17 cal Barrel Life

[Sieg]

I recently acquired a Remington 700 CDL 17 Fireball Commemorative Edition, what is realistic barrel life expectation for the Fireball or similar?

The factory AccuTip ammo chronographs in the high 39's to low 4's, and for my development loads I'm trying to keep it in the mid 39's or less with 20g bullets.

It currently resides in a Magpul Hunter stock because the factory stock has a barrel support and is near perfect. The rifle had a 180 rounds through it when acquired (I shot 60 of those in 2008) and I've put 150 through it since.

Any experience/insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Depends on the accuracy requirements you need. Shooting small critters like squirrels needs more accuracy than shooting a coyote.

 

[Sieg]

Depends on the accuracy requirements you need. Shooting small critters like squirrels needs more accuracy than shooting a coyote.

.5"-.75" at 100yds is my reloading objective. Primary target is digger squirrels at 100-300yds.

I have a load using Nosler 20g tipped and H322 that's grouped .348" at 100yds w/ 0.06" jump. But velocity vs barrel life is my primary inquiry.

 

[GoWyo!]

You know it really depends on your volume/ rate of shooting. If you’re a dyed in the wool colony varmint shooter your barrel life is going to be much less than if you’re in the occasional coyote caller. If you heat up your barrel, it will wear faster. My Sako AI in 17 Rem has under 1500 rds through it. Have you used it a bit in all areas-Pdog towns, rock chucks, but mostly for coyote calling. (I’m ashamed that I don’t know actual number). More wear occurs from cleaning than from shooting I would wager. Use RP 7.5 primers, these will prevent piercing in these high pressure little rounds. Well, at least in the 17 Remington, I don’t know if the fireball is prone to that or not, probably not.

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I think using thicker cup primers for 17s is a good idea. The pressures seem to spike faster than larger bores.

 

[Sieg]

You know it really depends on your volume/ rate of shooting. If you’re a dyed in the wool colony varmint shooter your barrel life is going to be much less than if you’re in the occasional coyote caller. If you heat up your barrel, it will wear faster. My Sako AI in 17 Rem has under 1500 rds through it. Have you used it a bit in all areas-Pdog towns, rock chucks, but mostly for coyote calling. (I’m ashamed that I don’t know actual number). More wear occurs from cleaning than from shooting I would wager. Use RP 7.5 primers, these will prevent piercing in these high pressure little rounds. Well, at least in the 17 Remington, I don’t know if the fireball is prone to that or not, probably not.

When shooting in central and eastern Oregon on very active pivots, I'm always cognizant of barrel temps. My Olympic Arms AR, barrel lasted about 14k (28 years) before accuracy fell off, I only loaded mags with 10 rds to minimize heat-soak. At the range I use a Chamber Chiller on my bolt guns every 3 shots when doing load development.

So far, I haven't experienced any signs of over-pressure with the Fireball using Rem factory brass. No primer issues with Win, CCI, and Fed primers, no hard bolt lifts, or ejector marks. The only brass issues I've encountered is an occasional split neck that appears to be associated with Remington's factory 4-point rectangular crimp that creates a stress-riser point in the case neck.

Using Gordon's Reloading Tool, with the right case and bullet data input, seems to give reasonably accurate pressure curve estimations so far. I'm not trying to set speed records with my loads, and 3,700-3,900 is the range I'd like to end up operating in, if that will deliver .5 moa accuracy

Given the above, is 3,500 rounds a reasonable barrel life expectation?

 

[GoWyo!]

Tough call to estimate. I always read how barrels were made to wear out. Start researching custom tubes @ 1500 rds. Id be torn between pacnor, lothar walther, shilen and lilja. Currently shoot a LW on my AR-17. I have less than 500 rds thru it.

 

[Sieg]

Tough call to estimate. I always read how barrels were made to wear out. Start researching custom tubes @ 1500 rds. Id be torn between pacnor, lothar walther, shilen and lilja. Currently shoot a LW on my AR-17. I have less than 500 rds thru it.

Barrells and tires.

 

[foxhunter223]

You could always use Point Blank ballistics program to give an idea on how many rounds your barrel may last.

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Pete

 

[rickiesrevenge]

I think you should run it where its accurate until the accuracy goes away. Then rebarrel!

 

[dale06]

I have shot 17s since the early 90s. They’re 2 rem 700s, in 17 Rem, and a 17 FB also came my way about 10 years ago. I shoot a lot of PDs. I suppose I have roughly 1500 rounds through each of them. I never shoot them hot and clean after 50 or so rounds. Both rifles are very accurate and I’ve seen no degradation of accuracy in either of them.

 

[KevinG]

This 17Javelina had 4000 rounds(documented)through the Shilen barrel before it was re-barrelled. The cleaned barrel would only shoot about 10 rounds......before bullets would start to tumble.......at about 4000fps.
Upon re-barreling my gunsmith sectioned the old barrel length-wise.......to find that 7" of rifling, in front of the chamber, was GONE!

I re-barrelled with a 27" Pac-Nor, 3 groove, 9.0" twist.......added new stock, new scope, new trigger(no pics yet).

Kevin

 

[17VLD]

Pictures or it didn't happen Kevin!
Guessing that Shilen was a 10 twist, bet you will love the 9 with the wonderful 25 vmax.
Matt

 

[17VLD]

Heck of an acquisition Sieg,beautiful rifle in a great caliber with plenty of brass. Wish Remington didn't orphan the 17FB or id probably have one.
I wish I'd kept better records on my 17Mach1v, I've shot a lot of pds with it and it sure is a favorite of mine. Just love anything made from the 221 case, enjoy it for about 3000 rounds they turn it into a 20VT
Matt

 

[dale06]

The 20 VT is a terrific round. I have a Sako A1 sporter and are XR 100 varmint barrel chambered in that round. The REM gets lots of PD work. I use the Sako on coyotes occaisonally.