lungpopper
New member
I have a couple 17 centerfires and was curious if anyone has ever shot out a barrel and if so how hot were you reloading and how many shots to shoot out a barrel???
anyone shot out a 17 centerfire barrel??
- Thread starter lungpopper
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Rustydust
Active member
Had a cute litte Sako with the L461 action in 17 Rem, a CZ 527 in 17 Rem and Rem 700 in 17 Rem. Never wore out a barrel on any of them. To be honest, I didnt keep the nifty Sako very long, I was young an dumb and wanted something else, but launched many a 20 and 25 grain pill downsteam with the CZ and Rem. Both of these would always shoot half inch at 100 yards with the 20 grain Vmax. I guess that one reason I am such a 17 Remington fan. I never had a bad one.
lungpopper
New member
love my remmy's too! also have a nice little cz in trip deuce,very nice to shoot///
IDBob
New member
I've not wore out a 17, but several 22's. Keep shooting any rifle long enough and you can wear out a barrel regardless of the caliber. You may start loosing accuracy after a couple thousand rounds and depending on how fast you shoot it and clean out a bore in 3000 rounds for a hot 17, 20 or 22. High speed shooting without letting the barrel cool is the worst offender for killing a barrel.
With most of us that shoot a bunch replacing a barrel isn't that expensive in the scheme of things especially compared to the cost of a complete rifle, scope setup.
With most of us that shoot a bunch replacing a barrel isn't that expensive in the scheme of things especially compared to the cost of a complete rifle, scope setup.
My hunting partner and I shot the barrels out of four 17 remingtons shooting 28.0g of 760 with a 25g bullet, we were shooting p. dogs.
Here is the problem, the 17 Remington cartrige has a lot of freebore designed in the SAAMI spec reamer. When the rifle is new, the bullet does not have to jump very far before it engages the rifling, aligning the bullet to get the bullet started straight in the barrel.
As the leade grows from shooting, the bullet has to jump further and further before it engages the rifling. At some point, the accuracy goes to heck. I suspect that the barrel life could be extended somewhat by shooting the 30g Bullets, more bearing surface usually helps as a throat starts getting worn, but you will not know until you try.
We got about 1500 rounds through those Remington Chrome moly barrels before the barrels were toast. For just coyote hunting, we would have probably got 2000+ rounds out of the barrels, but what a pain in the rear end those barrels were to clean!
Here is the problem, the 17 Remington cartrige has a lot of freebore designed in the SAAMI spec reamer. When the rifle is new, the bullet does not have to jump very far before it engages the rifling, aligning the bullet to get the bullet started straight in the barrel.
As the leade grows from shooting, the bullet has to jump further and further before it engages the rifling. At some point, the accuracy goes to heck. I suspect that the barrel life could be extended somewhat by shooting the 30g Bullets, more bearing surface usually helps as a throat starts getting worn, but you will not know until you try.
We got about 1500 rounds through those Remington Chrome moly barrels before the barrels were toast. For just coyote hunting, we would have probably got 2000+ rounds out of the barrels, but what a pain in the rear end those barrels were to clean!
Jack Roberts
Moderator - Deceased
Never shot out any myself but have rebarelled a bunch. The people bringing them to me claimed anywhere from 500 to 2000 rounds. In my experience, most people don't keep accurate records and think they have shot more than they did. I guess about 1000 is average barrel life for a 17 Rem.
Jack
Jack
Wow, 28 gr. of W-760 under a 25 gr. bullet sounds like a barn burner! (And a barrel burner!) I've loaded to the low 27+ gr.range, and chronographed some of those at 4190 fps. They shot good, but I cut back, since I mainly use this gun for calling, and the shots aren't that long. Some guys back that down to around 24 gr. of W-760, to make a more fur friendly load.
I'm like most people, who don't keep the best records of shots fired down a barrel, but in one case, I did. After selling furs, I stocked up on components, and bought 40# of powder for my 22-250. Later on, the accuracy of that gun just went to heck, and...that powder was all gone too! Thats about 8000 rounds, and the barrel looks bald for 6" in front of the throat! A few more rounds, and I could run shot through it w/o blowing the pattern. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Rustydust
Active member
Well, my favorite load for the last several years has been the 20 grain Vmax with 23 grains of Varget. It is nowhere near a max load, but it shoot SO good that I have made it my one and only load now. I suppose that this is one of the reasons my guns have shot so well for so long. I passed the 1000 round mark about 1000 rounds ago with my Rem. I buy my bullets 1000 at a time from Midway so it pretty easy to keep track how many I have shot. Oh, and my 700 has a stainless barrel on it too. I suppose that helps as well.
lungpopper
New member
my barrels are blued but could they also be blued stainless?I have heard Remington did some this way..how do you really know???
Just had to set back my 17 Mach IV XP-100. Had a heavy 18" Shilen on it. It's now a 17 FB at 16.75 TOL. Don't know how many rounds were down it. I bought it used.
Shot out 2 different Model 7's 17 Rem. Had one customized after that, and the other 1's still in my gun cabinet. Several thousand rounds each on pr. dogs/coyotes.
Shot out 2 different Model 7's 17 Rem. Had one customized after that, and the other 1's still in my gun cabinet. Several thousand rounds each on pr. dogs/coyotes.
I think that Jack Roberts is right on the money with the round count. My gut feeling is that 17 Rem is rough on barrels.
On my last 17 Rem I had a turn neck, zero freebore, reamer ground. I also changed my load to 22.5g of H322 with the Waxed 25's and the accuracy was in the high 2's and low 3's, with shooting strings extended to 125 rounds in the Shilen barrels.
I think that the 17M4 has it all over the 17 Rem in accuracy, barrel life, and less frequent cleaning needed, but if speed is what you want, then the 17 Rem is the only way to go.
On my last 17 Rem I had a turn neck, zero freebore, reamer ground. I also changed my load to 22.5g of H322 with the Waxed 25's and the accuracy was in the high 2's and low 3's, with shooting strings extended to 125 rounds in the Shilen barrels.
I think that the 17M4 has it all over the 17 Rem in accuracy, barrel life, and less frequent cleaning needed, but if speed is what you want, then the 17 Rem is the only way to go.
Rustydust
Active member
Quote:
I think that the 17M4 has it all over the 17 Rem in accuracy, barrel life, and less frequent cleaning needed, but if speed is what you want, then the 17 Rem is the only way to go.
I suppose that this may be true if you are shooting full throttle loads all the time, but other than that I just flat out disagree. All of my 17 Remingtons have shot superbly and have never been in need of frequent cleaning. My current M700 will put 5 shots touching at 100 yards with 20 grain Vmax handloads and is good enough out to 400 yards to put a praire dog down for keeps. If I ever need to replace the barrel I will, but so far, it only seems to keep shooting better.
I dont like problems. If my 17 gave me problems, any problems at all, they would be someone else's problems in a very short order.
I think that the 17M4 has it all over the 17 Rem in accuracy, barrel life, and less frequent cleaning needed, but if speed is what you want, then the 17 Rem is the only way to go.
I suppose that this may be true if you are shooting full throttle loads all the time, but other than that I just flat out disagree. All of my 17 Remingtons have shot superbly and have never been in need of frequent cleaning. My current M700 will put 5 shots touching at 100 yards with 20 grain Vmax handloads and is good enough out to 400 yards to put a praire dog down for keeps. If I ever need to replace the barrel I will, but so far, it only seems to keep shooting better.
I dont like problems. If my 17 gave me problems, any problems at all, they would be someone else's problems in a very short order.
Matt N.
New member
I asked this years ago and got a response from a guy from Australia. He had kept a record of every single bullet fired from all of his .17 rems. Some of which he rebarreled more than once. As I recall he said he got about 3000 shots from a barrel, but slight loss of accuracy was noted at arround 1100 shots. He pointed out a guy would only notice this loss if he shot on paper in benchrest style regularly. BTW, he kept them clean, and did not get them hot.
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Jack Roberts
Moderator - Deceased
Quote:
my barrels are blued but could they also be blued stainless?I have heard Remington did some this way..how do you really know???
Check with a magnet. Almost no stainless is magnetic. And Remington did have some blued stainless barrels. I have one in 300 Win.
Jack
my barrels are blued but could they also be blued stainless?I have heard Remington did some this way..how do you really know???
Check with a magnet. Almost no stainless is magnetic. And Remington did have some blued stainless barrels. I have one in 300 Win.
Jack
Quote:
Quote:
my barrels are blued but could they also be blued stainless?I have heard Remington did some this way..how do you really know???
Check with a magnet. Almost no stainless is magnetic. And Remington did have some blued stainless barrels. I have one in 300 Win.
Jack
Magnet won't work. 416 and all of it's close relatives are magnetic.
I use a dial indicator on a magnetic stand, attached to the barrel to check bedding. Never seen a stainless barrel that isn't magnetic.
The blued stainless Rem's are easy to tell though, just by looking at them. The blueing on them just doesn't look quite the same, at least not the ones I've seen.
- DAA
Quote:
my barrels are blued but could they also be blued stainless?I have heard Remington did some this way..how do you really know???
Check with a magnet. Almost no stainless is magnetic. And Remington did have some blued stainless barrels. I have one in 300 Win.
Jack
Magnet won't work. 416 and all of it's close relatives are magnetic.
I use a dial indicator on a magnetic stand, attached to the barrel to check bedding. Never seen a stainless barrel that isn't magnetic.
The blued stainless Rem's are easy to tell though, just by looking at them. The blueing on them just doesn't look quite the same, at least not the ones I've seen.
- DAA
Bayou City Boy
New member
I would guess (like Jack) and have a gut feeling (like ackleyman) that a lot of these "shot out" 17 Remington barrels that occur in 500-1000 rounds belong to folks who don't know how to properly clean a small caliber rifle barrel.
JMO - BCB
JMO - BCB
Remington did put out some .17's with chrome moly barrels for a while, and there was a problem with them. They recalled those, and replaced with stainless steel barrels, I was told.
One gun I worked with, a heavy barrel Sako, in .17 Rem., would foul so quickly, that you couldn't get over 6 rounds accurately, then it sprayed. Cleaning it good brought it back to under 1/2", for a few shots. The owner traded it off. I don't know what that barrel looked like, as my borescope won't fit .17's.
One gun I worked with, a heavy barrel Sako, in .17 Rem., would foul so quickly, that you couldn't get over 6 rounds accurately, then it sprayed. Cleaning it good brought it back to under 1/2", for a few shots. The owner traded it off. I don't know what that barrel looked like, as my borescope won't fit .17's.
The 17's that I shot out, lost their accuracy because the leade on the factory 17 Rem is long to begin with. My barrels lost their accuracy about 500 rounds after I could no longer touch the lands with the bullet.
I shot Benchrest for 8 years, so I know how to clean a gun properly. We shot the 17's hard on large dog towns on which we were the only ones that had access to the 63 square mile ranch.
No doubt that a Custom barrel chambered with a Minimum spec 17 Rem with zero freebore with 1 1/2* leade would have much longer barrel life compared to a factory rifle.
I shot Benchrest for 8 years, so I know how to clean a gun properly. We shot the 17's hard on large dog towns on which we were the only ones that had access to the 63 square mile ranch.
No doubt that a Custom barrel chambered with a Minimum spec 17 Rem with zero freebore with 1 1/2* leade would have much longer barrel life compared to a factory rifle.