.270 Winchester Barrel Life and Scope choice.

[mustardtiger56]

Hi guys,

So I've decided I would like to broaden my horizons and step out of my comfort zone when it comes to hunting/shooting. I figure a good place to start would be to really step up my shooting abilities so I am able to push beyond MPBR and become more precise in the process. My go to rifle that I would like to begin practice shooting up to 700 or so yards with is a Browning X-Bolt in .270 win. I have decided to go with a FFP scope as well after some research and have settled on a Vortex Viper 4-16x50 PST. Is this setup ideal for what I'm looking at doing (ie.versatile hunting rifle with long range capability) ? Or would you guys recommend selling and moving to something else?

One thing that I've also heard mixed reports on is .270 Win barrel life, some guys (including gunsmith) say that it is as low as 1000 rounds before accuracy falls off noticeably and others suggest up to around 4000. I really don't want to have to worry about burning out the barrel if I'm practicing to become proficient at extended ranges. When I bought the rifle I was told 3000 rounds was the minimum life I would get with a .270 barrel, this played a large part in the decision.

Anyways hanks for your input, let me know if I have a solid setup and am on the right track or if I need to really rethink this whole thing. If you know anything about ballpark .270 Win barrel life that would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[Greyfox]

Defining barrel life as a degradation of .5MOA precision, I would expect the barrel life to be a lot closer to 1000 then 4000, probably around 1500 rounds depending on the factors of heat, velocity, cleaning, etc......not much different from any other +3000FPS cartridge capable of taking game effectively at long range.

 

[mustardtiger56]

1500? That's not much. I guess I should have done more research than assuming the first few people agreeing on 4000 rounds were well informed.

 

[WildRose]

Barrel life is about a whole lot more than just how many rounds go down the tube.

If you want to maximize barrel life, no matter what the caliber theres a very simple rule of thumb.

Dont shoot it hot and keep shooting!

The 270 should last you a very long time if you avoid getting it hot.

Also in spite of what most of us were taught growing up you do a lot of damage to the throat and crown by cleaning them with great frequency if you use a cleaning rod without a bore guide.

I very rarely run a rod through any of mine any more preferring to stick as much as possible to the foaming bore cleaners and when I really need to scrub one out using a bore snake rather than rod/patch as much as possible.

While the .270 is not my caliber of choice there are a good many choices available today of High BC High Quality hunting bullets on the market so if you can find a load your rifle likes you can stretch it out a long ways with relatively light recoil and decent ballistics.

If you have an accurate rifle, a good quality scope that you can dial and a good drop/wind chart or ballistics program you can have a lot of fun.

If you dont reload already youll need to start though to get the most accuracy possible.

 

[Greyfox]

I think that claims of barrel life, especially those claiming such high numbers as 4000 rounds need to be qualified. I have shot out a few. 308's that I used for competition. This round is generally claimed to to have a very long barrel life with claims in the several thousands. Mine were used for competition and routinely shot to the point when the barrel would be hot after 20 round strings in the summer heat. I would see .5MOA deterioration of group size between 2000 and 2400 rounds. Perhaps, not running so hot, or, a 1 MOA standard would give longer barrel life.The standards for defining barrel life really needs to be understood to have much relevance for a given use. My 6.5x284'used for long range hunting and stone busting is still holding .25MOA after 6 years and 700 rounds. I expect to see 10-15 years of life for how I use it. Bench rest shooters may replace a barrel halfway through a season, thus its reputation as a barrel burner. It's barrel life likely no different from a 270 or 7Mag, were they used under the same conditions. .IMO.

 

[mustardtiger56]

I do typically wait at least 1 minute between shots or up to 5 mins if the barrel is too hot to hold. I also use a bore guide to clean my .270 with a one piece rod. So assuming I am not decreasing barrel life with bad habits, do you have a specific ballpark number?

 

[WildRose]

I do typically wait at least 1 minute between shots or up to 5 mins if the barrel is too hot to hold. I also use a bore guide to clean my .270 with a one piece rod. So assuming I am not decreasing barrel life with bad habits, do you have a specific ballpark number?

Like the others have said its really hard to put a number on it. Is it a sub moa rifle now? 2MOA? .5 MOA?

You have to have a starting point to work from and then establish an end point.

With any of mine once they wont at least hold MOA I consider them to be shot out.

Get yourself a good borelight with a magnifier and when you start to see crackling in the throat you know your remaining round count is getting low.

If you avoid getting it hot though you should be able to get somewhere in the range of 1,500-2,000rds out of it before accuracy starts to drop off but how you shoot it, clean it, and how hot you load it are all going to play a big part in the total life of any given barrel.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I do typically wait at least 1 minute between shots or up to 5 mins if the barrel is too hot to hold. I also use a bore guide to clean my .270 with a one piece rod. So assuming I am not decreasing barrel life with bad habits, do you have a specific ballpark number?

If I'm at the range I usually wait 3 minutes between shots. It's sometimes painful to wait, but it really minimizes having the barrel heat up at all. After a group of shots (3-8, depending) I'll wait at least 5 minutes.

 

[tbrice23]

Hi guys,

So I've decided I would like to broaden my horizons and step out of my comfort zone when it comes to hunting/shooting. I figure a good place to start would be to really step up my shooting abilities so I am able to push beyond MPBR and become more precise in the process. My go to rifle that I would like to begin practice shooting up to 700 or so yards with is a Browning X-Bolt in .270 win. I have decided to go with a FFP scope as well after some research and have settled on a Vortex Viper 4-16x50 PST. Is this setup ideal for what I'm looking at doing (ie.versatile hunting rifle with long range capability) ? Or would you guys recommend selling and moving to something else?

One thing that I've also heard mixed reports on is .270 Win barrel life, some guys (including gunsmith) say that it is as low as 1000 rounds before accuracy falls off noticeably and others suggest up to around 4000. I really don't want to have to worry about burning out the barrel if I'm practicing to become proficient at extended ranges. When I bought the rifle I was told 3000 rounds was the minimum life I would get with a .270 barrel, this played a large part in the decision.

Anyways hanks for your input, let me know if I have a solid setup and am on the right track or if I need to really rethink this whole thing. If you know anything about ballpark .270 Win barrel life that would also be greatly appreciated.

Let me assure you from experience, a 270 winchester will NOT last anywhere close to 3000.
My only 270 win barrel got me less than 1100 rounds on a CM factory barrel waiting 3 min between each shot and 5 min minimum between groups.
It was a hunting rifle so that did last me a few years of range, load development, practice and field rounds.
Shooting out a barrel to me means ,over 3/4moa consistently and fire cracking to a point it takes forever to remove copper .

 

[mustardtiger56]

1100? ****, I should have went with a magnum caliber as they offer similar life with better performance. If your experience is common I wonder Why the .270 isn't more well known as a barrel burner?

 

[tbrice23]

I get around 1100 on my 300 wm barrels, my 7mmRM barrels seem to last a little longer.
I keep very detailed records including round counts on my barrels.

 

[mustardtiger56]

Is it possible you're barrel was a dud? I mean considering your .300 wm has the same barrel life as your .270 did there must have been some other variable at play right? Especially when considering the difference in velocity and amount of powder used in each round

 

[tbrice23]

That indeed was a factory CM hammer forged barrel, using a bore guide, one piece coated cleaning rod, no ammonia cleaners, cleaned properly around every 70 to 100 rounds.
I will agree my custom barrels last longer. If that 270 win barrel was a custom hand lapped barrel it may have got me a few hundread rounds longer but still no way in hell would it have got me 3000 , no way.

If the guy behind the counter at Cabelas told you 3000 rounds either he was repeating what he heard or is lying.

 

[tbrice23]

If your idea of accurate barrel life is +2 moa then you may get 4000 rounds. Thats just not my standard.