TRG22 barrel life

Unknown

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 17, 2009
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Pacific Northwest,USA
I have a TRG22 that has nearly 4000 rounds through it. As with all TRG's it has a chromed bore.

I have had damned few really accurate rifles last much longer than this, so I'm wondering if anyone has an idea about when I should start to watch for the barrel's throat going? The chromed bore might help it last longer, but even they go eventually.

Has anyone had their TRG22 shoot out, and if so about how many rounds did you have through it?

Fortunately, I have already have Obermeyer 5R barrels in 6.5mm, and 30 cal stashed for just such an occasion.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

It was the manufacturer's sales rep for Sako (not someone at a gun shop) who told me that the bores are chromed...for all I know he wasn't telling the truth though. That was the second time I had been told that they had chromed bores.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

When I called Beretta USA and asked if the barrels of the Sako TRG's were chrome lined, they said they are. They said that both the TRG 22, and TRG 42 are chrome lined.

As I don't have the capacity to do any scientific testing to dispute what the US representative of Sako says, I'll go with what they tell me. If someone from Sako tells me that they aren't chrome lined, I'll believe that...but the chrome (or not chrome) wasn't the point of the posting.

The point of the posting was to find out from someone who has shot out a TRG barrel about when they noticed a degradation of accuracy.

I would kindly ask that anyone really interested in the chrome/not chrome bore issue start another thread to discuss the issue there and not detract from the point of this thread.

I'll wait for responses to the question about barrel longevity, not chrome/not chrome lined bores...thanks.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

I would expect you are halfway there.
A .308 in a high quality barrel is usually good for 8 - 10,000 rounds (or so I have heard).

Why are you listening to the sako folks, don't you know you are supposed to get your information from the www?
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: fdkay</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would expect you are halfway there.
A .308 in a high quality barrel is usually good for 8 - 10,000 rounds (or so I have heard).

Why are you listening to the sako folks, don't you know you are supposed to get your information from the www? </div></div>

I 2nd that as long as it was cleaned properly. That seems like a pretty
good consensus from people Here on the Hide.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

I try hard not to heat up the barrel unless a match requires lots of fast shooting. The barrel gets cleaned with a top quality bore guide and cleaning rod. I even ordered one of the bore guides made specifically for that model of rifle.

So, I know the bore has had really good care, but it does get used. After all, all my rifles are tools, not safe queens. I usually go through a barrel about every 9-12 months on one rifle or another. I'm glad to hear that this barrel has a while to go before it goes bad.

One of my rifles (300 Win Mag) needs barrel work or a new barrel every 850-1400 rounds. Before I started trying to have the barrel set back, that worked out to about .75 cents per round in barrel wear.

The only 308 barrel I have ever worn out was a national match GI weight barrel from springfield armory. It shot inch groups for around 15,000 rounds, then one day the groups popped open to 2.5 inches. Boy I was disappointed. But that is pretty good barrel life. The barrel sucked after cleaning, but after 20-40 rounds it was shooting great again. It did that for as long as I owned it. I never did figure that out.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

I have not shot out a TRG barrel, but keep in mind that they are hammer forged. Hammer forging is all the rage in the AR market because everyone thinks it provides superior barrel life. I have seen test reports from the .mil that support this notion.

Lowlight has reported that they have an AI down at Rifles only with 90k rounds, and 9-10 barrel changes. I would expect at least this amount of life. I have put over 10k rounds down a Lothar Walther barrel with a pretty harsh firing regimen. There was significant throat erosion, over an inch, but it still held a respectable group.

I would strongly suspect if you borescoped your TRG that you would already find evidence of throat erosion, but it doesn't always cause a loss of accuracy, especially outside the benchrest world.

Sometimes it's fun though to switch calibers just because. You could also consider a switch barrel rifle. The TRG has no sandwiched recoil lug.

Justin
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

I suppose if I were going to rebarrel the Sako, I would use the new Obermeyer 6.5mm tube and chamber it in something like 6.5-08 Ackley Improved. My hope would be to drive the 142/147 grain bullets at around 2850-2950 without having to go to extremely high pressures.

Although I have no evidence to back it up, it is my belief that going to the extreme end of allowed pressure makes it far more likely that the ammo will begin to behave oddly when temperatures or other MET/ENV factors change.

Sure, any changes in MET/ENV will effect behavior of the ammo, but I think the result of those changes is much greater when using extremely high end pressures.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Massoud</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Sometimes it's fun though to switch calibers just because. You could also consider a switch barrel rifle. The TRG has no sandwiched recoil lug.</div></div>

Great idea, if someone would please make an action wrench.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mammal</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Massoud</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Sometimes it's fun though to switch calibers just because. You could also consider a switch barrel rifle. The TRG has no sandwiched recoil lug.</div></div>

Great idea, if someone would please make an action wrench. </div></div>

KRG (Kinetic Research Group) has thrown around the idea of making one. Just standby. they seem to be in tune with what the TRG owners are looking for.

Josh
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

The above comments about an action wrench seem to indicate that re-barreling my TRG wouldn't be an easy task. Would a gunsmith be able do do the job, or is it something that would have to wait for a certain type of action wrench to be built?

What is the story about TRG's and the action wrench? I ask because I would like to plan ahead for an eventual re-barreling. At the rate I'm going, the Sako will need a new barrel in about 2 years. My M40 in 300 Win mag will probably need a barrel about the same time. Fortunately, I have a couple of barrels waiting.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

Almost all centerfires require a vise and an action wrench of some sort to take them down. If it is a threaded shank, it is going to need it. That said, any smith can handle it if they can handle a rebarrel on a Remington. If you want to do it yourself, you need the tools. Not sure why you thought you could do it any other way.

Josh
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

I don't have either the tools or the interest to do a rebarrel myself. I know how the job is generally done, but I thought the previous postings were suggesting that working on the Sako required some really odd sort of action wrench that hasn't been manufactured yet.

I know that gunsmith's can easily do most re-barrel jobs, but the postings sort of suggested that Sako required something that hadn't been distributed to the general world of gunsmith's outside of the Sako factory yet. That was why I was asking about some special wrench.

As long as it doesn't require some exotic, hard to find action wrench that no one has, I'll just let a professional gunsmith do the work.
 
Re: TRG22 barrel life

Unknown,

Most of the action wrenches on the market are designed for round receivers. With the faceted receiver it is best to use something that rides inside the receiver. So, there was talk of doing something like the Accuracy International action wrench. Nothing more...nothing less.

Josh