6 Creed isn’t exactly a barrel friendly cartridge either, the two aren’t THAT different. I would either expect “no difference,” or 250ish rounds more at most. I would be amazed if someone could prove an average life improvement of 500 rounds for the Creed. I’ve burned out a bunch of 243win and 243AI barrels, and 4 barrels so far in 6 creed.
Barrel life is defined by the tolerance of the shooter for their desired use - so it can be a subjective decision. For example, I took a coyote rifle in 243win over 2500 rounds before giving up on the barrel. Accuracy held out, but velocity was bleeding badly for more than half of its life. For 0-400 yard shots on called coyotes, it wasn’t a big deal. One of my 600/1000yrd Benchrest barrels in 243AI, I took off at 750 rounds. My first 6 creed barrel should have been replaced at 1100. It still shot small, but the velocity loss was becoming nearly unmanageable. I started losing speed by 700 and was losing~35fps per hundred rounds by the end, and I took it off at 1471. Absolute train wreck for speed reliability, but it still shot ~2/3moa even at the end. I was pumping a grain and a half more powder to hold onto speed, and I was still almost 150fps SLOWER than when the barrel was new. I took my 3rd barrel off of that rifle after last season at 1505, it started losing velocity around 1100 - but not nearly as bad as that first barrel. It was about 60-65fps slower by 1500 than it was when new, and I didn’t mess with loads at all. I probably could have asked it for 500 more rounds, maybe adding more powder and chasing the lands, but I didn’t want to mess with starting this season on a short-life barrel. It’s still a 1/2moa barrel, just can’t trust it to hold steady speed when I have~$700 or more riding on a 2 day match, so a new barrel is cheap insurance.
I know a lot of guys claim they are getting 2,000 out of their 6 creeds, and that’s fine. None of mine have so far, and I’m not counting on any of them to ever get past 1500. I’ve talked to a bunch of guys and we’re often running the same speeds, bullets, powders, so my guess is those guys are either chasing lands and dumping more powder, or only looking at group size, with a lot looser tolerance for speed loss than I have.
