Jack, I've got about 1500 rounds on my current 12 twist .22-250AI (a Lilja 6 groove). Barrel is still going strong. I have not actually shot paper with it for a couple of years now, so don't know how the aggs are holding up. But it is still my main rock chuck rifle, and still maintaining a very high hit to miss ratio. A couple weeks ago I put together a string where I went 2 for 3 on chucks at a bit over 600 yards with it (missed, corrected, took two in a row). Earlier that same day I nailed 3 in a row (doped conditions right) at 415 yards. I'd say it's still shooting pretty good at the 1500 round mark, and I'll be quite surprised if I don't get most of another thousand rounds out of it before it is toast. Actually, I've been around a whole bunch of slower twist .22-250AI's and have never heard of one not lasting at least 2000 rounds?
My 8 twist .22-250AI (Lilja 3 groove), lasted only 700 rounds by comparison... I'm not one to care much about barrel life, so I'm not complaining about that. But what was a complaint for me, was how the last couple hundred rounds it would not put together a decently long string without bullets going poof etc. For some guys, in some applications, that would not be any big deal. But for me, when I'm out in the field blasting chucks or p-dogs, being forced to stop and clean a rifle and let it cool down every 15 to 20 rounds is a ROYAL pain in the arse. Have to say though, that when that thing was new, cold clean and humming, it was like magic how it cut the wind. My current thinking on that though, is if I want to cut the wind, I'm going to use something less finicky - something like a .260 or other chambering that can get me the high BC without the high hassle factor of a large capacity fast twist .224.
Ducksoup - just my opinion, but I think you've put together an excellent combination for the purposes you describe.
- DAA