Barrell life

DON‘T buy second hand barrels. If you wander into the gun cleaning section of this forum and read some of the stuff written there you‘ll understand. RFD will sell you what they have. And I dare say only half of them have any idea of what a barrel looks like, or should look like, on the inside.
What the barrel looks like and how it shoots are often 2 very separate things.
There are loads of used barrels that shoot perfectly well - if that was not the case there would no used rifles ever sold.
Actually shooting a used rifle is the only way to know how good or bad the barrel is

Cheers

Bruce
 
I've a variation for a .243 and a .308. From reading it sounds like a .308 is hard to wear out however a .243 has a shorter lifespan.
As such I'm thinking of buying a new .243 and a second hand .308 to save some money. Plan would be to get a better brand (tikka or similar) second hand and for the .243 a new Howa/browning. Any flaws in my thinking?
I'd only use factory ammo as at present I don't have thd tine or inclination to home load.
Hia Andy.
It will take a long time to burn out a 243 barrel if its only use is for fox and deer. Avoid hot powder and compressed loads and you will be fine. The 308 will stand up better to range work. My 243 Xbolt has had between 1500 and 2000 rounds through it and has opened up from a half MOA to one MOA.
 
If I were you, Andy. I'd take a trip over the border to Somerset and visit Steve Beaty at Ivythorn Guns. (check out his website). He'll tell you exactly what the barrel is like and you can try out the rifle there and then' A straight, honest guy who will see you ok.
Cheers, I've emailed Steve to open a conversation. Unfortunately their website currently appears to be down.
 
Cheers, I've emailed Steve to open a conversation. Unfortunately their website currently appears to be down.
Just my 2 cents, unless you plan to fire thousands of shots in very short time barrels last way past what most have posted on here. Proper cleaning helps with this. My CZ550 in 22-250 has over 4200 shots through it and still does sub half inch groups at 100 yards. Throat is no doubt burned up a bit but not a problem. My last Chronograph session with this rife showed a 100fps loss, the prairie dog's haven't noticed this and still die when hit.
 
I've a variation for a .243 and a .308. From reading it sounds like a .308 is hard to wear out however a .243 has a shorter lifespan.
As such I'm thinking of buying a new .243 and a second hand .308 to save some money. Plan would be to get a better brand (tikka or similar) second hand and for the .243 a new Howa/browning. Any flaws in my thinking?
I'd only use factory ammo as at present I don't have the time or inclination to home load.
Just allow up to 50p a shot for barrel wear in the .243 and perhaps as little as10p a shot for the .308.
 
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As per Doric ....

The definition of 'shot out' varies depending on what you are doing. Target shooters and accuracy tarts therefore have a much shorted barrel 'life' than the rest of us.

A 243 will open out faster than a 308 but if you are just stalking then it isn't going to happen any time soon and its going to be good enough to do the job for a lot longer than 1500 rounds. 308 will go on forever.

Not worth fretting over.
 
For fox or deer work, the phrase "barrel burner" gets banded about unnecessarily without real life experiences.
For most hobbyists, I don't think such a phrase should concern them.

Barrel life I wouldn't worry over in 99% sporting rifles.

In my 1000 yard bench rest club, a chap retired his 308 at 10,000 rounds and felt it can be moved to deer duties.

243 - shoot, enjoy ,reload.

Don't over think barrel life! 👍
 
Depends what you're doing with them and what load you're using. A .243 shooting 100 grn bullets for occasional deer stalking is a very different matter to rattling off boxes of 58 grn v-maxes at foxes six nights a week.
Equally, if you're thumping masses of rounds through your .308 on the range, it isn't going to last forever.

I bought a used Sako 75 in .243 from Neil Sutherland in Kilmarknock. It was top money but it was top quality as well and so worth it. They are out there and if you buy from someone as trustworthy and knowledgeable as Neil there's nothing to fear from buying used.
 
Depends what you're doing with them and what load you're using. A .243 shooting 100 grn bullets for occasional deer stalking is a very different matter to rattling off boxes of 58 grn v-maxes at foxes six nights a week.
Equally, if you're thumping masses of rounds through your .308 on the range, it isn't going to last forever.

I bought a used Sako 75 in .243 from Neil Sutherland in Kilmarknock. It was top money but it was top quality as well and so worth it. They are out there and if you buy from someone as trustworthy and knowledgeable as Neil there's nothing to fear from buying used.
Neil Sutherland is a good place to deal with! 👍
 
All my rifles are second hand (some with horrible pitted and/or firecracked bores). They all get thrashed with range work, yet they keep bouncing back for more and still shoot reasonably well (about 1MOA), so I reckon life's too short to worry about barrel life.
 
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Bargain.... loads of barrel life left.
 
Cheers, I've emailed Steve to open a conversation. Unfortunately their website currently appears to be down.
Give Steve a call - he usually uses WhatsApp for messaging but prefers to talk (you will be on the phone for a long time though!😂) really nice guy to chat to.
 
Sauer used to quote on 10.000 rounds for barrel life and would expect the barrel to be still accurate up to 20.000 rounds + if looked after at sensible velocity in the 202 not sure if that’s still correct now ?
 
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