Is my barrel worn out?

[big johnson]

My 6.5 Creed did the same same thing , only had 200 rounds down the tube. Then I remembered I'd taken it on a 4 wheeler ride. Checked mounting screws and they were all tight so I put another scope on and it shoots lites out again. Whenever I have issue and pull the scope to check the base screws and if they're ok I'll slap another scope on to check the group.

 

[Starlite]

I recently swapped out my creedmoor barrel in my bergara after 2500+ down the pipe. It didn't open up anywhere near yours. I'm selling mine as a hunting barrel now. As others have stated look for other reasons first (tightening cleaning, increase COL)
as well if you can find a box of Hornady precision hunter shoot then. You'll have your answer.

 

[bassassassin104]

I agree with the group, lots of variables. Check one thing at a time, starting with mechanical elements, inspect and re-torque everything. Swap scopes with a known good scope. Scope your barrel to make sure there is nothing obviously wrong, and I will add one more thing. There are numerous methods for load development and many of them produce good results. When you did your load development and you settled on 2914 ish FPS, what was the top and bottom of the charge weights of that node? Did you happen to do a ladder test along with shooting through a chronograph? Could it be that you are on the edge of a node and some throat erosion and/or copper/carbon build up is now causing fliers? I have never intentionally loaded on the edge of a node, to 100% validate this theory, but I have seen similar results from doing some fine tuning of loads. Working up after a ladder test from the bottom of a "node" in .1 grain increments. I often find that on the top and bottom edge of the node, I will get 2 or 3 shots touching and then 2 fliers.

 

[RWE]

From personal experience including back and forth with Mono and jacketed….

Start with cleaning. No, not like your dad (mom, bro, sis, uncle, aunt, YouTube hero…) showed or told ya. Look into "severe copper fouling" and go slow, rinse, repeat as needed. I used a Kg product (KG2, https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1078729062) my buddy used Kroil and JB paste. Rifles were reborn, honestly.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Highlander44]

I have a 6.5 CM have no idea of how many rounds Ive put through it....................i would guess well over 1500 The issue Im having is that shooting the 143 ELD-X Ive alway shot at 1/2 MOA at 200 yards Now im having a hard time keeping my groups under 2 inches at 100 Same load ive always shot. This morning cool weather dead calm I shot three 5 shot groups and both were over 3" at 100 Crazy..............Im guessing my barrel has had it .

I even tried brand new Lapua Brass I anneal after each shot

It that a fair assumption?

Only way to really know is to buy yourself a bore-scope, they're very affordable now, less than $100. The bore scope is helpful for any things including cleaning

 

[ndking1126]

That's not the conclusion you should come to yet. My 260 Rem had similar problems. After trying everything and consulting on here, I purchased a $50 borescope and realized my barrel was not clean despite multiple attempts with multiple cleaners to clean it. Some Iosso paste worked wonders at cleaning the barrel and was easy to verify success with the borescope. I'd try that before assuming the barrel is shot out.

Edit, I didn't see the part about it being dropped first time I read it. As others have said, that's definitely a different set of likely problems.

 

[floyd kittrell]

When's the last time you cleaned it? And CLEANED it, not just running a patch down it...

Going from LRX to ELD's is a recipe for disaster without cleaning all the copper out first.

Yes , I second that Sir !!

 

[floyd kittrell]

Also have the crown checked after you strip the barrel and test .

 

[Greyfox]

I have shot a lot of PRS using both 6.5CM and 6.5 Lapua. Barrel life seems to average 2200 rounds. Shooting is generally warm weather and relatively long strings shot in both competition and practice. Indications of a shot out barrel besides the loss of accuracy can be seen with a bore scope in the form of fire cracking in the throat and lands. Increases in BTO measurements also are an indication. I use 140gr ELDM's at 2760FPS. This barrel life can certainly vary with some shooters claiming much longer accurate life with their rifles, some shorter.
At one of our PRS matches there was a team from Ruger shooting 6.5CMs in their PRS chassis rifle. We asked them what they were seeing for barrel life and they confirmed 2000-2400 rounds under the conditions I described above.

 

[26Reload]

I replaced a shot out shilen chromoly... put a new proof SS on..huge weight difference..i liked the old barrel much more....it was a noodle barrel hunting rifle....
The shilen was originally chambered 260rem...shot a lot of rl17 thru it...then rechambered with setback to 65284...put at least 1000 more through it.....switched it out because it couldnt do the job or I couldn't do the job any longer.....that shilen barrel was firecracked at least 4" beyond the throat.....and bad spots further along in the barrel........id say in excess of 2000 thru it.....

 

[Rosebud]

Dead scope! Wife knocked mine off the kitchen table onto the tile floor. Leopold VX5 with all the bells and whistles. Killed it. Back to Leopold. You exactly told what went on with mine after its fall.

 

[Sniper1004]

A lot of good advise, one other thing you can check is your action screws and make sure they are torqued back to specs. I would take the action out of the stock and check for any signs of a problem. If everything looks good torque back to specs in the suggested sequence.

 

[Coues110]

I have a 6.5 CM have no idea of how many rounds Ive put through it....................i would guess well over 1500 The issue Im having is that shooting the 143 ELD-X Ive alway shot at 1/2 MOA at 200 yards Now im having a hard time keeping my groups under 2 inches at 100 Same load ive always shot. This morning cool weather dead calm I shot three 5 shot groups and both were over 3" at 100 Crazy..............Im guessing my barrel has had it .

I even tried brand new Lapua Brass I anneal after each shot

It that a fair assumption?

Clean barrel to the steel, check the crown for dings or wear and freshen if needed with a burnishing tool. Bore scope it and if it's heat cracked fire a few Tubb's throat maintenance or lapping bullets thru it or polish the throat with light abrasive.

 

[Calvin45]

As others have said, lots of other more likely suspects than a shot out barrel!

number one suspect is the scope and it's mounts. I had this happen with my 270, kept thinking "what is WRONG with me!!??" in a season of multiple misses at moderate distances which, while I'm no sniper, was very much uncharacteristic. Turned out it was slightly loose, tightened everything back up and it went exactly back to how it was before.

another question would be to check the muzzle, if the crown of the muzzle has been notably dinged up on something and is not concentric anymore or has a gouge taken out of it that'll do it.

another possibility is in the stock, if pillar bedded have the action screws loosened?

if using a cheaper synthetic stock on a supposedly free floated barrel, is the stock contacting the barrel when it's supposed to free float? Contrary to some literature synthetics can and do warp over time. Had this happen with the same 270! A cheap savage 111, i whittled down the stock with a utility knife where it was touching the barrel and shouldn't have been . It was ugly already, no regrets, it shot better after I did that.

finally a real long shot…are you using a digital scale? If so, verify with beam scale that it is in fact throwing consistent charge weights. If they're significantly off it just might be able to screw thjngs up this much, though I fully admit I doubt this is the issue