# 22-250 wear out barrels too quick?



## aarongnm (Dec 5, 2006)

I have recently purchased a Remington 700 VSF in 22-250. People are saying that I should use lighter loads cause the 3900 fps bullets wear out the barrel really fast. I am sure that they cause more wear on than a round traveling at 3500 fps, but is it anything to really be concerned about? I have tried a few loads and I have found that my rifle shoots the best with the hot stuff so thats probably what ill stay with unless it will cause significantly faster wear and tear.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

yes it will have to be replaced faster than when you shoot a slower round. Just keep this in mind. Keep your tube cool and you will be fine. With that in mind you will get many seasons of shooting from your gun. If you are going to keep shooting when it is hot then you may get one or two years out of it.

I bought a used 22-250 with who knows how many rounds threw it. I also shoot max loads out of it. I have used it heavily for two years. At this point there is no signs of the tube needing to be replaced.

I just bought a new lilja and it only cost me $318.00. My new tube is a 6mm but the cost is the same for a 22 cal. Then you get a match tube.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Letting your rifle cool between shots is much more important than how many FPS you're shooting, as it pertains to barrel life.

DAMNED FEW people ever put enough rounds through a barrel to wear it out, regardless of caliber.


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

Horsager said:


> Letting your rifle cool between shots is much more important than how many FPS you're shooting, as it pertains to barrel life.
> 
> DAMNED FEW people ever put enough rounds through a barrel to wear it out, regardless of caliber.


Forgive me for getting off topic, but how may rounds would it take to wear out a R 10/22? I am just curious, because I did it.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Did you wear the barrel out of your 10/22 or the action. It's darn hard to wear out a barrel with lead bullets and tiny powder charges. I have no idea how many rounds it would take, but I'll make a guestimate of more than 30,000. It will be interesting what other people think.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Wax coated pure lead bullets? I'd say it's most impossible to wear out the barrel. Get a good coat of wax in the barrel and I don't think there's really any wear. Hard to think about that nylon buffer wearing out either. I'd say exponentially more than 30,000 (unless you clean it too often). My guess is 250,000.


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## Robert A. Langager (Feb 22, 2002)

Horsager said:


> Letting your rifle cool between shots is much more important than how many FPS you're shooting, as it pertains to barrel life.
> 
> DAMNED FEW people ever put enough rounds through a barrel to wear it out, regardless of caliber.


Define cool for me. Warm to the touch? If I am shooting off a bench for groups I usually wait 1-2 minutes between shots. Is that enough?

I know the outside temp makes a difference. But, how warm is too warm?

Robert


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I think your closer Horsager. I was being overly cautious, and was going to say 100,000. I know one old Marlin lever action that I will bet has over 100,000 rounds through it. The lever is so loose it feels like it's going to fall off, but if the sights are on the target the bullet is going there.

My fathers old Remington pump had a lot of rounds through it and the aluminum receiver is worn out to the point the bolt no longer locks into it correctly and will no longer fire. The bore looks like new.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Robert A. Langager said:


> Horsager said:
> 
> 
> > Letting your rifle cool between shots is much more important than how many FPS you're shooting, as it pertains to barrel life.
> ...


You're more patient than I from the bench!! I read something somewhere that made referrence to 1 shot/minute. I have to have an empty range and 3-4 benches to myself to abide by that. When in a good Pdog shoot it's 3-5 shots/rifle then switch. This is the situation that I think the 223 really excells. I've had them hot enough to smell like someone's been welding nearby and they always seem to come back just fine. When I was in high school I heated up one 223 that melted a semi-circle in the carpet in my car.


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## neb_bo (Feb 3, 2007)

just a note on the 22's, even though its off topic. i had a book as a kid that was all about 22's of different kinds. if i remember correctly, col. townsend whelen was performing tests of barrel life in rimfires, and came to the conclusion that with copper coated bullets the app. barrel life of a 22 rimfire was 40,000 rds., and with lead, 250,000. that may be incorrect, but im pretty sure those were the #'s, and that was in the early 20th century, so improvements in lubricants may have changed these numbers.
my henry has at least 40,000 through it, and accuracy is still the same.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

How hot is too hot? If you can not grab and hold your tube comfortably then it is too hot. 
More people shoot out a tube than they think. Some just get rid of the gun when they find out that it does not shoot as well as it once did. Your rifleing can look good when you look down the tube but when you use a scope to look at the rifleing you will see fire cracks and the wear that is actually there.

Remember tubes are cheap once you notice your gun is not shooting as well as it once did give it a very good cleaning to make sure your gun is not just dirty. At this point you can try a different loading, or you can just get a new tube put on.

As far as 22lr go the sky is the limit. There are many match guns that have well over 100,000 rds threw them. I have a 10/22 that I know for sure has over 50,000 rds threw it. The darn thing shoots very well. When dealing with 22lr almost all your damage will come from improper cleaning.


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## iwantabuggy (Feb 15, 2005)

The barrel was wore out, not the action. I sold the gun to a guy who wanted to build a custom gun on the action. The riflings in the barrel were rounded out, instead of square, and the best accuracy I could get with it was about 1 1/2 at 50 yards.


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