Barrel life on .223 AI?

[skoger]

Anyone have any idea what round count, slow twist. Shoot it just for hunting, occasional paper punching?

[outlawkyote]

About the same as a 223. For hunting and a lil paper punching, will proly last a lifetime (unless you go to a PD town regularly).

[dcloco]

Same as any other small powder capacity caliber...if you don't heat and overheat the barrel, should last a looooong time.

[tammons]

Didnt sharpshooter say that barrel life was roughly 13# of powder ??

[outlawkyote]

Thats only 3000 rounds, cant be right, maybe the 223/223AI is an exception?

[laportecharlie]

I'm closing in on 3000 rounds through my rechambered model 16 barrel and if anything it is shooting better than ever. I shoot a near max load but take a lot of care not to get the barrel too hot. Thats why I have at least four center fire rifles on every PD hunt.
Charlie

[Armed in Utah]

Didnt sharpshooter say that barrel life was roughly 13# of powder ??

Depends how fast you burn that 13# of powder....I've been shooting a 12 twist 223 AI for 6 yrs or so....13# of Benchmark will net me 3300 rds of ammo...I'm way close to that mark...rifle still shoots very well....no end in sight....I'll disagree with the 13# idea....I'd say again its how hot you get the bbl...SS vs CM steel....cleaning rods/bore guides/user habits all come into play.....a good custom SS barrel with proper care will last a long time beyond 3300 rds....my load is 27.5/BM with a moly 55 NBT @ 3500 fps...

[sinman]

I would say you won't shoot it out and if you do clean it really really good and make sure its shot out.

[sharpshooter]

I never said a barrel would die after 13 lbs, it was the consensus that after burning 13 lbs. of powder in most cases that the guilt edge of accuracy was gone.
It will depend on what your definition of "guilt edge" is. There are exceptions to the notion.... ;D

[BrentWin]

COOL!!! That means I can get over 12,000 rounds out of my reduced 223 loads before the barrel starts to go away.