I think I've worn my 30-06 barrel. Rebarrel cost vs new gun cost

[treeroot]

It's a Tikka T3 lite 30-06. Pretty sure it needs a new barrel. It hasn't been as accurate lately. I gave it a really good cleaning and put a flashlight into the barrel. There seems to be some scoring in the barrel. The scoring is very long and follows the same rifling as the rifling itself. Hope my explanation makes sense??

Anyways, what's the cost of a rebarrel? I don't need a high end barrel either.

Thanks

[fps plus]

Barrel350-700 depend brand , grade
Labour 300-500

Takes a lot of shooting to wear a 30-06 barrel out!

[dogslayer403]

Originally Posted by treeroot

It's a Tikka T3 lite 30-06. Pretty sure it needs a new barrel. It hasn't been as accurate lately. I gave it a really good cleaning and put a flashlight into the barrel. There seems to be some scoring in the barrel. The scoring is very long and follows the same rifling as the rifling itself. Hope my explanation makes sense??

Anyways, what's the cost of a rebarrel? I don't need a high end barrel either.

Thanks

What did you clean with are you sure your not seeing copper streaks if you haven't gave it a soak in wipeout id do that first.

[mgvande]

Hirschprecision probably can get a criterion prefit. Whatever that costs 450 or so and then probably 150-200 or so to spin it on and finish ream.

[marxman]

How could it be scored. Its probly fouled you need jb bore paste if the fouling has been building up or you will never get it clean. It may look fine looking down it but still be fouled so bad it wont shoot straight maybe you see copper

[Sask Bearman]

I would have a gunsmith have a good general look at the rifle prior to re-barreling. Your T-3 in 3006 should be good for years and a T-3 won't be all that old. How many rounds do you think it has had down the pipe?

[Salavee]

Originally Posted by dogslayer403

What did you clean with are you sure your not seeing copper streaks if you haven't gave it a soak in wipeout id do that first.

Try this before you do anything else.

[elkhunter11]

I would try using a good copper solvent like KG-12 before replacing the barrel.

[martinbns]

I had a few Sako rifles that only shot well when fouled.

If you are freaky about copper removal, shoot 100 rounds through it. It would usually take thousands of rounds to burn out a 30-06 barrel.

[Don_Parsons]

Are you having accuracy issues Treeroot?

How many rounds threw your barrel, and have you shot it after it has fouled up.

Factory or reload ammo.

Is your barrel the Stainless steel, or Stainless Steel black matt heat treated.

A Stainless steel barrel will run you about $400 give or take cost of contouring.

It's up to you Treeroot if you want to keep the costs down, one thing I've noticed,,, when it comes to rifle barrels,,, consistency comes with quality.

Pretty hard to beat a Stainless Steel barrel if your rifle came with one.

Oh, if your having a consistany issue, have you checked the throat and crown?

Don

[Don_Parsons]

^^^ agree,,, good old Wipe-out, and get it out there fouled up.

I ran about 400+ rounds before getting onto the 1 km shooting this summer.

I'm at 1700 rounds and the second patch only cleaning.
My rifle will never see a brush.

I like to make sure I leave some fouling in the rifling,,, It keeps its best consistency when I leave it dirty.

Each rifle is different of coures.

[honda610]

I had a 700 bdl in 300 win that was shot out. Took it.to Bob Gallaway and had a new rifle barrel spun on. After bedding cerakote and Bob working his magic. I have a 338 win shooting a used factory barrel that puts 3 rounds in 1.5 inches at 200 meters using 250 grain sp bullets. It would be alot.cheaper to just spin a factory take off barrel on. Some Alberta smiths sell new ones for about 400 bucks.
Good luck

[Drewski Canuck]

After getting it cleaned out, see if your accuracy is still sub par.

If so, go to a Gunsmith and have him re crown the barrel.
Basically, the rifling at the bore becomes worn down, and starts throwing bullets off. It is relatively cheap to have a re crowning tool grind off a few mils so that the rifling is again crisp and square.

THEN go shoot it and see what it does.

As for shooting it, I do not know what your setup is, or your experience.

Perhaps let someone else shoot it off a bench rest gun vise set up and see what they get. Also, a change of bullets sometimes makes all the difference.

Drewski

[260 Rem]

You came to the right place for advice...so far, some counselling “clean out the copper” and others “don’t get it too clean” Barrels can get “shot out” when the throat gets eroded sometimes accompanied with bad heat cracking. Pretty tough to see with a flashlight. Damage further up the bore is not as usual. With a flashlight you can check for copper fouling close to the crown which is a bad place.
If confident the scope is OK, getting it bore scoped before getting too deep in your wallet is a good idea.

[rembo]

Congratulations. Lots of us don't have the opportunity to shoot enough to wear out a barrel.

Treat yourself to a new Tikka.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by dogslayer403

What did you clean with are you sure your not seeing copper streaks if you haven't gave it a soak in wipeout id do that first.

Soaked in wipe out over night. pushed many patches through. Then more wipe out for an hour soaked and patches.

Then hopes 9. Wet patch, then 2 dry. Then wet patch, then 2 dry. Did this until no more dirty patches.

Then another soak with the wipe out.


Took awhile, but it was drity. And shooting TTSX I think really copper fouled it up.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Sask Bearman

I would have a gunsmith have a good general look at the rifle prior to re-barreling. Your T-3 in 3006 should be good for years and a T-3 won't be all that old. How many rounds do you think it has had down the pipe?

I guess thats the better first step. Let a gun smith tell me if its worn.

I've put over 700 rounds through it at least.

Ive always cleaned it properly. No scrubbing with brush, no bore snakes etc..

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by treeroot

I guess thats the better first step. Let a gun smith tell me if its worn.

I've put over 700 rounds through it at least.

Ive always cleaned it properly. No scrubbing with brush, no bore snakes etc..

700 rounds won't do anything to a 30'06 barrel if it is cared for and was accurate when new.
Cat

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Don_Parsons

Are you having accuracy issues Treeroot?

How many rounds threw your barrel, and have you shot it after it has fouled up.

Factory or reload ammo.

Is your barrel the Stainless steel, or Stainless Steel black matt heat treated.

A Stainless steel barrel will run you about $400 give or take cost of contouring.

It's up to you Treeroot if you want to keep the costs down, one thing I've noticed,,, when it comes to rifle barrels,,, consistency comes with quality.

Pretty hard to beat a Stainless Steel barrel if your rifle came with one.

Oh, if your having a consistany issue, have you checked the throat and crown?

Don

Yes. I'm having accuracy issues. It used to be stupid accurate with a lot of different factory loads.

One year it got really picky. And it only likes a couple different brands of ammo.

ITs just a plain steel barrel.


The crown looks fine, but I don't know what to look for when I inspect the throat.

[Bergerboy]

Originally Posted by treeroot

I guess thats the better first step. Let a gun smith tell me if its worn.

I've put over 700 rounds through it at least.

Ive always cleaned it properly. No scrubbing with brush, no bore snakes etc..

You have not burned out the barrel in 700 rounds. When you hit 7000 I would start considering it. Your remedy is going to be much cheaper and easier than a barrel change.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

700 rounds won't do anything to a 30'06 barrel if it is cared for and was accurate when new.
Cat

I've owned it since new and cared for it well.

I'm really unsure what all of a sudden happened with it. But what ever happened seems to be getting worse accurary wise.

I don't think I am seeing copper streaks?

I think the first step is let a gun smith look at it and go from there. I'm not a expert so I'll leave it to the expert.


Friends have shot it and they get about the same accurarcy as me. I can get 3 within 3 inches at 100m. Everyone else has about the same luck.

Since I gave it a really good cleaning I haven't shot it yet. I figured with what looks like scoring I'd weigh my options.

Ill take it out in the next day or two and see if its any better. If its still bad, I'll soak it in wipe out a couple more times.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by Bergerboy

You have not burned out the barrel in 700 rounds. When you hit 7000 I would start considering it. Your remedy is going to be much cheaper and easier than a barrel change.

I didn't indend to give anyone the impression I burnt out the barrel. My intention was to state the accuracy has fallen off, there looks like scoring in the barrel and therefor it might be time for a fix.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by treeroot

I've owned it since new and cared for it well.

I'm really unsure what all of a sudden happened with it. But what ever happened seems to be getting worse accurary wise.

I don't think I am seeing copper streaks?

I think the first step is let a gun smith look at it and go from there. I'm not a expert so I'll leave it to the expert.


Friends have shot it and they get about the same accurarcy as me. I can get 3 within 3 inches at 100m. Everyone else has about the same luck.

Since I gave it a really good cleaning I haven't shot it yet. I figured with what looks like scoring I'd weigh my options.

Ill take it out in the next day or two and see if its any better. If its still bad, I'll soak it in wipe out a couple more times.

have you taken the action out of the bed and inspected it?
It may have an issue there, or possibly the scope, I always pout a known accurate scope on a rifle , and if things improve, well it's the scope. if not, then I look at the rifle bed and other possibilities..
Cat

[3blade]

some bullets only shoot well with their own fouling, Barnes are known for this. Their loads are the first ones I test, and if I get acceptable results no other bullet will ever go down that barrel (mine are all hunting rifles).

I'd bet you just need to clean it better. Other easy things to look at are scope, rings, bases, action screws. Do yourself a favor and pick up a torque screw driver, and redo all the screws to spec. Also could be you got some oil in the recoil lug/bedding surface, or some stuff jammed against the barrel, or a cracked stock.

[Dick284]

Cat hit it on the head.
1. Clean the rifle, de-coppering it!
2. Check the bedding. That inverted recoil key could be your issue.

Do one thing at a time, and then go see a reputable Smith after that.

[marxman]

Originally Posted by treeroot

Soaked in wipe out over night. pushed many patches through. Then more wipe out for an hour soaked and patches.

Then hopes 9. Wet patch, then 2 dry. Then wet patch, then 2 dry. Did this until no more dirty patches.

Then another soak with the wipe out.


Took awhile, but it was drity. And shooting TTSX I think really copper fouled it up.

If your cleaning regimen has allowed carbon to build up this wont clean it. You wont know its clean till you see if a bronze brush can dig up any more carbon. My two rifles i allowed this to happen before i started using a bronze brush took weeks to clean with patches and brush.My 303 that would not shoot straight when i got it i could not clean i had to use jb bore paste it now shoots fine. If you clean it good then it only shoots a couple of boxes before losing accuracy then you never restored the bore with your cleaning.

[220 Swift]

I would look at the scope first. The fouling/ cleaning is something that built over time and by starting on the rebarrelling or cleaning its something that maybe adds to the multiple attacks when trying to find the problem. With the cleaning part was it enough- did you add to the problem by loosening some in the barrel but didn't actually get it out.

A loose scope mount or base can be corrected by rebarreling if it was taken off and reinstalled. A damaged scope could have happened by one drop, one bang, recoil, or someone else that didnt say anything.

The scaring though as you have mentioned makes me think small rocks on the barrel caught in the rifling then shot withthe bullet pushing rocks causing scaring? So if this is the case then new barrel time ?

[Don_Parsons]

Glad to hear you are very careful with the brush thing, I've only heard threw the grape vine that "some" rifle bores have taken a beating from aggressive bristol work out.

Totally agree with you Treeroot, a firearm can be dead accurate, then everything goes wonky.

Start with the simple steeps, then work up from there, if your not keen on this, find your gun Smith friend to assist you at getting it back on track.

It's "could" be challenging for some folks at diagnosing issues, since 1 or more then 1 thing could be at play.

My friend's old Remington 270 was pooched, so he put it away and bought a whole new replacement to take its place.

Then things went to 4@!! in the hand basket with his new rifle. He lost his marbles. Fustration "can or could" knock us off our game plan...

I assists him at the rifle and optic check along with a few small checks here and there.

So off to the range,,, his first 3 are all over the map.
I plant all 3 into 1" 1 1/2" group.

His second group was much better.
Got him to not touch the barrel with his fingers, and to not stress the stock on the rest.

So after correcting as few shooting range skills, we brought his old worn out 270 that was pooched to find out that it shoots better groupings then his new rifle.

He said after the fact, he wished he had talked to me before buying the new rifle,,, at least in this case I was able to help him.

Like the old guy said to me years ago, it can only be a few things, the trick is finding which one or more it is.

Do the manchanical inspection of the all, keep it the same, then test, if your still having issues, bring the good friend into this to help get things back on track.

If in dought, don't hesitate to find the fellow to get things working again.

Don

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by martinbns

I had a few Sako rifles that only shot well when fouled.

If you are freaky about copper removal, shoot 100 rounds through it. It would usually take thousands of rounds to burn out a 30-06 barrel.

On full auto...hard to believe that the barrel is worn. Clean it really well as indicated above. Try different ammunition, or figure out that she like to be dirty
Like woman all rifles have different preferences, you gotta figure this out


On a serious not...see if anything has become loose over time...sometimes it's just a screw

[bobinthesky]

It's been suggested already but I'd suspect the scope first. Check for loose fasteners and preferably put another scope on for a few shots to see if the accuracy problem still persists.
Then I'd clean the copper out of the barrel. You could do this step before messing with the scope, it doesn't really matter but I'd only change one thing at a time or you'll never know what fixed the problem.
If that doesn't do it then I'd take it to a gunsmith with a bore scope to have a look at the barrel from the inside. Only then would I consider a new barrel.