels at around 3000 rounds or less. A 270 is a little harder on barrels than 30-06, but it doesn't have a reputation as being particularly bad. It is 6.8mm vs 6.5mm and shoots similar bullet weights even faster than the 260 or 6.5 Creed.

One of the selling points of the 6.5 Creedmoor is that it should be easy on barrels. With the 140-147 gr loads commonly used by target shooters MV is a very mild 2600-2700 fps compared to 2900-3000 fps target shooters push hot 308 loads. If you are planning on using 100 gr bullets at 3100 fps you could wear it out sooner. But the cartridge and rifles were designed with the heavier bullets in mind.

Barrel life wouldn't even be on my radar here. Even if you wear out a barrel in 5000 rounds you will have spent $2K-$3K on ammo.
That's a good point
 
That's not what he said. You missed the comma. He isnt saying what you said, that smaller bore cause more powder to burn. He is saying that 3 different factors determine wear. One is how small bore is, two is how much powder burns, and three velocity will determine barrel wear, or at least that' s how I read it?

Russellc
 
I have a question about barrel life I'm looking at getting a target rifle / Range rifle just something to
punch paper with was thinking about getting a 6.5 Creedmoor I read that the barrel will wear out
around 3000 rounds is this true if so just how bad will it shoot after that would a 243 or a 223
be a better choice
I'm going through the same decision process. I've decided to do a .223 bolt first. Then either 6.5 CM or .308. With either, especially with the ease and affordability of a Savage action, I could go from 6.5 CM to .308 with a barrel change, or any other action that uses a similar barrel nut system.

I will learn cheap and dirty with .223, and then apply what I ve learned to the larger calibers.

Russellc
 
I think rate of fire plays a bigger part than a lot of people give it credit for. Let's say you rapid fire 5 rounds. That's barely going to warm your barrel on the outside. But what was the high temp in the actual rifling? For a brief instant, it could have reached a temperature much higher than what registered on the outside of the barrel. I've never seen any data, or even any educated guess, how long it takes for the barrel to reach equilibrium after each shot, to where the temp at the throat is the same as the temp on the outside of the chamber.
 
Yea, Taliv, I think you missed the comma. A 260 or 6.5 have the same bore diameter as a 264 WM and shoot the same bullets. But the 260 and 6.5 typically burn 40ish gr of powder to get 140's moving to 2700 fps. The 264 WM will typically burn 70ish gr of powder to get 3100 fps. The 264 will wear out a barrel a lot faster.

plan on 2500-3000 for creedmoor.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but would like to know why you think it would be this low. I can't think of any reason the Creedmoor should wear out a barrel any faster than 308. A common 6.5 target load burns about 40 gr of powder to get 2700 fps from a 140 gr bullet. A common 308 target load is burning 47 gr of powder to get 2900 fps with 155 gr bullets. Sure the bore is smaller, but you're looking at 8-9% less bullet weight, powder, velocity and bore diameter. Seems like it should be about a wash to me.
 
That's a good point
you see what i mean about a can of worms.
Whoever mentioned about the neck is right. Shoulders and neck as far as necked down cases with have more pressure. Theres another factor with what weight bullets you use as well. Just wraps around to everything I already covered in a nutshell.
 
That's not what he said. You missed the comma. He isnt saying what you said, that smaller bore cause more powder to burn. He is saying that 3 different factors determine wear. One is how small bore is, two is how much powder burns, and three velocity will determine barrel wear, or at least that' s how I read it?

Russellc

you're right. my bad. i misread.
 
I'm not disagreeing with you, but would like to know why you think it would be this low. I can't think of any reason the Creedmoor should wear out a barrel any faster than 308. A common 6.5 target load burns about 40 gr of powder to get 2700 fps from a 140 gr bullet. A common 308 target load is burning 47 gr of powder to get 2900 fps with 155 gr bullets. Sure the bore is smaller, but you're looking at 8-9% less bullet weight, powder, velocity and bore diameter. Seems like it should be about a wash to me.

*shrug*
i have no explanation to offer. just think that's where most people change them.

by way of comparison, my 6.5x47L runs a 140 hybrid @ 2800 fps (37g varget) and I wouldn't take a barrel with more than 2000 rnds to a match. I'd use it for practice til about 2500.
my 260AI which sent the same projo closer to 3000 fps would get 1500-1800 rounds before the barrel would be toast.
 
i have no explanation to offer. just think that's where most people change them.
Yep, and target shooters throw out about the same numbers for .308, around 3000 rounds. That is where gilt edged accuracy starts too falter/fail, which is where the top competitors change barrels.

When I shot 6PPC in Benchrest the 3000/3500 number was thrown around a lot.
 
If you really want to get into it, as far as the math and science goes then the more overbore the cartridge the shorter the life.
It can be calculated; case capacity in H2O grains divided by area (sq. in.) of bore cross section.

So a .308 Win would be
56(gr H20)/.0745= 751.67

While a 6.5cm would be
52.1(gr H2O)/.0548=950.72

For reference an ex. of real barrel burner 6.5-284
68.33/.0548=1246.89
 
How much life a barrel has left depends on your accuracy standards. If you really want 0.5 MOA from a barrel, a given barrel is not gonna last as long as if you are happy with 1 MOA.

You can also extend barrel life by handloading, because you can tweak your handloads to better handle throat erosion. You can also load slower powders that burn cooler.
 
A friend had a barrel go west on him last week. He is hustling to change it with a match coming up soon.
Barrel life depends on what kind of accuracy you require.
Said friend had an M1A NM quit shooting at a highpower match somewhere in the high 4000s, but he says he can usually tell a difference in 2500 rounds of F class with the .308 on a bipod and half as big a ten ring.
 
If you are not going to compete, perhaps a more cost effective option
would be .223? Less expensive and more available rifles, barrels, and ammo.
my plan is to run the 308 and as I get a little older and if recoil starts to bug me switch to a 223 barrel
 
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