Shooting out a barrel?

[drahthaar]

I have been reading about predator rifles, .223, 22-250, there seems to be a lot of talk about 22-250 barrels getting shot out much faster.

How many rounds are we talking about here? Anyone ever had this happen?

 

[Lawnboy]

Were's Breaks Runner when we need him? If I recall he posted some pictures of one of his coyote rifles that he had put a new barrel on. It was a crazy number of shots that he had gone through. Hopefully he'll chime in and can give you some advice.

 

[rosco]

Depends on ones definition of shot out. I replaced my 22-250 barrel at ~4000 rounds. I have a 222 with over 6000 rounds down the pipe and still shoots very acceptable groups.

On the norm, you will get more rounds out of the 223 than the 22-250. But thats not a rule and depends on what you're feeding to them.

I believe BR is on his 4th swift barrel!

 

[T Bone]

for predator hunting, one barrel will last a normal guy a lifetime. If you shoot colony critters like p-dogs, they heat up and can get shot out quickly.

 

[drahthaar]

Cool, those are numbers I was looking for. I don't have colony critters here, just like messing with coyotes, not a lot of shooting going on trying to get coyotes in timber and clearcuts.

Can't decide on the 223 or 22-250. The 22-250 seems to be "the" predator round where the 223 is much cheaper to shoot, with close to the performance.

 

[schmalts]

I was told by Rock River that you may want to try and seat your bullets out .010 farther every 1000 rounds to compansate the burnt out lead-in of the rifling. Not sure how credible that is and I already had my AR set up for the longest bullets that fit in the mag so I am screwed for that

 

[Carl]

You'd about have to be a guy like Pat to wear a barrel out just shooting coyotes. 4000 sounds on the high side for a .22-250 (I was thinking more like 2500) but a lot depends on what you're looking for out of a gun. That said I shoot my .223 way more than my .22-250, but that is for practice, not hunting.

And schmalts, lands definitely move forward as you shoot. I seat into the lands, and recently bumped my seating depth up again in my factory .223, which restored it's accuracy. I'm at ~1500 rounds and am seating .020 higher than when the barrel was new. This will vary with different chamberings, and different barrels as well, so I think it's best just to measure it periodically. The closer you are seating to the lands, the more difference this should make.

 

[shoots-straight]

I think the barrel would let you know. I heard around 2500 for 250's or swifts. I like to be different, and also have a .223WSSM.

 

[T Bone]

You can't go wrong with either the .223 or 22-250. If I were to do it over again, I'd simply buy the .223 with whatever soft point bullet shoots well and go hunt dogs.

I'd guess my average range for calling dogs is 120 ish yards. My closest literally had powder burns, the furthest a 400 ish that sat on his butt and barked at me for about 2 minutes before I sent one his way.

 

[Grady]

Guessing here, I don't know exactly what the round count difference would come out at- many variables to that one.

I would imagine a 223 barrel would outlast the 22-250 by at least 25% (comparing velocities and powder charge differences alone).

It could be much more. I knew a guy who shot out a 22-250 barrel in one afternoon by varmint shooting without adequate barrel cooling time.

With component cost difference and barrel life are both in the 223's favor, I can't justify the 22-250 unless you really wanted the extra speed/trajectory/range.

Unless you have a smoking good deal on a '250, I would try the 223.....

 

[cowboy]

There is no doubt that if you are comparing a .223 to a 22-250 and all things being equal the .223 should have a longer barrel life. The military has used the '06, 308 and .223 for a reason and I can't imagine how many tax dollars went into that research. With that said there are a ton of variables to consider such as how hot are you pushing any caliber, how often and thourough are you cleaning, type of bullet (ie. all copper), type of powder (some have a tendancy to leave carbon build up more) etc..
With that said I just traded off a R77 Ruger 22-250 bull barrel that I had guessing 4000 rounds through. It started out and honest 1/4-1/2" rifle and over time I kept lenghtening the OAL. When I traded it off it would still shoot 1-1 1/4" off a bench at 100. Ran a bore scope down the barrel and decided I either had to rebarrel or let it go.
Some guys that are way smarter than me calculated the useable life span of a barrel with a lot of fancy math. Figuring a 308 barrel will go 8000 rounds and the amount of time a bullet is in a barrel the useable life span of a barrel is something like 45 seconds.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

A few things to consider are:

1. Do you reload? If so, ammo cost is less of a consideration. If not, then a .223 is much cheaper to feed.

2. What type of hunting? Calling in coyotes usually means the shots aren't that far (most of the time.)

I have a .22-250 Kimber varmint rifle that I won at a riends of the NRA dinner. I always wanted a .22-250, but have found that most of my hunting can be handled by either of my .223s - a light, handy CZ-527 that works well for situations where carrying a lot and shooting a little is the plan and a heavy-barreled short Savage for colony varmints. I love the .22-250, but I don't find it that much more effective than the .223 for my uses.

I definitely try to keep that barrel from getting too hot as I think that has more to do with barrel life than round count alone.

 

[drahthaar]

What twist do you guys find to be pretty optimal in a .223. How about barrel length? Seems there is quite a variation between the AR style 16-18 inch barrels and bolt action barrels, 20 or 22 inches.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I like my Savage with a 1 in 9" twist, even though I mainly shoot 40-55 gr bullets. My Savage has a heavy, 20-inch barrel. I am not sure what length the CZ has, but it is fairly short - 20-22 inches. I don;t think a .223 needs more than 22-inches and 20 is fine, IMHO. Too short, though, and blast becomes a factor to me. Both the Savage and my CZ (which has a 1 in 12" or 1 in 14" twist) shoot just fine (sub-half-inch) with the bullet weights I use.

 

[1_pointer]

I don't think a 1/8 or 1/9 twist will keep you from shooting any bullet that you can shoot out of a slower twist. The reverse is not true.

If you go 223, I don't think that small of a case needs that much barrel. Mines somewhere around 22" and works. Shorter wouldn't be bad though...

 

[kiwi hunta]

I would say about 3 seconds of bullet time , Point I'm about to get 1-8 barrel .223 T3 cut to 16 inches and throw a suppressor on it.

I was talking and looking at a goat cullers rifle a T3 .223 1-8 16 inch suppressed barrel shoots 70 grain swifts or 75 grain Amax's gets 4inch groups at 500 yds that will do me.:hump:

 

[gundog]

From a 16 inch barrel I'd guess you're getting no more than 2700 fps at the muzzle with the 75s. That's going to put you at more than 50 inches of drop at 500 yds!

 

[kiwi hunta]

Probably but thats what clicky scopes and range finders are for I'll throw some pics up when its finished. is going on a custom action, its the big annual fullbore shoot in N.Z. this week and my gunsmith is competing

 

[1_pointer]

That suppressed 223 would be way cool!!!!! I think the view of suppressors in the US is way short sighted.

Drop is easily corrected for and the 75s will drift less.

 

[gundog]

Actually, bullet weight has nothing to do with wind drift. The two factors involved are speed and the ballistic cioefficient of the bullet.