243 barrel wear

T

tincan

New member
I recently bought a remmy 700 LSS in 243. Opening day of the Wi. gun deer season I shot my first white tail with it. One squeeze of the trigger and DRT. Going to love this rifle.

I do have a question though. I have heard that 243 barrels do not last very long, and would like to know if there is any truth to this and if so why, and what kind of life can I expect from this rifle?
 
Average hunting use, only 10-12 lifetimes
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Well first off, define long. If long to you is maybe >5000 rds or >1500 rds?

If you are going to use this for just deer hunting and maybe a dozen or so coyotes each year, it will probably last you a lifetime. If you are going to shoot colony varmints and get the barrel hot enought to solder with, then it will wear out very quickly.
 
Originally Posted By: gary paugh1200-1600rds before they start to go south.for hunting it might be twice that number before you can't get a 2" group.

That sounds pretty early to me. One of my main hunting buddies has a 40 year old Remington 788 in .243 that he swears has 4000 rounds down the pipe and I know for a fact that it can still group 5 into a nickel at 100 yards.

Like so many other things, a lot depends on how hot the loads are, how hot you get the barrel and of course the gun itself. How often that you clean it and how you clean it play a big part too. But generally speaking you can shoot the barrel out of anything PDQ if you try hard enough to do so.
 
With modest hunting loads and velocities it should last a really long time. On the other hand if you are shooting 55gr bullets at the speed of light it wont help.
 
I had a lite barreled 700 classic in 243 and got it back in the mid 70's. Went out to south dakota pd shooting for about 8yrs in a row. Averaged 400 rounds per trip. Then took a few years off and went back for two more years and shot 600rds those two years. Shot close to 100 rounds per year in between pd hunting on coyotes and targets. Finally re barreled the rifle because I was having some issues about 5 years ago. So lets see that is over 7000 rounds. I never shot a very hot load. And never got the barrel hot. But your mileage may vary.
 
Good barrels last a lot longer than bad or mediocre barrels. Also, what is "accurate" to you?

In my experience, when you start jumping the bullet more than .375 in a 243, accuracy is toast.

My brother and I have the exact same rifle, unreal accurate to say the least.

Keith
 
Originally Posted By: tincan
I do have a question though. I have heard that 243 barrels do not last very long, and would like to know if there is any truth to this and if so why, and what kind of life can I expect from this rifle?

Who did you hear this from? They obviously don't have a clue what they're talking about.

ALL barrels (243 or otherwise) have a finite lifespan, but for the average hunter this doesn't become relevant for about the fist 100 years of ownership.

I have a .243 that I use for coyotes and windy day varmints. Currently it's over 1k rounds and still shooting like the first day out. Most rifles made within the last 20 years will easily handle 2k mid-velocity rounds with little or no accuracy loss.

Also, there is no point in worrying about it. A barrel change out 205-30 years down the road will have you shooting line new and for a cost of about $20 a year.

Grouse
 
When I was shooting a 243 in competition I went through 5 barrels in 4 years. The most rounds I got from a barrel was about 850, usually closer to 750.
Admittedly, the rapid fire stages of a match are much harder on barrels than hunting.

Jack
 
To be truthful, barrels are a consumable item in general.

having said that, you can shoot the barrel out of a 22lr if shot long and hard enough.

treat them right and in a hunting sence they will all last your life time. The 243 included.

if you are dog towning it, then you will shoot the barrel out and will replace it. The 243 is all good.
 
I had a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless that I put 3800 rounds thru before it started to open up. I never heated it up, and 90% of those loads were a full dose of Varget and 60gr Sierra HPs. It would still group about 1.5" at 100 yards when I got rid of her, still good to go for a normal shooter. I was getting 5 shot groups before of .5" or less.
 
In my favorite "shelf" rifle I am well ver 6k and still driving nails. Older Winchester .243 xtr.
My stainless T3 in .243 is cruising along nicely over 2k rounds. My sons Savage .243 is over 2k as we'll.
We like to play with p dogs when not shooting fur.
I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
 
Originally Posted By: Jack RobertsWhen I was shooting a 243 in competition I went through 5 barrels in 4 years. The most rounds I got from a barrel was about 850, usually closer to 750.
Admittedly, the rapid fire stages of a match are much harder on barrels than hunting.

Jack

Everything is relative...as the previous poster said 10-12 lifetimes with "normal hunting use." But, as above, it can be considerably less. One or two trips to a range in the hot summer sun and if you crank one round after another without allowing the barrel some cool down time you can burn out a throat in just 400 rounds or less. I know because I have done it. I barreled a 1903 Springfield a few years back with a 243 barrel and made it look like a WWII sniper...Unertl scope and all. I choose the 243 because it didn't hurt to shoot with that solid metal buttplate like it does in 30-06 {especially with no winter coat for padding.} I have a big gravel pit behind my house and we would get together on weekends with a case of skeet targets at various ranges and just take turns breaking them. You would be surprised just how hot a 243 barrel can get in two hours of non stop one right after another shooting. It's probably no shock that I did the same thing with my 204. The bottom line is: a lot of rifles we don't normally associate with being a "barrel burner" can and will be just that if the shooter is not careful. Using a little common sense {a commodity with me!!} and some bore cleaner your rifle will easily outlast your great grandchildren.
 
Why is everyone so concerned about barrel life? Thirty-six years ago I started out with a Rem 700 VS in .25-06 that I purchased new. For 36 years I had a great time using that rifle to hunt groundhogs in OH, deer hunting in FL and bear hunting in Canada. I have some great memories of the hunts with that rifle.

About 7 years ago I noticed the rifle no longer shot 1" groups at the range (it never did shoot small groups). Maybe 3 rounds were great but than the next 2 were off by an inch. Yes, that barrel was toast. I figure it lasted about 1000 rounds.

So, I started looking for a new barrel. Eventually I found a decent price on a heavy Krieger barrel in .25-06. So here I am, same rifle with a Krieger barrel. The rifle now shoots groups under 1/2", cleans up with 3 patches and will probably be passed on to my heirs.

So, why be concerned about how long a barrel lasts?
 
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Originally Posted By: joedWhy is everyone so concerned about barrel life? Thirty-six years ago I started out with a Rem 700 VS in .25-06 that I purchased new. For 36 years I had a great time using that rifle to hunt groundhogs in OH, deer hunting in FL and bear hunting in Canada. I have some great memories of the hunts with that rifle.

About 7 years ago I noticed the rifle no longer shot 1" groups at the range (it never did shoot small groups). Maybe 3 rounds were great but than the next 2 were off by an inch. Yes, that barrel was toast. I figure it lasted about 1000 rounds.

So, I started looking for a new barrel. Eventually I found a decent price on a heavy Krieger barrel in .25-06. So here I am, same rifle with a Krieger barrel. The rifle now shoots groups under 1/2", cleans up with 3 patches and will probably be passed on to my heirs.

So, why be concerned about how long a barrel lasts?

Because people read the horror stories of sending their Rifle off and two years later getting it back.

Find you a Gun Smith get all of your gear together and then send it all at once. This way the Gun Smith can't claim he is waiting on parts.
Just make sure your and the Gun Smiths Ducks are all in a row and it will go quickly
 
I would not worry about shooting a barrel out until it happens, Many folks can't shoot well enough or don't have an application in which deterioration in accuracy will even be noticed?
 
Originally Posted By: TrapShooter12Because people read the horror stories of sending their Rifle off and two years later getting it back.

Find you a Gun Smith get all of your gear together and then send it all at once. This way the Gun Smith can't claim he is waiting on parts.
Just make sure your and the Gun Smiths Ducks are all in a row and it will go quickly

That's why you take your time looking for someone to do the work. If you pick a smith that doesn't regularly do this work I can see a horror story in the making. I chose a business that builds and works on benchrest rifles. Building rifles was their everyday business so I wasn't worried at all.
 
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