Burnt out Barre?

[Jake Leibke]

I’ve never shot out a barrel before…
Here what I’ve got. 22 creedmoor. About 900-1,000 rounds done the barrel I think. It just started shooting poorly the last few times I’ve been out. At first blamed it on the wind. The last time it was terrible. Shots went high then low then back high.. you get the idea. Shot it on paper again today the confirm what I was thinking.

Here’s the grouping from my starting load. Low shot was a wrong direction dial when I was zeroing, adjusted and the 4 shots circled are the result.

Grouping from today.

Tried checking seating depth again. From what I can tell the boat tail junction now barely sits in case mouth. Loaded round vs what I measured, or close since I just set case next to loaded round for visual.

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[TxLite]

Sounds to me like maybe your throat is burnt out if it’s eroded to the point that the bullet is barely contacting the case when touching the lands. Your round count is about in line with what I’ve heard for 22cm barrel life. Maybe slightly on the low side but it’s in the realm.

 

[WeiserBucks]

If the rest of the platform is solid, looks like the barrel is done.

 

[Formidilosus]

Could be done- however, the only time I’ve seen a barrel “shot out” that went from good to horrific like that, was a bad barrel that started flaking rifling out. Every barrel I’ve seen goes from 1 to 1.5 MOA for ten round groups, to around 2 MOA and stays there, but drops MV.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Could be done- however, the only time I’ve seen a barrel “shot out” that went from good to horrific like that, was a bad barrel that started flaking rifling out. Every barrel I’ve seen goes from 1 to 1.5 MOA for ten round groups, to around 2 MOA and stays there, but drops MV.

This is a tikka factory barrel that started as 223 and was chambered to 22 cm. I bought it from a guy on the classifieds here that said it had about 150 rounds on it. I’ve shot it about 900 more, give or take. Muzzle velocity has dropped according to what I am having to dial. Haven’t confirmed how much over a chrono at all.


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[Boltgun]

Maybe it was “150 rounds” +/-500?

 

[Jake Leibke]

Maybe it was “150 rounds” +/-500?

It could have been. Price was right on it either way.


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[XLR]

Theres a lot of other information to look at besides just the group size when looking at a barrel that is toast. Could just be throat erosion and now you are jumping the bullet far enough that the rifle doesn't like the load. Barrel could be dirty and just needs a good cleaning. The biggest thing that I have noticed is a decrease in velocity and you will see vertical dispersion at distance. Quick fouling after a cleaning is another sign of it getting worn.

With how its grouping I would go through and check all your screws and make sure its not a loose scope base, mount etc.

 

[doc holiday13]

Can you seat the bullets for a longer OAL ??

 

[Jake Leibke]

Theres a lot of other information to look at besides just the group size when looking at a barrel that is toast. Could just be throat erosion and now you are jumping the bullet far enough that the rifle doesn't like the load. Barrel could be dirty and just needs a good cleaning. The biggest thing that I have noticed is a decrease in velocity and you will see vertical dispersion at distance. Quick fouling after a cleaning is another sign of it getting worn.

With how its grouping I would go through and check all your screws and make sure its not a loose scope base, mount etc.

Cleaned the barrel just prior to the shot group posted here. Throat does seem eroded, boattail junction seems to be at mouth of case instead of case neck/ shoulder junction. Went through and checked to ensure everything was tight.


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[Jake Leibke]

Can you seat the bullets for a longer OAL ??

I think I could but not by a lot and not sure how much of a difference it would make at this point with how much throat erosion there seems to be. I would have to seat bullet so boattail is at case mouth.


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[doc holiday13]

Its worth a shot at setting your OAL to be longer because it will put you closer to the non eroded lands. You should measure to see how far from the lands you are and then adjust accordingly, but being that its 6 creed and you're ~1k rounds down the tube you should start planning for a new barrel. I don't load or shoot 6 creed so I couldn't tell you how far off the lands you should roughly be. This is why you should always measure your bullet's distance off the lands once you've developed your load

 

[Jake Leibke]

Its worth a shot at setting your OAL to be longer because it will put you closer to the non eroded lands. You should measure to see how far from the lands you are and then adjust accordingly, but being that its 6 creed and you're ~1k rounds down the tube you should start planning for a new barrel. I don't load or shoot 6 creed so I couldn't tell you how far off the lands you should roughly be. This is why you should always measure your bullet's distance off the lands once you've developed your load

Well it’s a 22 cm. The picture I have with the loaded round and brass and bullet next to that is about where I’d need to be for it to be about the same off jam as when I started. Hard to tell I’m the pic but boattail junction would need to be at mouth of brass.

I have another barrel that should be here in a couple weeks so I’ll switch it out then.


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[Harvey_NW]

I vote you do a torque check on all your hardware and quit worrying about people that believe you need to be close to the lands to have an accurate load, seat the boattail at or just above the neck and shoulder junction like you did in the beginning and shoot a 10 round group, report back with the target.

 

[Jake Leibke]

I vote you do a torque check on all your hardware and quit worrying about people that believe you need to be close to the lands to have an accurate load, seat the boattail at or just above the neck and shoulder junction like you did in the beginning and shoot a 10 round group, report back with the target.

That’s the target posted in my first post.


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[Harvey_NW]

That’s the target posted in my first post.

Right, but did you torque everything before you shot that group? That group got pretty wild, like something is loose.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Right, but did you torque everything before you shot that group? That group got pretty wild, like something is loose.

I did.


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