Barrel life and rounds spent per shoot

[sbd850]

Hey all,

I just bought a Tikka in 6.5CM. It's my first rifle.

From what I've researched, the barrel life on a 6.5CM is around 2200 rounds.

If I use 2-3 boxes of ammo or 40-60 rounds evey time I go to the range, assuming fortnightly visits, that's only 42 times at the range/2 years before my barrel will need replacing.
How many rounds do you guys usually go through per range visit? I'd assumed 40-60 would be about average.

Also, as Tikka do not sell barreled actions, how do people usually go about replacing Tikka barrels when they're worn?

Thanks

[ZaineB]

I'd say a target gun 2200, but experience tells me that it should shoot well for hunting purposes for well over twice that. Are you shooting competitively or is it a hobby and past time and social event for you? if its the latter you will get more trips than that in, also cleaning the bore properly and not shooting it in series so much that you cause excess heat will save a fair bit of barrel life as well.

cheers.

[in2anity]

Grade shoots you only gotta put in the 2 optional sighters plus a maximum of 10 rounds. Multi-range comps might be a maximum 3 details x12 = max 36 per day. Service matches can be upward of 50 rounds, but usually less. 22 rounds is common for a 2-leg Service shoot. Metallic silhouette might have a warmup and then 40 rounds for the match.

Then on practice days you can shoot more if you so desire, provided there's not a queue for the lanes. It's courtesy thing.

If you are referring to "public" style ranges with no time limits, 40-60 rounds is a fair bit of ammo. Especially if it's centerfire, chances are you will be fatiguing by the end of the that, so the back half won't be as accurate as the front half. For practice, I stop when i know my group is being affected by fatigue, which usually means i try and simulate the match, that you are training for.

If you want to practice shooting benchrest a lot, why not do it with a 22lr at close range? A lot easier on the barrel and wallet.

There's also the possibility of a digital trainer such as SCATT. That way you can practice with your targetted equipment minus the recoil and cost of running the gun. The best shooters are doing 20+hrs a week on the SCATT, then only shooting the "match quantity" of ammo when they go to the range.

The moral of the story, if you wanna get good at shooting, shoot your 22lr a lot, in a fashion that simulates the match you are utltimately interested in.

Food for thought.
in2.

[sbd850]

Sorry, I should've said I'm new to shooting and I'm referring to public range days.

I'm not sure if I'll compete, I'm open to the idea but for the purposes of this thread I'm referring to days out at the public range.

With that, I do plan on getting a .22 as a secondary soon enough so maybe when I do that I'll only put 20 rounds through the Tikka and do some close range plinking on the .22

Either way though, that's still a relatively short amount of time before I'd need to replace the barrel.

Also yes, I will clean before and after every shoot. With fetigue in shooting, are you referring to grip fatigue etc. or just general tiredness where performance starts to decline? Again, being new to this I'm not sure how many rounds I'd use in a day. I'm also not sure how long I should rest my barrel between 5 shot groups etc.

Thanks for all the info

[in2anity]

With that, I do plan on getting a .22 as a secondary soon enough so maybe when I do that I'll only put 20 rounds through the Tikka and do some close range plinking on the .22

I think this is a great idea. You can hang around for as long as you want, shoot tonnes of subsonic ammo, at minimal cost, without any concern for barrel heat. Focus can be placed on technique.

Also yes, I will clean before and after every shoot. With fetigue in shooting, are you referring to grip fatigue etc. or just general tiredness where performance starts to decline?

Yes it's hard to quantify but target shooting takes complete, ongoing concentration. You can't sustain this for too long, and it's accelerated by recoil. You see it if you train on a SCATT whereby your wobble metrics always head north the longer you continue practicing. You shoot the best group when your eyes and muscles are "fresh". A goodnight's sleep without alcohol is important prior to a comp.

I'm also not sure how long I should rest my barrel between 5 shot groups etc.

This is a bit awkward, and partly why a heavy barrel is important for target shootings. A heavy barrel means you can shoot an entire match without interruption and still have decent consistency by the end. For target shooting, consistency is just as important as short-string-precision, which relates to OCW load development. A good target load is a "resilient" one. A light sporter on the other hand, yeah it'll open up before the match ends. And having a "break" halfway through may see your POI change, because your hold will be fractionally different once you come back. IMO, you should simulate an entire match, perhaps 2x10 strings, in basically the one sitting, trying to be as consistent as possible.

Heck it may pay to start on the 22lr to warmup. Switch to centerfire for a "match" period. Then switch back to 22lr if you feel you wanna keep practicing.

[sbd850]

Awesome,

Yeah I don't really drink anyway. As for recoil, I was under the impression that it would be quite mild as a 6.5CM. I understand performing best with eyes, nervous system and muscular system being fresh. I've been lifting for 9 years so my CNS/muscles are well adapted to stress so that could be an advantage.

It's a Super Varmint so the barrel is heavy as standard, it's also cerakoted if that makes any difference.
I like that idea, go to the range and warm up with the .22 then put some rounds through the centrefire and then keep shooting on the .22

As for practicing match specific, being new I was thinking that I'd mainly focus on getting a good feel for shooting and putting some nice groups together first. Maybe fire 1 or 2 5 round groups between ceasefires. Would the barrel be good for 10 rounds at a time? Or would you recommend doing one group between ceasefires for extra barrel care?

[in2anity]

Awesome,
I've been lifting for 9 years so my CNS/muscles are well adapted to stress so that could be an advantage.

I know an excellent shooter who is also a PT; he shoots PSR / PRS style comps, and we have no doubt his endurance is partly why he often wins on multi stage comp days. For field positional type comps, you have to be fairly fit to be at the top.

It's a Super Varmint so the barrel is heavy as standard, it's also cerakoted if that makes any difference.
I like that idea, go to the range and warm up with the .22 then put some rounds through the centrefire and then keep shooting on the .22

This is music to my ears. You have saved yourself a lot of suffering by using a target barrel for target shooting. No point in beating around the bush, as many newbies do with their hunting rifles punching paper. Your tikka varmint will be a very accurate rifle, that shouldn't be too fussy about ammo.

As for practicing match specific, being new I was thinking that I'd mainly focus on getting a good feel for shooting and putting some nice groups together first. Maybe fire 1 or 2 5 round groups between ceasefires. Would the barrel be good for 10 rounds at a time? Or would you recommend doing one group between ceasefires for extra barrel care?

That barrel will handle 10 rounds in one string no sweat. 10 or 12 rounds at a time is logical, if you may ultimately take up club shooting.

[Noisydad]

It’d be interesting to calculate the cumulative time those 2200 bullets spend traveling down the barrel and work out how many seconds the barrel will actually last.

[LawrenceA]

Not what you asked but the Tikka T1 has the same stock inlet as the T3x so you can have the 22 in the same as your match stock. Providing the same feel etcetera

[sbd850]

Awesome,
I've been lifting for 9 years so my CNS/muscles are well adapted to stress so that could be an advantage.

I know an excellent shooter who is also a PT; he shoots PSR / PRS style comps, and we have no doubt his endurance is partly why he often wins on multi stage comp days. For field positional type comps, you have to be fairly fit to be at the top.

It's a Super Varmint so the barrel is heavy as standard, it's also cerakoted if that makes any difference.
I like that idea, go to the range and warm up with the .22 then put some rounds through the centrefire and then keep shooting on the .22

This is music to my ears. You have saved yourself a lot of suffering by using a target barrel for target shooting. No point in beating around the bush, as many newbies do with their hunting rifles punching paper. Your tikka varmint will be a very accurate rifle, that shouldn't be too fussy about ammo.

As for practicing match specific, being new I was thinking that I'd mainly focus on getting a good feel for shooting and putting some nice groups together first. Maybe fire 1 or 2 5 round groups between ceasefires. Would the barrel be good for 10 rounds at a time? Or would you recommend doing one group between ceasefires for extra barrel care?

That barrel will handle 10 rounds in one string no sweat. 10 or 12 rounds at a time is logical, if you may ultimately take up club shooting.

Oh sweet I'm a PT also, love it.

Yeah I figured it was worth spending the extra dollars. I was initially looking at a Howa 1500 in an MDT chassis but having fired friend's Tikka's before I couldn't pass up the smooth action and quality finish. I could have had a Ruger Precision for the same price as the 2021 Super Varmint, but I've also fired a Ruger Precision before and while it was super accurate (this one was in .308) the action felt rough, grindy and off putting, however I did manage roughly .75 MOA 5 shot groups with that rifle, I just didn't like the action. Anyway I may upgrade the Super Varmint stock to something MDT down the track down the line for performance/weight purposes, but I absolutely love the look and feel of the new Green Roughtech stock on the Tikka so I'm not sure.

Sweet, 10 rounds at a time sounds like plenty. I may even just do 3 shot groups to give the illusion of getting more out of my rounds, who knows.

Thanks for all of your help and info man! So maybe I'll do 40 rounds on my first shoot and then from there I'll just use one 20 box of ammo per shoot at the range and get a .22 ASAP and then alternate so that I can still make a day of it.
There's 2 local ranges near me. One is up to 500m and can be used publicly at all times, the other is a club range which is 900m and they only operate on Saturday's. You're allowed 3 guest visits and then you have to join up to use it again. So the furthest I will ever be able to shoot locally is 900m, an further and I have to travel a very long way.

My plan is to go to the 500m range a few times first, get used to shooting good groups at 100 and branch out. I have shot the 500m target a few times before on a Tikka 22-250 and the Ruger Precision on .308, but I think there's a lot more to be gained in getting consistent groups at 100m first. Once that feels good, I'll extend further and then when I get the desire to shoot past 500m I'll make some visits to the club range I mentioned and soon have a .22 as well for some fun close range spoon targets between all this. Kinda like progressive overload applied to shooting and distance. I got myself a decent scope being a gen 2 Athlon Argos in MRAD and it has another adjustment for 50 MOA elevation on 20 MOA rings, so it should be fine up to 900 easily. However, any other advice or ideas on this/progress in skill is welcomed.

Cheers!

[sbd850]

It’d be interesting to calculate the cumulative time those 2200 bullets spend traveling down the barrel and work out how many seconds the barrel will actually last.

Well let's say the average 6.5CM round travels at roughly 2700 feet per second. That's 820 meters.

If we divide 820m by .60 (60cm/24 inch barrel) that equals 1,366.

If we divide one second by 1,366 that's 0.000732 seconds that the round spends going through the barrel per bullet.

So if we multiply that by 2200 that's 1.6 seconds.

Interesting, technically barrels last less than 2 seconds of being fired.

[Insert random name]

It’d be interesting to calculate the cumulative time those 2200 bullets spend traveling down the barrel and work out how many seconds the barrel will actually last.

Lucky those few seconds of life get drawn out a bit.

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technic ... rrel-life/
Gone in Six Seconds. Want to Cry Now?
Six seconds. That’s how long your barrel actually functions (in terms of bullet-in-barrel shot time) before it “goes south.” Yes, we know some barrels last longer than 3000 rounds. On the other hand, plenty of .243 Win and 6.5-284 barrels lose accuracy in 1500 rounds or less. If your barrel loses accuracy at the 1500-round mark, then it only worked for three seconds! Of course, if you are shooting a “long-lived” .308 Win that goes 5000 rounds before losing accuracy, then you get a whopping TEN seconds of barrel life. Anyway you look at it, a rifle barrel has very little longevity, when you consider actual firing time.

People already lament the high cost of replacing barrels. Now that you know how short-lived barrels really are, you can complain even louder. Of course our analysis does give you even more of an excuse to buy a nice new Bartlein, Krieger, Shilen etc. barrel for that fine rifle of yours.

[sbd850]

It’d be interesting to calculate the cumulative time those 2200 bullets spend traveling down the barrel and work out how many seconds the barrel will actually last.

Lucky those few seconds of life get drawn out a bit.

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technic ... rrel-life/
Gone in Six Seconds. Want to Cry Now?
Six seconds. That’s how long your barrel actually functions (in terms of bullet-in-barrel shot time) before it “goes south.” Yes, we know some barrels last longer than 3000 rounds. On the other hand, plenty of .243 Win and 6.5-284 barrels lose accuracy in 1500 rounds or less. If your barrel loses accuracy at the 1500-round mark, then it only worked for three seconds! Of course, if you are shooting a “long-lived” .308 Win that goes 5000 rounds before losing accuracy, then you get a whopping TEN seconds of barrel life. Anyway you look at it, a rifle barrel has very little longevity, when you consider actual firing time.

People already lament the high cost of replacing barrels. Now that you know how short-lived barrels really are, you can complain even louder. Of course our analysis does give you even more of an excuse to buy a nice new Bartlein, Krieger, Shilen etc. barrel for that fine rifle of yours.

Hmmm not sure what I missed in my calculation, I divided the meters per second by the length of the barrel to work out the time each round spends in the barrel then multiplied it by 2200 and came up with 1.6 seconds.

[bigpete]

I shoot maybe a dozen at the range,depends whether the sighting in is going well. I'd get bored stiff plugging 60 rounds at paper

[Insert random name]

Acceleration time from zero to muzzle fps, they mention it in the article, and it's just a rough guestimate. Either way, I reckon about the same time as a blow torch would give it.

[ZaineB]

I shoot maybe a dozen at the range,depends whether the sighting in is going well. I'd get bored stiff plugging 60 rounds at paper

60 rounds at a time on paper, what a waste of ammo, at least thats how I see it haha. sooner be out on the hunt.

[sbd850]

I shoot maybe a dozen at the range,depends whether the sighting in is going well. I'd get bored stiff plugging 60 rounds at paper

60 rounds at a time on paper, what a waste of ammo, at least thats how I see it haha. sooner be out on the hunt.

I'm keen to get into hunting down the track and did get my game license, however I like to develop skills on things and the idea of eventually getting into reloading and finding the most accurate round and eventually being able to shoot 1/4 MOA groups is appealing to me, as is eventual longer range shooting.

Also I'm not sure how effective a 6.5CM is for hunting so I'd probably go for a .308 or .300 win some time down the track when I do get into get into hunting - but that would be a subject for a while new thread.

[in2anity]

Sweet, 10 rounds at a time sounds like plenty. I may even just do 3 shot groups to give the illusion of getting more out of my rounds, who knows.

3 rounds at a time sounds like a sensible plan, but it's gonna get real tedious, real quick with all those breaks. The other big aspect you may not have considered is the wind. Many shooters adopt the strategy "shoot as fast as reasonable, when the wind is in your favor"; that's how a team shoot works - the wind coach waits until the wind stabilizes, adjusts the sights and commands to fire. The shooter then tries to shoot their 10 rounds as quick as they comfortably can while the wind is more or less constant. If you take a break after only three shots, chances are, the wind will switch on you and the POI will move, making for an overall crappy group. And the further out there you shoot, the more this comes into play.

Many F-class solo shooters make a habit of "cranking" through their rounds as quickly as possible, in fact (without name dropping) I know a champion who tries to shoot all ten on a single breath, to keep his windage variance to an absolute minimum.

Granted I don't know you personally, but I doubt you'll be so precious after a few outings. Just go shoot, and enjoy. So long as you don't let the barrel turn into a soldering iron. Whether you shoot 3-round groups vs 10-round (over say a 3 minute period) is probably immeasurable in terms of throat life.

[ZaineB]

I shoot maybe a dozen at the range,depends whether the sighting in is going well. I'd get bored stiff plugging 60 rounds at paper

60 rounds at a time on paper, what a waste of ammo, at least thats how I see it haha. sooner be out on the hunt.

I'm keen to get into hunting down the track and did get my game license, however I like to develop skills on things and the idea of eventually getting into reloading and finding the most accurate round and eventually being able to shoot 1/4 MOA groups is appealing to me, as is eventual longer range shooting.

Also I'm not sure how effective a 6.5CM is for hunting so I'd probably go for a .308 or .300 win some time down the track when I do get into get into hunting - but that would be a subject for a while new thread.

yes alternative subject re-other calibers/cartridges, however on the note of the 6.5cm, theyre more than effective for varminting and middle sized game, would it be my choice pig hunting? no, and in many circumstances deer shooting wouldnt be legal as its under 6.8mm/.277/270win, I have a cousin and a few mates that fox and goat shoot with them, works a treat.

oh dont take my comment as discouragement haha, Burn as much powder and throw as much lead and copper as you need to feel confident and proficient, nothing better than being super confident in your shot placement when hunting involves so many variables, the more you master the better, 6mm+ projies with good BC have always been easy to obtain accuracy out of and a decent amount of work on your form and you'll be punching clover leaves before you know it.

I still plink a tonne with the 22, cheap, quiet, fun

[Gamerancher]

If you plan on shooting factory ammo @ $80/20, 2 to 3 boxes per session will soon have you losing interest. That will certainly add up to the cost of a reloading setup real quick.
When it comes to reloading, there is no reason to wring the crap out of this cartridge to get excellent accuracy. It is a very efficient cartridge that works with a wide range of projectile weights and loadings. If you're not trying to win 1000 yard matches, you really don't need the 147gr ELD-M's running @ 2900f/s.

Find a load that works for you that is not at maximum loading. For example: 10% less powder is 10% less heat / wear and tear.
It is a no brainer to look after your barrel by not shooting the crap out of it and using a good cleaning regime. Since we're not talking benchrest here, the life of your barrel should exceed 4000 rounds without any worries before you will notice accuracy "fading". The throat is the place where most wear occurs and given the quality of Tikka barrels, any competent gunsmith should be able to do a "cut and shut" with a new chamber for you. This will extend the life of your barrel, if and when the time comes. ( I've got a Tikka .222 barrel that I had done, re-chambered to 5.6 x 50 mag actually, and it will still print a tiny clover-leaf group after more than 6000 rounds.)

As for hunting, Why wouldn't it be any good for pigs???? I've shot pigs with everything from a .22LR to a .45-70 and a lot in between. Considering you can equal or better 6.5 x 55 performance with it, apart from minimum calibre restrictions for deer, have at it, it'll kill anything you point it at.

[LawrenceA]

Yeah 6.5 is fine for pigs and seriously big enough for most deer. Not legal for Sambar but is for Fallow.
The other option is wear occurs is to set the barrel back a turn and recut the chamber.
This keeps the same calibre but removes the throat erosion which is what happens first.

[Larry]

I would say that the 6.5 is good for about 3000 rounds in total. However it is my experience that the muzzle end of the barrel actually wears first. You will find that it wears in funnel fashion and the depth of the wear can be measured using a pin gauge. The gunsmith will take the worn amount off and recrown the barrel needed at about 1000 rounds. About 40 rounds a match or practice session I would say is the norm.

[SCJ429]

I try a save my match barrels as much as I can and shoot some training rifles chambered in 223 and 30 BR. I have one Tikka which is on its forth barrel. I have had good success with Maddco and Benchmark barrels.

Try not to toast your barrel. Give it a break when it is hot to touch. Takes longer to cool in summer obviously. You will find that 2,200 rounds shot in long strings shooting 140 grain projectiles at the fastest you can send them will do far more damage to the throat than 90 grain projectiles shot at lower pressure in a hunting situation.

[Blr243]

I’m 52 and have never replaced a barrel. It’s not a regular expense u need to plan for . Car rego comes around more often

[bladeracer]

Considering how much 2200rds of factory 6.5CM is going to cost you, I would really suggest loading your own ammo. Match ammo is going to be around $3 apiece. If you can find a dealer happy to discount it for bulk, maybe you can get 1000rds for $2000, maybe.

Or you can spend under $500 on equipment. Then $100 on 100 pieces of brass and just reload them every week. Match bullets you should be able to get for about 60 to 80 cents apiece, or even less on special - I bought 1000 147gn ELDM's pretty cheap for example. Primers are about $400 per case of 5000. Powders are about $450 for 4kg (60,000gn or about 1700rds). You should be able to make your 2200rds for under $2000.

And you can very likely build a very accurate round at lower pressures than factory ammo, so your barrel will last significantly longer.

[on_one_wheel]

It’d be interesting to calculate the cumulative time those 2200 bullets spend traveling down the barrel and work out how many seconds the barrel will actually last.

Well let's say the average 6.5CM round travels at roughly 2700 feet per second. That's 820 meters.

If we divide 820m by .60 (60cm/24 inch barrel) that equals 1,366.

If we divide one second by 1,366 that's 0.000732 seconds that the round spends going through the barrel per bullet.

So if we multiply that by 2200 that's 1.6 seconds.

Interesting, technically barrels last less than 2 seconds of being fired.

Its an impressive amount of energy and heat in that combined firing time when your consider that most if the wear is caused by the extreme heat created in the first few inches that erodes the barrel.
Goes to show how giving enough tine between shots to manage heat pays dividends, the potential to save barrel life through not loading hot (not that many target shooters would reduce loads to save life) and also how impressive the performance of chrome lined machine gun barrels are considering that they can sustain fire for so long, so many times without simply disintegrating.

[sbd850]

Considering how much 2200rds of factory 6.5CM is going to cost you, I would really suggest loading your own ammo. Match ammo is going to be around $3 apiece. If you can find a dealer happy to discount it for bulk, maybe you can get 1000rds for $2000, maybe.

Or you can spend under $500 on equipment. Then $100 on 100 pieces of brass and just reload them every week. Match bullets you should be able to get for about 60 to 80 cents apiece, or even less on special - I bought 1000 147gn ELDM's pretty cheap for example. Primers are about $400 per case of 5000. Powders are about $450 for 4kg (60,000gn or about 1700rds). You should be able to make your 2200rds for under $2000.

And you can very likely build a very accurate round at lower pressures than factory ammo, so your barrel will last significantly longer.

Good points. I'm absolutely open to reloading, I'd just have to learn how to do it. If I can make rounds for a dollar abouts then it's a no brainer.

I'll start with factory ammo and I'll keep all the brass. How many times can the same brass be reloaded?

Cheers

[bladeracer]

Considering how much 2200rds of factory 6.5CM is going to cost you, I would really suggest loading your own ammo. Match ammo is going to be around $3 apiece. If you can find a dealer happy to discount it for bulk, maybe you can get 1000rds for $2000, maybe.

Or you can spend under $500 on equipment. Then $100 on 100 pieces of brass and just reload them every week. Match bullets you should be able to get for about 60 to 80 cents apiece, or even less on special - I bought 1000 147gn ELDM's pretty cheap for example. Primers are about $400 per case of 5000. Powders are about $450 for 4kg (60,000gn or about 1700rds). You should be able to make your 2200rds for under $2000.

And you can very likely build a very accurate round at lower pressures than factory ammo, so your barrel will last significantly longer.

Good points. I'm absolutely open to reloading, I'd just have to learn how to do it. If I can make rounds for a dollar abouts then it's a no brainer.

I'll start with factory ammo and I'll keep all the brass. How many times can the same brass be reloaded?

Cheers

As with the barrel life, if you work it hard it wears out sooner. I have no need to run any rifle at factory levels, a few hundred feet per second less means nothing, but significantly increases barrel life, and brass life. The same reason we don't drive around in first gear at redline, it wears out the vehicle's drive train a whole faster than going up a few gears and reducing rpm.

I have brass with 20+ loads on it. With more reduced loads the brass will probably last longer than I will.

[MontyShooter]

A new barrel is about $800 odd. That's peanuts compared to the $6-8k of ammo you will burn through. As others have said, maybe look into reloading.

If you're anything like me, you'll end up with a dozen or more guns in different calibers, so the load gets spread out anyway.