Barrel life of Rem PSS?

ursus · April 24, 2001, 09:12 PM

Hello all,
Just a ? thrown out here. Anyone have any idea of # of rounds can be shot through one of these heavy barrels before
accuracy is affected? Side note.. What if only factory match
ammo is used? Thanks

Wallew · April 25, 2001, 02:10 PM

The SWAT officers that I know of who shoot five hundred rounds a month through their heavy barrel Remington 700's told me that they expect a MINIMUM of 5000 rounds before even worrying about accuracy shift.

I would personally think that number to be considerably higher, especially with factory or reloaded MATCH grade ammo.

I am sure others out there have differing viewpoints. Of course, I don't try the "one shot to the head and a hostage's life is at stake" shot very often. So, unless it's been a really old barrel that was not been properly broken in, and then properly maintained and cleaned after that, I would think at least the 5K range is adequate. For most of us, that's a life time of shooting. For some of us, it's only a matter of a couple or three years...

HankL · April 25, 2001, 08:32 PM

ursus, you ask a very perplexing question. The life of any barrel will depend on the way it is used and taken care of.
My Rem PSS in 308 has exactly 2753 rounds through it and it is fine. At first, I only shot Fed Match 168 though it and it took some breaking in and tweaking the rig to get everything together. Mild rate of fire and good care could equal 5000 rounds + or it could go nuts the next time out

The 308 as loaded for gas guns is pretty easy on barrels.
The upside, other than spending some money, is that you can screw a great barrel on it when you shoot the first one out

Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Cheapo · April 26, 2001, 12:07 PM

Caliber/pressure (BIG effects), chrome or non-chrome bore, types of bullets and even powder type (smaller effects) can all change the number of rounds.

Assuming .308, regular steel, no chrome lining, and standard gilding metal jackets on your bullets, PLUS no abuse of the crown or abuse of the throat (corrosion from mixing cleaners, etc.)---->accuracy generally improves for 2-3,000 rounds, stays steady or even gets a bit better until at least 7,000 rounds. The dropoff in accuracy tends to be gradual and may not even begin until more than 10,000 rounds. You're lucky if group sizes are less than 50% bigger than the peak accuracy at 15,000 rounds.

Whether that's still enough accuracy for your purposes is up to you. Barrel throats can be almost gone, while the total system still performs less than 2 MOA, sometimes even at 1.25 MOA or less.

April 26, 2001, 12:07 PM	#4
Cheapo Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 1998 Posts: 986	It depends. . . Caliber/pressure (BIG effects), chrome or non-chrome bore, types of bullets and even powder type (smaller effects) can all change the number of rounds. Assuming .308, regular steel, no chrome lining, and standard gilding metal jackets on your bullets, PLUS no abuse of the crown or abuse of the throat (corrosion from mixing cleaners, etc.)---->accuracy generally improves for 2-3,000 rounds, stays steady or even gets a bit better until at least 7,000 rounds. The dropoff in accuracy tends to be gradual and may not even begin until more than 10,000 rounds. You're lucky if group sizes are less than 50% bigger than the peak accuracy at 15,000 rounds. Whether that's still enough accuracy for your purposes is up to you. Barrel throats can be almost gone, while the total system still performs less than 2 MOA, sometimes even at 1.25 MOA or less.

April 24, 2001, 09:12 PM	#1
ursus Senior Member Join Date: March 18, 1999 Posts: 132	Hello all, Just a ? thrown out here. Anyone have any idea of # of rounds can be shot through one of these heavy barrels before accuracy is affected? Side note.. What if only factory match ammo is used? Thanks

April 25, 2001, 02:10 PM	#2
Wallew Junior member Join Date: October 3, 1999 Posts: 910	The SWAT officers that I know of who shoot five hundred rounds a month through their heavy barrel Remington 700's told me that they expect a MINIMUM of 5000 rounds before even worrying about accuracy shift. I would personally think that number to be considerably higher, especially with factory or reloaded MATCH grade ammo. I am sure others out there have differing viewpoints. Of course, I don't try the "one shot to the head and a hostage's life is at stake" shot very often. So, unless it's been a really old barrel that was not been properly broken in, and then properly maintained and cleaned after that, I would think at least the 5K range is adequate. For most of us, that's a life time of shooting. For some of us, it's only a matter of a couple or three years...

April 25, 2001, 08:32 PM	#3
HankL Senior Member Join Date: March 11, 1999 Location: The Sunny South Posts: 2,174	ursus, you ask a very perplexing question. The life of any barrel will depend on the way it is used and taken care of. My Rem PSS in 308 has exactly 2753 rounds through it and it is fine. At first, I only shot Fed Match 168 though it and it took some breaking in and tweaking the rig to get everything together. Mild rate of fire and good care could equal 5000 rounds + or it could go nuts the next time out The 308 as loaded for gas guns is pretty easy on barrels. The upside, other than spending some money, is that you can screw a great barrel on it when you shoot the first one out Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh