• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

338 LM barrel life

hydro556

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 1, 2007
2,746
5
52
STL, home of the Cardinals.
I know I have seen it, and it isnt much, but I have searched with both engines and have not found the answer. What kind of life can I expect from the 26" Kreiger barrel in my Desert Tac SRS 338LM?
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

from what i found on the Internet it was saying anywhere between 1000 and 1500 ish
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

1K is what I was thinking I remembered. As much fun as it was shooting the 338LM today, I imagine another barrel will be in my future, sooner than later.
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

Hydro I wouldn't worry about it for one second. Think of how much it cost to shoot 1500 rounds of 338LM, even at handload prices, you looking at $3K. I don't know what extra SRS barrels cost, but i know it is but a fraction of the ammo cost. Shoot the shit out of it! You should be worrying about how your gonna feed it.

FWIW, I don't think the barrel life is all that short, no way is it 1k rounds.
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

Is that a similar life expectancy to the barrels they use on the TRG 42?
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

I think Raydog has close to 3000 through his TRG 42 in .338 lap and its still under moa. IIRC
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

My understanding is just not get the barrel too hot. I have a AWSM so I had concerned about barrels also.

Cut
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

2000 give or take 500, depending oh how much you push her. However having a new barrel threaded on to the barrle extension won't be that bad...no worse than rebarreling any other gun as long as you have the barrel key for the gunsmith or they have one themselve.s
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

I read quite a lot looking for accurate barrel life figures and the people I trust to give out that information said 3000-3500. Big bores really do last longer.
 
Re: 338 LM barrel life

I was just more curious than anything. I am not the type to load the hottest round my rig can handle. Typically, I start at the lowest charge in the manual and work from there. As soon as I find an acceptably accurate load I stop. I dont keep searching for that extra tenth of an MOA. Also, once I find a load that works from 100 to 700, I probably will put the 308 barrel on and shoot it. It is fun shooting the 338, no doubt, but my range only goes to ~700, so the 308 is what makes sense.

When I go to private land, where we can shoot 1500 plus, I will use the 338LM.

I shot some 250 grain SMK's today, using 83 grains of H4831. The accuracy was good, but not quite as good as the 300 grain SMK's yesterday. I got under 1MOA at 300 yards, but never got under 2". Will mess around with the COAL and charge weights. Loving the rifle so far. It disassembles so easily to clean the barrel, I dont mind running a patch through after every few shots, similar to what some recommend for breaking in.