Nature Boy
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
- Messages
- 8,284
I know I’ve been living on borrowed time with my 6BRA for a while now. Conventional wisdom would say that barrels in this chambering should last between 1,800 - 2,500 rounds and I just crossed the 2,500 mark.
However, the barrel still shoots great. Over the last few months I’ve shot in a state match, regional match and a few club matches and have done very well. Last month I shot a clean 600 with 39 X’s (that’s 60 shots sub MOA at 600 yards with 39 of them 1/2 MOA)
There’s not much of a consensus on what signs indicate a barrel is toast apart from the general “odd flyers” or “group’s opening up” but is it a gradual decline in accuracy or is it more like going over a cliff?
Last weekend I shot a club match and had 3 dropped shots late in the match that I couldn’t attribute to me or the conditions. I figured that was my sign. I decided to head to the range this week, shoot some groups at 100 yards and see how they compared to when the barrel was fresh.
I shot 3 groups of 5 each expecting to validate a decline in accuracy but that wasn’t what I found
The groups measured between 0.2 MOA an 0.3 MOA
Regardless, I’ve started to lose some confidence in my equipment and nothing good comes from that so it’s time to retire this barrel. I went ahead and made the call to the gunsmith today. I have the barrel blank so turnaround will be relatively quick. I have a regional NRA match I want to shoot come the end of April.
However, the barrel still shoots great. Over the last few months I’ve shot in a state match, regional match and a few club matches and have done very well. Last month I shot a clean 600 with 39 X’s (that’s 60 shots sub MOA at 600 yards with 39 of them 1/2 MOA)
There’s not much of a consensus on what signs indicate a barrel is toast apart from the general “odd flyers” or “group’s opening up” but is it a gradual decline in accuracy or is it more like going over a cliff?
Last weekend I shot a club match and had 3 dropped shots late in the match that I couldn’t attribute to me or the conditions. I figured that was my sign. I decided to head to the range this week, shoot some groups at 100 yards and see how they compared to when the barrel was fresh.
I shot 3 groups of 5 each expecting to validate a decline in accuracy but that wasn’t what I found
The groups measured between 0.2 MOA an 0.3 MOA
Regardless, I’ve started to lose some confidence in my equipment and nothing good comes from that so it’s time to retire this barrel. I went ahead and made the call to the gunsmith today. I have the barrel blank so turnaround will be relatively quick. I have a regional NRA match I want to shoot come the end of April.
