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All,
I've a 12F 6.5-284, known to be a shortlife barrel.
As more people starts building 6.5-284 barrels (like the new Blaser R8), what would be its estimated barrellife in comparison with a Savage barrel? Or is it the caliber itself eating those barrels?
Djoel
It's the caliber itself. It is a over bore caliber so is harder on barrels. No first hand experience but I've heard that 1,000 rounds plus or minus depending on the accuracy level you what to maintain.
There is a slight misconception here though. The barrel life problem comes from competition shooters because for years they were pretty much the only ones using this round. You run into two main issues with this; A) for the shooting they do they wait until the wind is as still or constant and fire ten rounds as fast as possible before winds change. This puts a lot of heat in the barrel and throat real quick. And B) their definition of accuracy is usually much more critical thean the other 99% of shooters. What they may refer to as going bad could still be well within varmint accuracy for lots of shots to come.
Add those two items together and you get a skewed view of barrel life. Does it mean it last like a .223 Rem? No, it won't, but for the average person it will last a lot longer than 1000 rounds if treated properly.
Amen.
Same goes for the small magnums. They will eat barrels faster than other cartridges of the same caliber. But unless you are competition shooting with them, or hosing hundreds of varmints at a time, you should be able to get a very good life out of the barrel. How good? Depends on how hot you load it. Hot loads all the time will wear it out faster, but in large calibers, hot is not always the most accurate.
Thanks so far for the replies.
Is there any given time between shots which would cool the barrel enough for the follow-on shots, to minimize barrel 'damage'. I guestimate of shooting once-twice a month throwing 20 bullets (est. 140-200 shots a year). What is than a good shooting strategy en cleaning strategy to lengthen the barrel life. PS. I'm not a competitive shooter, merely using for hunting purposes and now and then on the practise ground. And here in this country is not easy to get new barrels.
Tulip
It will last you a lifetime with some left over for your kids to play with when you are gone.
You don't want the barrel to get too hot to grab.
Also, a good cleaning does not equal cleaning a lot. More barrels are damaged by improper or too much cleaning than get worn out from shooting.
Copied, understood from other threads and forums: only clean the barrel when the bullets impact trends to shift towards the edges of your own comfort impactzone, isn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by JCalhoun
Tulip
I have replaced 4 barrels on the 6.5 X284 the very best has gone by 600 rounds for long range(600yds) you can get a couple hundred more out of it a 100yrds
I don't load mine hot (anymore) and my throat has moved forward .043" after 600 rounds. The first huundread rounds were load development with the 142 SMK and H4350 up to 49 grains. After that it has had a steady load of 46 grains of H4350 and the 142 SMKs or 48 grains of H4350 with the 120 grain TSX.