Comments on: Heat Build-Up and Firing Rate Can Kill a Barrel Prematurely

By: D - 4297

D - 4297 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 03:01:49 +0000

Everything in life is relative . Including “F” class strings at different ranges and areas of the country . Shoot two or three strings , and sighters at Ben Avery in July or August , and do this every Thursday , and a 3 x 60 match on Saturday and I will almost guarantee you’ll have a bit more barrel wear / erosion than someone doing the same in Ohio or Wyoming . Climate has to be a included factor in barrel wear . I’ve got 3,500 on my .308 Brux , but I’m now monitoring it closely . And I don’t shoot a powder-puff load .

By: Hercules Louw

Hercules Louw — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 08:35:53 +0000

Unfortunately this test does not help very much, there are too many unknowns.

What was the rate of fire for barrel 1 compared to the rate of fire for barrel 2?

What was the maximum temperature reached when measured on the outside on the same place for both barrels?

Was the erosion due to the heat or the lack of cleaning?

By: js

js — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:54:48 +0000

This isn’t wildly surprising.

It’s true that most NRA highpower shooters fire lots of rounds in a short time. Most of us are firing more mild cartridges that don’t cause rapid barrel death, unlike the .243.

Most of the .243 shooters I know don’t get very long life out of their barrels under the best of circumstances.

By: brandon graham

brandon graham — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 13:00:02 +0000

and then there’s PRS shooters who shoot 10-15 rounds strings 8-12 times a day, on back to back days. and maybe clean every 500 rounds. some guys go 1200 rounds from their BR based cartridges without a single cleaning

By: watercam

watercam — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 11:52:49 +0000

Interesting that the second barrel was exposed to what happens during NRA Long Range competitions. Generally we shoot 20 shot (plus sighters) strings with roughly 8-15 seconds between shots for 80+ rounds a day. Then come back and do it again the next day. And then the next week, etc.. Our barrels are not toast and my .308 Palma barrels last 2500-3000 rounds before being replaced.

Editor: The Rate of Fire for the ruined barrel was mush faster than that, the barrel got much hotter, and the firing didn’t halt after 20 rounds.