Comments on: A Slice of (Barrel) Life — Inside Look at Barrel Erosion

By: David Lawson

David Lawson — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 09:18:03 +0000

I am shooting a .308 match grade Australian Maddco barrel. At 4,500 rounds it is as accurate as the day I installed it.

EDITOR: Glad you are getting that kind of barrel life. Not unheard-of with the .308 Win catridge. However, you may want to start saving for a new tube. We have seen many cases where .308 Win barrels really lose accuracy between 4000-5000 rounds. It has happened to some notable F-TR shooters and Palma shooters. Recently at the SWN a well-known Lady sling shooter told us that he rifle was starting to toss shots — it ‘opened up badly’. When we asked the round count, she abashedly said “Over 4000, maybe closer to 5000. I know, I know… I thought I could get one more match out of it. But it’s toast now.”

If you’re just shootin’ steel for fun, no reason to pull a barrel that might still deliver 0.7 moa. But if you are shooting matches, it’s unlikely (not impossible) but unlikely the top-level accuracy will hold past 4500. YMMV.

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 18:44:56 +0000

Can you recall how many rounds went downrange before you DX’d the barrel?

By: Guy

Guy — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 13:03:14 +0000

Ive never had one stop shooting before the throat was out .100 or more.

By: Rex

Rex — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 22:44:12 +0000

I wonder how much of the erosion could have been seen using a borescope? I’m debating the purchase of a borescope for all it can reveal. This (using borescope) may be a way of determining how much to set back a barrel after it has eroded like this.

By: Geno

Geno — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 15:33:33 +0000

My BR smith told me no problem cutting a new chamber to do a set back. Whether it is advisable depends on how much fire cracking remains in the rest of the bore. His opinion is that (in a 6ppc) I can expect to get maybe 600-900 accurate rounds after the rechamber.

By: nick brungard

nick brungard — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 10:51:06 +0000

I first heard about throat erosion when i bought a custom built 6ppc from clarence hammonds. A superbly accurate rifle but only for a limited round count. He said cutting it back would extend its barrel life. While i understand what erosion is and what cutting it back does. I dont understand why erosion effects accuracy so much. Its obvious it does so im not arguing that. Its just one of those thing i cant wrap my fingers around y.