Would you consider 338LM a barrel burner? or, what kind of round count for a 338LM barrel?

[towerofpower93]

Chatting with some buddies and going to 1500yds and beyond came up. I said I have a 338LM I built for a local mile match but would probably go 300PRC if I was building a rifle today. One of the guys let out the ol' "338LM, that's a barrel burner!" and I said I didn't think it was. As little as I shoot mine, I'll likely never burn mine out, but it got me thinking...what round count on a barrel would make it a "barrel burner" and what's a ballpark number of accurate rounds (say ~1MOA) a guy can expect to get from a ~26" 338LM?

Thought I'd read elsewhere the Finns (or Swedes?) expected to get 4k out of their 338LM bolt guns, and I would think a regular guy who takes care of his rifle and doesn't do long strings of 10+ rounds through the gun in short order.

Figure this sub-forum will have plenty of guys who have actually burned magnum barrels out, so how many rounds would you expect to get from a 338LM and what kind of round count would you see tipping a cartridge into "barrel burner" territory?

 

[Taylorbok]

IMO 338 LM isn't a barrel burner. I'd think you should get 2500 ish rounds out of the tube, maybe more. 4k seems like a stretch.
My 300 RUM barrel went 1100 ish, I've got a 30 Sherman Mag with about 800 on it now , I expect it to be done next season

 

[Dogtown]

.338LM isn't as overbore as .300NM or .375CT, so you can get longer barrel life. But then again, for high performance cartridges people should be thinking of barrels as consumables. I've had some .338LM barrels that lasted almost 3000 rounds and others that were closer to 2000. It really depends on the quality of the barrel and how hard you push it.

 

[towerofpower93]

.338LM isn't as overbore as .300NM or .375CT, so you can get longer barrel life. But then again, for high performance cartridges people should be thinking of barrels as consumables. I've had some .338LM barrels that lasted almost 3000 rounds and others that were closer to 2000. It really depends on the quality of the barrel and how hard you push it.

Agreed on the consumables part. Especially with these larger cartridges, once you've shot up 2,000+ rounds of ammo, even if they're cheaper handloads, you've put way more money into the ammo than the barrel.

 

[Top O' Texas]

Like a pre'64 ('61 to be exact) 264wm is supposed to be a barrel burner and not last more than 1-1.2k rounds? I've shot more than 2,500 rounds and still not an issue. I've since put it to rest in the safe and replaced it with 2 more new 1's (neither have been shot yet). Maybe the 61.3grs of imr4831 w/140Sbt isn't that bad. I wanted Winchester to replace the barrel, but no will do if it doesn't shoot worse than 1.25moa (or 1.5moa?). Still didn't shoot that on a bad day. I only have 50 rounds thru the 338lm I have, so that's good news!

 

[babyguppy]

338LM can be, use that HOT dual use powder and push those 300 grainers past 2850 FPS... Shoot 20 round strings.. till you can get her to glow..

 

[vh20]

Agreed on the consumables part. Especially with these larger cartridges, once you've shot up 2,000+ rounds of ammo, even if they're cheaper handloads, you've put way more money into the ammo than the barrel.

This is absolutely true. However, load development is a significant investment in time, effort, and components. It is yet another factor to consider in the “barrels are just consumables” argument. I hate to burn a significant portion of barrel life doing load development (on say, a 1000 rd barrel life cartridge ). If you can get to 2-2.5K rounds on a barrel, it makes the effort a whole lot more worth it.

 

[Taylorbok]

This is absolutely true. However, load development is a significant investment in time, effort, and components. It is yet another factor to consider in the “barrels are just consumables” argument. I hate to burn a significant portion of barrel life doing load development (on say, a 1000 rd barrel life cartridge ). If you can get to 2-2.5K rounds on a barrel, it makes the effort a whole lot more worth it.

With the availability of information these days I can usually come up with a load that shoots good enough in about 30-50 rounds. F-Class and BR is a different story but for the majority of us that are just smashing steel

 

[NightStash]

I got right at 2k on a factory Savage 338 barrel before rebarrel. It was sad because that was one of those special barrels you get once in awhile.

 

[Earnhardt]

.338LM isn't as overbore as .300NM or .375CT, so you can get longer barrel life. But then again, for high performance cartridges people should be thinking of barrels as consumables. I've had some .338LM barrels that lasted almost 3000 rounds and others that were closer to 2000. It really depends on the quality of the barrel and how hard you push it.

Dogtown, what was the reason for the difference in barrel life from 2000, to 3000 shots?

Shots strings or powder type?

2000 shot barrel...N570 type powder? 3000 shot barrel...H1000 type powder?

Thanks

 

[Dogtown]

I can’t be certain. I used RL25, Retumbo, N570. I shot slow strings, and fast competition strings. Barrels were Lothar-Walter, Bartlein, and Trueflite. I just know some lasted longer than others - I wasn’t as meticulous back then about logging things because I was shooting a LOT more than I am now.