Barrel Life, what effects it more,

[Hunt4life]

Velocity or Powder Charge? In my case I have gathered all the parts to build a .300 RUM except for the XLR chassis I am saving for.

So for example,if I load a 230 Berger with an amazing BC of .743 by the way, to say around 2800 FPS, will that give me an appreciably longer barrel life than a lighter bullet at over 3,000FPS? Or is the large powder charge going to eat the throat away regardless and I should load to get every bit of performance out of it?

Thanks,

 

[tylerw02]

Re: Barrel Life, what effects it more,

Pressure, shoulder angle, velocity, power's burn rate, how fast you shoot, it all "affects" it.

Load it for the performance either way. What's the point of going to the barrel burner if you're not going to use it? Barrels are like tires, uses 'em, replace 'em.

 

[Hunt4life]

Re: Barrel Life, what effects it more,

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tylerw02</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Pressure, shoulder angle, velocity, power's burn rate, how fast you shoot, it all "affects" it.

Load it for the performance either way. What's the point of going to the barrel burner if you're not going to use it? Barrels are like tires, uses 'em, replace 'em.
</div></div>

Thanks, kid of what I thought. But with the crazy BC i think at 2800-2900 if will be a pretty BA round. I see some have it over 3000 and I was just trying to figure a point of diminishing return.

 

[Mike Sobr]

Re: Barrel Life, what effects it more,

Finding your accuracy nodes where the bullet shoots the most accurate trumps all the speed in the world and any supposed higher BC benefits go out the window if you are not hitting the target.
Plus no 2 barrels shoot the same velocity and PSI so don't feel left out. I have 2 rifles chambered alike and one will shoot lights out at a certain charge but the same recipe in the other rifle locks up the bolt and tries to meld the brass into the ejector and clearly leaves a deep imprint on the case head and I have to back it down over 1/2 gr to function properly but they both shoot just as accurate and I never feel handicapped with the lower velocity in fact it shoots a little tighter at 500 yards.

 

[KYpatriot]

Re: Barrel Life, what effects it more,

A friend sent me a link to answer the very same question. This is a link to a page where you can download a barrel life calculator, you just need to know that this is from the benchrest guys and is very conservative...you will get more life for tactical shooting. It is useful and interesting to compare powders and such. One thing to keep in mind is that this calculator doesn't account for barrel heat, ie shooting long strings, which will send a barrel downhill faster. Here it is:

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/excel-formula-predicts-useful-barrel-life/