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This goes out to those smarter than me...what is the average life span for a Grendel barrel? I have an AA 19.5. I know there are those who swear by Shilen, but for what I was doing (hunting/target) couldn't justify the cost.
Standard in units I have been in was M4/16 barrels usual get tagged out/fail PFI/LTI at about 8000 rds, while I know the M40 sniper rifles are done at about 1000rds on the high end.
Anyone burned out a barrel yet? Any vis on what we in the Hoard can expect for barrel life?
OCD minds want to know...
Your barrel life will depend a lot on your accuracy standards.
If you are looking for precision like the M40, the Grendel case volume suggests that you should get almost twice the life.
If you are happy with the three moa that many accept in the M4/M16, then 12,000 rounds might happen.
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JA - check, I hear what you are saying. Right now, mine is shooting sub MOA (less than 300rds). Relaods and factory ammo are all running about the 2500fps area. Figure if I can keep from firing too many hot rounds, I should be good for 2000ish before I lose MOA, and 4000-5000 before I loose 2 MOA. Thoughts?
Hard to predict with any significant precision.
Some of the folks on this forum have burned out barrels -- but in larger volume cartridges. My hope is that some of them will chime in with their experience.
It also seems that a bunch of the routine posters have run a few thousand rounds through their Grendels. Their experience will help put a lower bound on what appears to be a pretty long-lived barrel.
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There is firing rate to take into account and this will have a marked effect on barrel life. A thousand rounds fired in ones and twos will still be fresh and shoot as well as new but a thousand rounds fired in multiple magazines full one after the other may well have had of its best.
I have never shot out a 6.5 Grendel barrel but I've shot out a half dozen .223 barrels. There are some rules of thumb that it is simply and equation that relates the life of a barrel to the pounds of powder burnt through it.... but I don't know if that is true or not. I can say with some certainty that a 20" Wylde chambered 1:7.7" Krieger will hold X ring at 600 yards for somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 rounds. I have one with over 6,000 that will no longer hold X ring at 600 yards but will still shoot .5 MOA at 100 yards.
However cut rifle barrels last longer than button rifle barrels. I have seen several Wilson barrels with 1:7 twist and Wylde chambers go at around 3,000-3,500 rounds.
From every thing I can tell about the Grendel it will last longer than a .223, I've gone up to 7,000 rounds in a cut rifle barrel and it was still holding MOA at 600 yards when I sold it and last I heard, three years later, it still was making the new owner happy.
As far as I know, none of us have shot out a 6.5 Grendel Barrel.
Bob
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Bob,, Any hunter on here would like a half worn out bbl, that still holds .5 moa - 100 yds. Hee-hee ! When my Entry upper starts to fade----- years from now- I'll give it to my younger brother- he hunts in an even worse tree-foilage- jungle scene than I do. I agree on the longetivety of the grendel bbl.- As long as some of us don't speed it up too much... Thanks, Dan
I highly doubt you could (safely) push the Grendel round fast enough to make it a barrel burner .... which is a good thing. Some other issues that effect barrel life is the type of powder you use. Some burn hotter and are harder on the throat than others. Many time, velocity has a lot to do with a rifle being a "barrel burner". The faster you push the round, the hotter the load, the higher the pressure, the greater the friction etc. Which, all take thier toll on the throat and rifling. Then of course, the type of steel you use in a barrel has probably the greatest effect. A stainless barrel will last much much longer than a carbon steel barrel. Chrome Moly of course being the middle ground. These are all factors a shooter should take into account when buying a barrel or reloading
As for the life, it all depends on the use. If all you ever do is hunt short ranges and shoot paper at 200-300 yards. Well, you'll probably never burn out a barrel. Not to the extent that it would make any practical difference. Now, if you are shooting 1000 yard matches or extreme long range hunting, you may have a different/higher standard for what acceptable accuracy is. I have a 5.56 AR which is set up with a red dot sight, a green laser zero'd at 100 and co-witnessed iron sights. It's a close in weapon set up for short range intent. I'll shoot that thing that way till the barrel falls off (unless I decide to change the set up) because I don't really need it to be hyper accurate, minute of front door works just fine. Could I use it for long ranges? Sure, but it's not set up for that. I should also point out that most Grendel shooters only shoot semi-auto and probably don't just dump rounds through them (like bump firing etc. or full auto). And being kinder to a barrel (by not over heating it) also extends (or at least fails to shorten) barrel life a little.
I don't think 8000-10,000 rounds would be too much to ask for ...... for the average shooter.
That's just my .02 cents
Mutt,
You've captured the essence of why we cannot exactly predict, usually even to the nearest 1000 rounds, the barrel life of a particular rifle.
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Thanks for all the feeback gents.
