Throat Erosion in .17 rem

[ELMOUSMC]

I recently got my hands on a .17 rem and am not at all pleased with the groups it is putting out,1 to 2 moa at 100 yds from sand bags and more than a few fliers.
The rifle had some where around 600 rds fired through it and is in pristine condition and it sports a Nikon monarch 4x16 sf.according to the guy I bought it from he only used factory ammo(rem 25 gr HP).
After the poor showing at the range I took it to my local smith and we scoped the bore and found extensive throat erosion.Question 1) Is the 17 rem using factory rounds always going to show that much throat damage? Question 2)Was the seller possibly using hot hand loads and thats what caused the damage?Question 3) what replacement barrel would be my best choice? Thanks in advance:)
ELMOUSMC

[j.chappell]

Never have heard that especialy at 600 rounds. What rifle is it?

J.

[PointOneSeven]

I suppose it's possible, it's a pretty fast round, isn't it? But it's more likely there were more rounds shot than mentioned. I bought a pistol once with 'only 200 rounds' through it. The wear and shot springs said otherwise :rolleyes:.

[j.chappell]

I'm with PointOneSeven on this one. Does it appear to have an excessive lead yo begin with?

J.

[Scorch]

I have never heard the 17 Rem calle da throat-burner, but any case that is significantly overbore (17 Rem included) has the potential to be one. I have seen cartridges that burn significantly more powder than the 17 Rem, and even the 6mm-06 (quite possibly one of the worst) will not significantly damage the throat in 600 rounds. My guess is that the biggest threat to a 17 would be wear from a cleaning rod, not throat erosion. If it were mine, I would try lapping out the throat with very fine polishing compound, or you can laways have the barrel set back and recut the chamber, if the throat is bad enough to affect accuracy.

[BurkGlocker]

With a velocity of 4000 fps, it is possible that if you fired a large string of rounds even with a bullet thats .172" that you can get that kind of wear. But only after 600 rounds with that much wear, he mustve shot like 100 rounds or more back to back with no barrel cool down to cause that kind of erosion. My .17 Rem was a sharpshooter and quite accurate, but the person that I bought it from took great care of it, but I think that I shot more rounds out of than he did... :D

[FrankenMauser]

Might've been hot handloads. Might've been factory ammo.

A friend of mine picked up a used .223 WSSM from, of course, a good friend of his. "It's only has 400 rounds through it, and shoots great".... Was what he was told.

"It only has 400 round through it and won't hit a damned thing"... Is how I was approached.

The throat looked like it had been sandblasted into oblivion. After some questions directed at the original owner, we found that all 400 rounds were factory 55 grain loads. Almost all of that, fired within a 2 hour period on a prarie dog hunt.

I guess he didn't understand that oil burning off the barrel was a bad thing....

[ELMOUSMC]

I was across the river today and I got a little more info on the .17 rem I bought.It has made 3 trips to S.Dakota on P-dog hunts with a total of almost 2000 rds of hand loads run through it,so the question of what happened to the throat is answered.
Now the question of what barrel should I be looking for comes up.I am considering a Shilen #3 1 in 10 26'' or a Krieger #4 heavy sporter 1 in 9 27'' if anyone has an idea please let me know at this point money is not a consideration with in reason
ELMOUSMC

The rifle is a Remington

[j.chappell]

I like Krieger but that’s just what I have most experience with.

Just wondering why you are looking for such a long barrel for such a small cartridge. I'd go with a 22"-24" tube at the most. Unless of course you are looking for added weight. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you start losing velocity at that length. I have just never seen a 17REM with a barrel length over 24" so I can’t say for sure.

J.