I dunno, I think barrel life is a valid consideration if you shoot a lot. Unless Douglas, Shilen, Shaw, Pac-nor etc. are giving 'em away. And I don't know about you, but when I put a rifle together and it's a shooter, I like the feeling of knowing I'm going to get a few thousand rounds out of it without having to start over.
For me it boils down to "how fast do you need" though. I already have a 30-06 length .264 that gets me out to a thousand yards. With (I'd wager) significantly less recoil and longer barrel life. Sometimes less is more.
