# Barrel Life



## Burnt Drag (Jun 3, 2008)

I've read lots articles and such regarding barrel life. My ole remington 550-1 has probably had 10,000 rounds through it, maybe 20,000. It will still hit a ping pong ball at 40 yards. My .243 will make sub 3/4 inch groups at 100yds with hand loads, but put factory ammo in it and it goes to tennis ball groups. I've got a new barrel for it on the way, but I want to shoot some lighter faster bullets through it before I make the change. Is there a way to determine if the barrel is "shot out" or has significant throat erosion? Any comments?


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## Az-Vic (Jan 7, 2012)

The old 550 is a 22 rimfire, you could shoot a million rounds thru it with no significant wear, it's the high velocity rifles that suffer eventually.
Barrle life is a very objective subject. Most average shooters could get three lifetimes out of a barrel andnot shoot it out. Those that shoot high volumn with high velocity stuff, can indeed suffer errosion, either throat,barrel or both.
Unless one is a competitive shooter or a guy that shoots colony varmints, where a couple thousand rounds a year go down the pipe, barrel problems just aren't a problem to worry about.


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## Gravity3694 (May 10, 2011)

I wouldn't worry about it. Most gun owners don't shoot as much or aren't as picky as competition shooters. High velocity cartridges will kill barrel accuracy faster. They erode the barrel throat quicker.


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## bigbulls (Mar 12, 2008)

A barrel that has been "shot out" depends on who's criteria you are using. 

Someone that shoots 1000 yard competitions where a few hundredths MOA can mean the difference between a win or a loss will have different criteria than your average hunter that couldn't shoot well enough to hit a deer's vitals at 300 yards.

To some a barrel can be shot out in as little as 700 - 800 rounds but that same barrel will have thousands of more rounds to go before it would be useless as a hunting barrel. For most people this could take 10,000 rounds or more.

Generally speaking the more powder that is burned in a given bore diameter the faster it will erode the barrel. An example would be a 7mm-08 vs. a 7mm Allen mag. That Allen mag burns about 235% more powder than the 7mm-08.

Extruded powders are harder on barrels than ball powder. 

Faster twist barrels wear faster than slow twist barrels.

Prolonged shooting is much harder on barrels than letting the barrel cool between shots or strings of shots.




I bet you no one gave it much though as to how much *time* a barrel might last. Think about this............ 

Assume barrel "A" will wear out in 1000 rounds. If that barrel is 24" long and that bullet travels 3200 fps it only has a life expectancy of about .06 seconds.

Now barrel "B" in a hunters hands, shooting the same bullet at the same speed, where the hunter could get 10,000 rounds of acceptable accuracy, that barrel would last about 6 seconds.


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