Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 300 WSM barrel life

I was told that 300 WSM barrel life is shorter than non magnum by a considerable difference.plus shorter than other magnum's any truth
thank's
Coop

Barrel life is shorter in any caliber that provides a large amount of high pressure gas through a relatively small hole. They will have less life than a .30-06 or smaller, but should last longer than a 300 WM that launches the bullets at about the same speed because they use less powder.

Not sure that you'd notice the difference with the WM.

Remember, this is not a target round. Let the barrel cool off between groups and keep groups to 3-5 bullets. It should outlast you.

Thank's for the reply, A dealer, 'gunsmith', told me today that the short mags are worst than standard mags pertaining to barrel life, He stated 1500 rds per barrel .I know the more powder you pour down the barrel causes more erosion, but I could'nt understand why the 300 WSM would be worse than other mags
thank'Coop

I've put quite a few 1,000 rounds down WSM and WSSM wildcat barrels, and I don't think the accuracy is any worse than any other small caliber, big cased cartridge.
As far as being worse than standard mags, think they are about the same .
Then thing is, what are the acuracy parameters?
hunting rifle accuracy is about the life of the owner i would think.
target rifle accuracy, well, one season, maybe less for a competition rifle.
Cat

Cat's comments +1

Barrel life is 1500 for a WM anyway. All things being equal, the WSM should last a little longer. Enough to matter? Who knows.

Where the hell do people come up with this [bleep]?? A WSM will NOT have any shorter life than any other magnum, period. People make this stuff up all the time.

The physics have not changed. Sure, a WSM may have a shorter life than an '06, but I will gladly pay to see someone show me how a 300 WSM will have a shorter barrel life than a 300 Win Mag.

Barrel life depends greatly on the shooter. My buddy and I used to shoot prairie dogs a lot. Using the same brands of barrels he wore out 22-250 rifle barrels much quicker than I did because he routinely got them hotter than I did.

And, as others have mentioned, so what if a 300 WSM barrel only lasted 1500 rounds, that is a lot of hunting, to be sure.

I have a 300 Wby Mag that has had over 1500 rounds down the barrel. It still managed to kill a great 6x6 bull elk in New Mexico this fall at a lasered 434 yards.

Dont confuse these guys with facts.It is not what they want to hear!!!!

What are you going to use it for? Consider that if you're shooting factory ammunition, by the time you've skinned a tube you will have expended more than $3,000 in ammunition.

At my age it's getting harder to wear a barrel out, I do like to shoot and the 300 WSM basically gives me 30-06 or better ballistics in a smaller package, ie lighter, thank's
Coop

I can tell you one thing for sure my bro's 264 win mag in a Douglass bbl sure shot out in a hurry. I'm sure it never got over 500 rd thru it and the throat was toast. That's by far the least I have ever seen.

Huntsman,

based off of my experience with the Douglas brand I'd say it was the tube and not the round that sent this one to Croak City Wyo so fast.

I've had 3 Douglas tubes and all puked in less than 1K rounds.

Dober

First off, I agree that the 300 WSMs barrel life will be similar to the 300 Winnys. A guy in my 1K BR club shot a Lazzeroni Patriot, which is about the same shape and case capacity as the 300 WSM. To around 1500 rounds his barrel was competitive. After that it would start shooting an ocassional wild flier. realize 1k BR is VERY hard on barrels, as they are shot hot and dirty. A hunting rifle's barrel ought to last much longer.



It is not unreasonable for someone to wonder if a 300 WSM would have a shorter barrel life than a 300 Win, given a 243 often has shorter barrel life than a 6mm Rem. The turbelence point idea might have some merit. However, I don't think the 300 WSM has any more turbulece point issues than a 300 Winny--though I am not sure.



That is a good shot under field conditions to be sure and one that many guys would miss. However, consider this:

- The kill zone on an elk is what, at least an 18" circle?
- At 434 yds that's 4 moa
- With a 4 moa rifle sighted in EXACTLY to it's point of aim, the bullet won't diverge from point of aim by more than 2 moa
- Therefore, a properly aimed and sighted in 4 moa rifle will will hit an elk in the kill zone 434 yds.

Thus, your example doesn't tell us anything about the accuracy of your rifle, though it does once again show that you don't need a tack driving rifle to cleanly take animals at extended rages. What you need is a proficient shooter, as you obviouusly are.

Blaine: good post.

You know what came to my mind was:
1500 rounds of weatherby 3oo:

at what? $3.00 a round.

I don't think too many folks could afford to wear out that barrel even if that was enough to do the job.

$4,500.oo: that's alot of money to put down range.

The guys that shoots his 300 Wby 1500 rounds will most likely be a handloader, and the cost will be closer to .75 to $1.00 a round, depending on the bullet he chooses.

Shoot it. Wear it out. Get REALLY good. Rebarrel the sucker. Shoot it. Wear it out. Get REALLY good. Rebarrel the sucker.
Repeat...

Dober
Thanx for that tid-bit of info. I always thot they were supposed to be good bbls?
Sounds like maybe the rep was not really deserved.