vmfrantz
Member
I finally got the money for another rifle. I want to get 7mm mag. I do alot of shooting with all my rifles. Some people say the mags burn the barrels out is this true of the 7mm
is the 7mm mag a barrel burner
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All guns have the potential to burn out their barrels over time.
The question is, how much time do you have on your hands?
Reduced to it's smallest denominator, rifle barrel life is proportionate to the total pounds of powder you burn through it.
Think about it.
A .22 Long Rifle burns maybe a few grains of powder with each shot. It's hardly a barrel-burner.
A .308 Winchester burns about 42 grains of powder with each shot. The cartridge is known to keep barrel accuracy and life through several thousand rounds before tapering off due to throat erosion.
A 7mm Remington Magnum burns about 78 grains of powder with each shot. A rifle chambered for this round will have a shorter life than the .308 Winchester above, but it will still be a fairly long life assuming you don't do a lot of rapid-fire shooting that heats up the barrel without letting it cool down between shots. Lots of heat, and lots of powder granules sandblasting their way past the barrel throat as they ignite further down the barrel are no friend of a rifle.
A .30-378 Weatherby Magnum burns about 115 grains of powder with each shot. Barrel life for this round is measured in the hundreds. I've known guys who buy several barrels at a time for their .30-378 rifles, because a barrel swap in inevitable.
Another way to look at it is figure how many rounds of a given cartridge you can get from a pound of powder. The fewer rounds you get, like the big Weatherby listed above, the more prone to throat and barrel erosion you are.
The question is, how much time do you have on your hands?
Reduced to it's smallest denominator, rifle barrel life is proportionate to the total pounds of powder you burn through it.
Think about it.
A .22 Long Rifle burns maybe a few grains of powder with each shot. It's hardly a barrel-burner.
A .308 Winchester burns about 42 grains of powder with each shot. The cartridge is known to keep barrel accuracy and life through several thousand rounds before tapering off due to throat erosion.
A 7mm Remington Magnum burns about 78 grains of powder with each shot. A rifle chambered for this round will have a shorter life than the .308 Winchester above, but it will still be a fairly long life assuming you don't do a lot of rapid-fire shooting that heats up the barrel without letting it cool down between shots. Lots of heat, and lots of powder granules sandblasting their way past the barrel throat as they ignite further down the barrel are no friend of a rifle.
A .30-378 Weatherby Magnum burns about 115 grains of powder with each shot. Barrel life for this round is measured in the hundreds. I've known guys who buy several barrels at a time for their .30-378 rifles, because a barrel swap in inevitable.
Another way to look at it is figure how many rounds of a given cartridge you can get from a pound of powder. The fewer rounds you get, like the big Weatherby listed above, the more prone to throat and barrel erosion you are.
my 7 mag consumes 69.5 grains of powder per shot.
my 308 consumes around 48 grains of powder per shot.
i shoot the tar out of all my rifles - shoot almost daily, and i have yet to have to replace any of them because they were shot out.
don't worry about barrel life w/ the little magnums... now, the rum's or lazzeroni's might cause some concern, maybe even the 300 win mag at 79 grains per shot, but not the little 7 rem mag...
my 308 consumes around 48 grains of powder per shot.
i shoot the tar out of all my rifles - shoot almost daily, and i have yet to have to replace any of them because they were shot out.
don't worry about barrel life w/ the little magnums... now, the rum's or lazzeroni's might cause some concern, maybe even the 300 win mag at 79 grains per shot, but not the little 7 rem mag...
TwoGun
Member
I've had a Browning A-Bolt for about 14 years in 7MM Remington Mag. Its a deer rifle but a darn good one. I don't shoot volumous amounts of ammo through it however but after all this time I've got 1500+ rounds downrange from that gun.
It still shoots very nice groups, most three shot groups are about quarter sized unless I screw up. I certainly wouldn't worry about burning up the barrel. If you can afford to shoot that much, well you can probably affrord to get a new barrel.
Say Dakotasin, I'm centeralized in South Dakota, where about are perched?
It still shoots very nice groups, most three shot groups are about quarter sized unless I screw up. I certainly wouldn't worry about burning up the barrel. If you can afford to shoot that much, well you can probably affrord to get a new barrel.
Say Dakotasin, I'm centeralized in South Dakota, where about are perched?
vmfrantz
Member
thanks everyone especially jonathan
thanks for the info on barrle life. I'm not that good of a shot. But some guys had me thinking that after 200 or 300 shots it was done. thanks again
thanks for the info on barrle life. I'm not that good of a shot. But some guys had me thinking that after 200 or 300 shots it was done. thanks again
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