Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Barrel Life of .300 WSM?

How long can I expect the barrel of my .300 WSM to last? I am fairly new to reloading and was interested in "playing" around. I've already purchased 180 grn ETIP (50), Barnes MRX's (60), Barnes TTSX's (50), Nosler Ballistic Tips (50) to try. However, I have just come across a post suggesting the expected barrel life of a .300 WM is about 1000 rounds - this has gotten me concered? Would the barrel life of a .300 WSM be the same?Perhaps I cannot afford to play around as much as I hoped to?

It's funny when people put an actual number to the expected life of the barrel.

I can tell you that if you clean the gun cautiously, avoid shooting the rifle until the barrel's too hot to touch comfortably, and keep it oiled and protected from corrosion, it'll last for several times that number of shots. If you do all these things the wrong way, it could last for even less than 1000.

It also depends on the barrel material used and how well it's made. If it's from a good company, I would treat the rifle properly and not worry about it at all. If a day comes when you need a new barrel, you'll have an excuse to drop a few hundred bucks and get a REALLY good barrel on the rifle.

A friend's Krieger barreled Lazzeroni Patriot (within about 1 grain of case capacity and shaped very similar to a 300 WSM) was competitive at 1K BR at 1500 rounds. This means he could routinely shoot 5-6" groups at 1K with it. NBRSA 1K BR is VERY hard on barrels, especially when you shoot both the light gun (5-shot groups) and heavy gun (10 shot groups) classes, like he did. Every match he'd get the barrel way too hot to touch. At 1800 rounds the barrel would throw occasional flyers.

Given that, a well-cared for premium 300 WSM barrel on a big game rifle should easily last 1500-2000 rounds.

I'm with Blaine, I'd say that for the most part 1500-2K rounds for the bestest of accuracy and for the barrel to still be cleaning up in a decent manner.

And, if one baby's it a long a bit (not something I've been know for...grin) I'd expect 3K with good accuracy and accetable cleaning up.

Don't worry about it amigo.

Dober

I have an old Remington 700 in 7mm Remington Mag. I been shooting that rifle since I bought it in 1969, its got all most 4000 shots down the tube, and yea the thoat is worn some, but it still groups well enough to kill big game with. Ok its not grouping as tight when it was new, but I can still cover three shots with a half dollar coin. In other word minute of elk out to well pass 350 yards or so. 300 WSM, i would bet that your barrel will last a good 40 years as a hunting rifle, if you are shooting gophers and such, then maybe not. More barrels are worn out from cleaning than from shooting.

Barrels that are being cleaned using good practices are sure not being worn out. Now bad cleaning practices and not cleaning will definately screw the pooch!

Dober

Walt Bergers method of cleaning a rifle barrel has been the best defense of shooting out barrels for me. Walt has been shooting benchrest for many yrs. and has developed many a fine bullet. I currently have a Rem. 700, SPS SS in 300WSM that I did a comprehensive barrel break in. This polished the bbl. significantly and allows the bbl. to thoroughly cleaned using said method. Be sure to use a good cleaning rod and a bore guide. Your loads will have some to do with bbl. life. Hot loads will erode the throat expeditiously. Allowing the bbl. to get hot when shooting will lessen bbl. life. Slow and steady is the method to attain long bbl. life and gainful accuracy.

Depends on the barrel, I have a friend that has well over 4,000 rounds down the bore of his 30 win mag Blaser and it is still less than 1 MOA, and that is his "one" big game rifle.

So I'd say more than 2,000 less than 10,000!

At 30 to 50 bucks a box for ammo thats 3,000 to 5,000 in ammo expense. Heck still 1,800 hundred for reloads!

If it shoots good now enjoy your rifle.

Ed

Barrels are like tires. Even good ones wear out with use. When it's worn and won't shoot well anymore, you'll have a perfect excuse to upgrade with a Krieger, or you custom barrel of choice!

Depends. If you just HAVE to shoot it, the above is all good advise.

Or you can do an las hunting-tool thingy- shoot/tweak it enough to get it shooting good groups with a good load. This should take less than 200 rounds, probably.

Come hunting season, take it out of storage, clean it, check the screws, fire 1 to ? (usually no more than 3) rounds to make sure of zero, fire 1 to 3 rounds to kill your game, clean the rifle, put it away until next year.

It will last through your grandchildren's lifetimes.... or longer.

There's a perfect solution to this issue,and all you have to do is call Krieger,Lilja, Bartlein,etc and order a spare barrel for your rifle BEFORE you need it.Stick it in the safe,nicely oiled and wrapped up,and if the day ever comes that you need it, you won't have to wait 16 weeks to get a new one,and can just rebarrel the rifle.

I don't abuse barrels,but have shot out quite a few. I always keep a couple of spares in the safe in my favorite calibers.

My first thought.....Lilja/Broughton/Schneider/Krieger/Rock make barrels everyday.

I had a 300 win mag I shot the crap out of, never let it cool between shots, never cleaned it unless it stopped shooting and it went well 1800 rounds before accuracy dropped off. It was a buttoned barrel BTW. A cut rifled tube should last a bit longer.

Bob-glad you remembered to mention this. It took me a while to sort out that concept but once I did I pretty much have always had a barrel or three sitting in the corner awaiting their chance to get into the game.

Dober

There should be great joy in replacing a barrel that YOU shot out! Heck, maybe we should start a special ceremony to mark the death of a good barrel...grin

I have model 70 300 wsm that I shot 1000 rounds thru and I cant see any wear but thats with just with my eyes. Its shoots just as well as it ever has. Just go shootin' dont get it to hot, clean after every outing, and have fun!

Yeah, I'm just a stick-in-the-mud....

I consider mechanical devices to be tools, rather than toys. If I am using truck or car, 4-wheeler, snowmachine, or a boat, for example, once they are operating properly (like firearms) they mostly only get used if I'm going somewhere or doing something with them, other than just using them for the heck of it.

I'm unlikely to ever "shoot-out" a barrel.

YMMV

I"m with Las on this and with others... I generally have a spare barrel in the closet. Takes some time to get them sometimes. I"m not cheap eihter, I'll shoot what I want to shoot to stay good. Barrels are cheap in the long run.

That being said I'd expect about 2000 rounds from a 300 win mag and this is similar so I'd expect that to be the area to look at.

I"m set in my ways these days. I don't want to monkey around and waste time. I pick my bullet along with cartridge before I have something built. I work up that load like Las, and once its done, its done. I check zero a few times and hunt with it. Most hunting guns get less than 20 rounds a year through them here.

I practice by dry firing and or other rounds or a 22 all year. Plenty enough for me for shooting as I've got a long competitive background pulling the trigger on rifles and pistols(and suck at shotguns as my lab will confirm)

You can also dig around enough, that if you don't do like I do, know your drops and holdovers or clicks, and use a rangefinder etc... but you really want CF trigger time, you can snoop and generally find something in 223 to reload, bullet BC and speed, to basically equal your trajectory and use that instead of burning up a good tube all year long.

Lots of thoughts.

Jeff