Does Barrel Life Matter to you?

[Jerry D]

Would you take into account barrel life when picking a short action cartridge in a custom rifle that is supposed to be your do it all rifle?

Keep in mind replacing the barrel will cost $800+ dollars, but maybe it doesn't matter when your spending 5k to put something together?

Short range 300 yards max. Part me of is leaning towards the 6.5mm for lower recoil and increased BC over the .308 in a short action rifle with a 22" barrel.

Split the difference as I am familiar with the 7mm08 and owned 1 before and my cousin shoots one which I've shot as well.

Part of me likes the increased frontal diameter the .308 offers.

3000 rounds in the 6.5mm - 4500 in the 7mm and say 6k+ in the .308.

Rifle is 6.5lbs without scope.

Cost per shot for the barrel
800 / 3000 = 26.5 cents
800 / 4500 = 17.7 cents
800 / 6000 = 13.33 cents

Figure shoot 20 rounds, that only a difference of 13 cents per shot x 20 so an extra few bucks an outing... doesn't matter much!

[Dick284]

Your pricing is OTL!

Last semi custom I had built off a donor action and a Jury barrel was only $1700 with a custom built stock. That’s action truing, barrel, chamberI guess, threading and cerokote. The stock wasn’t $625 including laminate blank.

[elkhunter11]

For a hunting rifle, I don't worry about barrel life, for a target rifle, it is a factor for me.

[Dean2]

Your worrying about pennies while burning dollars. Barrel life and cost is TOTALLY IRRELAVENT. Figure out the cost of shooting 4000 rounds of hand loads, min 2 grand, and the cost to go back and forth to the range and the barrel cost won't even register.

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Your pricing is OTL!

Last semi custom I had built off a donor action and a Jury barrel was only $1700 with a custom built stock. That’s action truing, barrel, chamberI guess, threading and cerokote. The stock wasn’t $625 including laminate blank.

Best of luck with that budget today.

[Stinky Coyote]

you seem to be asking for a 6.5 Grendel, the 21st century 30-30, the baby .308, the 6.5 Creedmoor Short....whatever else you want to call it because it's all 3 of those things and it also may have near infinite barrel life? and any one of those three descriptors of the 6.5 Grendel are selling points, but all three together...the merits of a 30-30, .308, and 6.5 Creedmoor...daaaaaaammmm

the AR guys south of the border say 5000+ barrel life with semi-auto where 20 round mag dumps are a thing, what would a bolt action do for barrel life over and above that without all that heat and abuse? what would a proof research carbon wrapped barrel do over and above that with the heat control?, might let you shoot 100 rounds every time you go out like no big deal? might be the last barrel you ever buy?

what would it cost to reload for 6.5 Grendel, 123 gr pills and 28-30 gr of powder, small primers? i'm reading case life anywhere from 9-13 shots pretty standard and some not splitting necks until 17-18

reloading optional? good factory eld-m ammo is about $32/33 a box here or $1.60-$1.65 a shot, bout same as cheap pointed soft point ammo for most regular short/long action non-magnum cartridges

the 6.5 Grendel 123 gr Eld-m bullet is same bc/sd as a .30 cal 168 gr Eld-m and nearly identical trajectory of .308 pushing that 168 all the way out to many hundreds of yards past 300 but 50-55% less recoil

what's not to love there? other than not many micro action rifle options to play with as standard short actions

the saami for the Grendel is 52,000 psi, 2580' fps, 24" barrel, 123 gr bullet, low pressure for the gas guns, but you'll get another 100 fps at bolt action pressures which really does take it to .308 velocity and essentially clone the .308 with 168 gr for half the recoil etc. saami for the .308 is 62,000 psi and factory hornady 168 eld-m load from 24" rated at 2700 fps (the Grendel at that pressure should be within 20 fps of that)

does this info not produce a chub or what?

[catnthehat]

I rarely consider barrel life when choosing a cartridge or caliber for a custom build, especially if it is a match rifle, simply because if I find the accuracy is not there to be competitive, I switch the barrel out.
Barrels wear out and are easily changed.
My suggestion if a person wants to shoot a lot is to buy a cheaper rifle for the range and keep the custom for hunting only if that is what they want the rifle for..
Cat

[Jerry D]

I guess the thread about 1 gun you wouldnt sell got me thinking of barrel life and if anyone considers it when choosing a cartridge or purchasing a rifle.

I do like the comment about worrying about pennies while burning dollars and thats the truth.

Rem 700 clone actions are approx $1500 for simpler models such as a rebel and carbon stocks are approx $1000 so that's $2500 right off the bat. Triggers 250, barrels 500. Bottom metal and good magazines, another 500...

Or buy a nice factory gun for $1200 to $2500 brand new

[Bergerboy]

I have a 22-250 barrel that I shot enough that I could no longer find the lands with 64gr Bergers. I swapped the barrel out and was imagining finding all kinds of new accuracy. Nope. None was found with this guy shooting. Burn out a barrel and the price of a switch is justified from the practice you received.

[marky_mark]

Nope

[stob]

Yup - 308

[eric2381]

Who wants to shoot the same old boring barrel forever?? They make new ones every day

[Redneck 7]

.308 you could easily reach 10k rounds. For what you want, I’d go .308 and not worry about anything else. For what you’re looking at for range, .308 does it great and you can easily pass the rifle down as a family air loom and they probably won’t finish off the barrel.

[huntingfamily]

Barrel life guidelines...
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...fe/#:~:text=As a very rough rule,size cartridges%2C such as the .

[Trochu]

Nope.

In theory, I'm walking out back to my own range and firing off 8 - 10 rounds a day and barrel life could be a factor.

In reality, I'm blasting a few off at my friends/relatives place a few times a year and will be long dead before I need to replace a barrel.

I would think that, for a serious shooter, by the time you've got a stock, action, bags/bipod, rails, scope, ammo, range membership, travel to the range, etc., a new barrel now and again isn't a huge factor.

[gunluvr]

Shots fired through a barrel only matter when prospective buyers want to low ball your asking price.
Apparently 400 rounds is worn out.

[Dean2]

BLM, well let me take a knee right here.