Reading all of the threads about the number of rounds to wear out a CF rifle barrel has me wondering....I must be the only Texan not to shoot deer/hogs/varmits etc at 500 yards + and I must be the only Texan that sights in my CF rifles.....kill whatever clean it check zero next season and repeat the process....now I have a S&W Model 17 .22 with thousands of rounds thru it and a couple other rimfires with no telling how many rounds thru them but CF ?

rick

There's a difference between shooters and hunters. As a shooting enthusiast, you might put any number of rounds down range for various good reasons. Hunting, of course, is an entirely different story, and, in a low harvest state, a single box of ammo might legitimately last for years.

FWIW, I don't shoot at 500 yard deer either.

I do understand shooters and hunters are different..I guess I am naive..I just did not equate 300 Win Mags as being popular for being used for anything but hunting..


rick

I shoot very much and hunt as often as I can. I'm not a golfer, but I now understand how guys love golf. As a golfer it's just you, your equipment, your ability to use you equipment, and the course. There are many types of shooting events that are the same way.

Through load development, practice, long range matches, and hunting I shoot 1500 to 2000 rounds of center fire per year. It is a challenge, and when I am successful it is very rewarding. Being successful comes from many failures and hard learned lessons, no different than countless other things in life.

Oh, and I have worn out a center fire barrel. The. 22-250 I'm working on is with a brand new barrel.

Throw reloading into the mix with my passions for shooting and hunting and I can put a lot of rounds down range in a year.

Some guys might only need a box or two of cartridges for the life of your turdy ought six that gets sighted and used to shoot couple deer per year.

Take that same rifle and get sucked into trying to work up the most accurate round for it and you could have hundreds of rounds down range before you even hunt with it. It's a sickness.

I'm like you, I don't practice shooting at extreeme ranges (to be honest I rarely practice at all) and only shoot my CF's to sight in, once or twice a season to check zero and then at game.

a box of shells for my .270 can last me 3 or 4 seasons. my .22-250 gets used quite a bit more and I'll genrally used a box a year

It is a sickness.

I got it BAD.

I've worn out one barrel, and I didn't get it new. It was on my 220 Swift. The lands kept getting further away. Funny how that works. As for the other rifles, I live in the country and shoot a good bit. The 223 gets the most use by far and probably the 260 is next in line on use. I doubt I'll ever wear out another barrel.

Its a matter of economics these days. As you mentioned your .22 has thousands of rounds down it and coincidentally it happens to be the cheapest to shoot. .22lr barrels can last for 10,000 rounds or more due to the soft bullet construction and lower pressures. Hunting rifles typically cost $1-$2 each time you fire a retail bought cartridge. According Lilja you can get about 3,000 rounds out of hunting rifle before accuracy suffers (to Liljas world class standards), probably more before an average hunter notices any degradation in accuracy. 3000 rounds would be about $3000 in ammo costs. I have a rifle I like to plink with and and hunt with but you have to find a cartridge that does both economically like a .308 or 7.62X39. Quoting Lilja again, a stainless barrel will give you about 20% more barrel life over traditional blued gun steel but it probably costs 20% more as well.

That's pretty generic. My .22-250 eroded to the point of an eighty thousandths jump to the lands, in 1500 rounds. Super high speed bullets eat barrels. Still it was a "hunting barrel". Another "hunting barrel I still have is a .308 Win, and they're known to last well above 5000 rounds. My. 260 Rem will last half that if I stretch it. A hard twist. 243 can be shot out in 1000 rounds. My 7 Rem Mag with a 180 Berger will last 1000 rounds, maybe more.

The "3000 rounds out of a hunting rifle" statement is not a one size fits all statement.

For the past few years I have shot between 5k-10k rounds per year out of various rifles and pistols, depending on classes, training and how much I hunt. That is light compared to what I would really like to do. I like to shoot and I want to be the best I can be if I'm shooting living creatures for meat, sport or defensive purposes.

Fact of the matter is that yes barrels can and do get shot out but most people don't shoot enough for that to happen. I would say most people don't shoot well enough to notice if it did happen but hopefully if a person is shooting that much they are halfway decent.

I've owned my Ruger 270 for 6-7 years. Shot it maybe 30 times. Once it was zerod for 100 I shoot it maybe 3-4 times a year.

You will see a fair amount of shooters using 300wm at long range and tactical competitions... especially with the newer 225gr bullet offerings. They are quite impressive and I know guys that have gone back to 300wm from 338 lapua. Back when I was into competitive shooting it would be pretty easy to shoot 2k+ rounds of both .308 and 300wm in a year.

If you have a private range with lots of targets. i.e. 1/2 dozen dueling trees,pepper poppers, etc. A progressive press(Dillon 650) and lots of ammo you can do some serious shooting in a day. Center-fire included. Lots of interesting targets over 50-500 yards can encourage a powder burning addiction.

Then throw moving targets into the equation and the empty brass can really start to pile up. When you start to keep your centerfire ammo in nylon bags instead of MTM ammo boxes, well now you're getting serious.

I recall a day when I fired over 100 .375 H&H in one afternoon as part of about 500 rounds total centerfire rifle.

Down to 100 rounds a year now.

The main cause of barrel wear isn't the bullet. It is the very hot gasses hitting the barrel from the rapid expansion caused by very rapid burning. Tis hard for a bullet made of soft material compared to the barrel, to wear out any barrel.

This is true yet the bullets won't go down the barrel without it.

I look a barrel like I do a set of tires it is just an expense of the firearms industry. As stated above some rounds are a lot more friendly on barrel life than others. Another factor is how the shooter shoots them if they shoot the barrel several times till it can't be touched it can greatly decrease the life compared to the guy that waited a bit between shots.

No me comprehend.

Some shoot more than others, to each his own.

I love it, Payne! My kind of range!

That shotgun is throwing some good patterns

I've shot my newest rifle a total of 6 times and its good to go for hunting. I'd even be a little adventurous and shoot something out at 500yds with it w/o practicing with it @ that range.

Thanks

I redid it this year

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...nge#Post3964626



RM

We set up target yesterday at 300, 625, 700, 1000, and 1100.
I think my 6.5-284 is gonna need a new barrel soon...

Yesterday was a fairly typical test session at the range.

10 rounds of pistol test ammo.
30ish rounds of pistol function test ammo.
8 center fire rifle through the chrono ( 4 loads ).
6 center fire rifle through the chrono ( 3 loads ).
1 center fire rifle through the chrono ( 1 load ).

6 center fire rifle zero.
8 center file rifle group testing.

When I'm doing load development, I don't shoot a whole bunch, as shooting for accuracy is time consuming. In this case, I shot two pistols and three rifles.

The big bores get into your blood just like the small bores do. I would have never thought I would have so much fun shooting the bigger calibers but they are pretty much my favorites now. As stated above, some people just shoot more than others. To each his own. More rounds go through my 458 LOTT and 375 H&H now than any of my others, which are quite numerous. My 338 Win for years was my big bore and I couldn't understand how anyone could enjoy shooting it hundreds of times. Now it isn't even in the same ball park as the big bores. Happy Happy Happy