Hunting with a Used Barrel

I would. Mostly because my ethical shot distance limit on game would be well within the potential of your barrel. That and a hunting rifle won't get shot a lot like a competition or target rifle.

4" at 600 is plenty darn accurate for hunting. Thing is, it's 24" barrel which to me limits it's applications for most hunting rifles.

I'd be comfortable using it, if I was allowed to in my state.

Absolutely

Unless it is near shot out or had a bunch of proof loads shot through it then it is a perfectly serviceable rifle part.

It would appear that you know the history of the barrel and are the original owner then you know how much wear is on it

I have owned a .445 Super Mag Marlin 336 conversion and the previous owner had sourced a previously fired take off 444 Marlin barrel to do the conversion. Set it back a tad and rethreaded. On a lever gun this is a somewhat complicated procedure as the mag tube has to be shortened as well as the forend.

Nonetheless it was a great shooting rifle that is 50 state legal for hunting and packs a serious wallop on par with the 444 Marlin.

Would like to have one in .44 Mad Max.

Allen One1 said:

Would anyone put this "used" barrel on a hunting rifle?

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Of course.

earlthegoat2 said:

Would like to have one in .44 Mad Max.

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What is this?!

adcoch1 said:

What is this?!

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Put simply, a 44 magnum with 1.8” case length. 445 Super Mag is 1.6” for comparison. So a 44 caliber version of the .460 S&W but at lower pressures. Some folks will just trim 444 Marlin brass down and seat a 300+ gr bullet out to 444 Marlin COAL and shoot it in a 444. This does work great BTW.

The 44 Mad Max is a chambering however so you could run more typical bullet seating depths and not have to worry about a large jump to the grooves of the rifling.

To make the brass you can cut down 444 Marlin or 356 Winchester. The majority of folks have made NEF Handi Rifles into the 44 Mad Max but you can convert a 336 if you want a repeater.

Maybe. That is a little better than .7 MOA, which is good enough for hunting but not spectacular. I've seen hunting rifles match or beat that. The question is how many rounds have been down the tube? While that accuracy is good by hunting rifle standards how much longer will it keep doing that. I can buy a new rifle or barrel in 6.5 CM and count on it lasting at least 3000 rounds. Your barrel may still be shooting good for now, but be completely gone in another 200 rounds.

Every rifle I've ever hunted with has had a used barrel.
I've only ever hunted with used rifles though

Several hundred rounds of life left at .7 moa is more rounds and more accurate than most hunters will shoot out of a hunting rifle in their lifetime, so yea I'd happily use it if it were that consistent and accurate. Hunting and competing are two entirely different uses though.

Allen One1 said:

The barrel will have right at 1900 rounds down the tube when I pull it off. I feel the need to get under .5 MOA and that is why I'm swapping out to a higher quality barrel. Hoping that makes the difference. The wind on those groups was 2-8 mph and switching but I think I held to what the rifle is capable of right now.

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That is getting close to the end life of a 6.5 Creedmore, if not in fact, beyond it. The F Class guys who push their rounds as hard and fast as they can, they are not getting 1900 round accuracy life. A shooting bud of mine, his 6.5 wildcat, he was religiously measuring the throat erosion, carefully monitoring the groups. He went to the F Class Nationals in September and his barrel croaked. He went from well above average to almost last. I think he was on the second page of the results, there were people who had worse train wrecks, but that did not make him happy.

Rebarrel your rifle if you don't have confidence in the barrel. It is not like you are going to get another thousand rounds out of the thing.

If gun parts didnt have a habit of growing guns id want it. Someone could always rechamber to 6.5-284, or all the way to 6.5-06AI and get more life out of it.

Depends how much you are going to keep shooting it. If you leave it as is and put a box through it per season for sight-in, it'll be fine. Sub-MOA is plenty of accuracy for hunting. But if you're going to keep practicing with it, it's going to keep wearing.

Knowing the background, I wouldn't have any qualms about using it. I have a Savage 10 in .308, and if I ever wanted to make the switch to 6.5 Creedmor it seems like a more cost effective alternative than buying a whole new rifle. That being said, I'm not looking to switch, so purely a theoretical exercise, haha.

Lots of guys trade around match-used barrels as hunting rifle barrels, especially Savage barrels. A 0-300 yard coyote or deer rifle might never realize any difference as accuracy slips from 1 MOA to 1.5 over 500 rounds and 10 years, nor notice a slip of 100-150 fps.

I spun the barrel off of my PRS match rifle last winter after 1471 rounds, the last round taking my buck for the year. I’ll do the same this year (given a buck stupid enough to walk in front of me). At the end of last season, I had to add a half grain of powder for the second day of a match just to keep the same speed, as I was losing ~35fps per hundred rounds at that point. The rifle was still shooting ~3/4moa, plenty precise enough for hunting for a very long time to come.

I suppose I could buy a cheap Remington ADL used and slap that barrel onto it and be money ahead on the accuracy and be happy for a few years of coyote calling with it, but I do have plenty of coyote rifles already. I generally toss old barrels, as I don’t feel right about selling worn out goods, but I suppose SOMEONE could make good use of it, if I put forth the effort to make that connection.