I shot high power rifle for 9 years. In that time I managed to win state championships, regional matches,and some national matches.I went distinguished in 1996, and have a high master classification in over the course and long range.
In my experience with the 223 I saw about 3500-4000 accurate rounds in over the course competition. At close range,(inside 500 yards), the caliber seemed to last much longer. But I shot the 600 yard line a lot on sunday with the 3-600 matches. Douglas,Hart,Shilen ect all died around the same time. Talking to the USAMU guys, that's what they found out as well.
In my 300 win mag LR rifle, 2000 rounds was where I started to see fliers at the 600-1000 Yard Line.
When I went to the 6.5x284,my barrels died around 800 rounds. It's a great cartridge, but a real barrel burner in the LR game.
I read an article years back by Kevin Thomas in Precision Shooting Magazine when he was employed by Sierra, and I "believe" he said the 308 barrels started throwing fliers at the 200 yard line at 3200-3400 round count. This was after firing 10 round strings with the totals fired in one minute.
