338lm pet load vs short barrel life

[Wide Glide]

Im curious how others go about load development Such a short barrel life expectancy? Half the fun of shooting for me if finding the right load with each rifle i have. Its nothing for me to go through a few hundred rounds for each bullet type/wt before deciding on a load. Ive never liked ladder testing but my normal routine would pretty much smoke this barrel and have me starting all over again

 

[snox801]

I'm not sure that the Lapua will smoke barrels the normal is 2500-3000 rounds. I've never hit that with mine but so I can't say. Obviously it depends on how you treat it. Best thing to buy is a chamber chiller. It has done wonders for me at my range.
Also if you are that worried about it maybe buy a second barrel chambered by the same smith at the same time that way when you replace it you will be in the ballpark for load work. Or possibly pick a different round such as necked up .375 lm.

I know that's not what you asked do here is ti e answer to that. I've been doing the ten shot ladder.
I load a one shot each ladder till I find pressure. Back off half a gr and load on both sides of it almost always works for me. Now keep in mind groups size may not be the clovers you want but keep an eye on your FPS spread. That's very important at long range. So I may use the larger of the two best groups at 200 yards if it has a lower spread

 

[Wide Glide]

For some reason I have had it in my head for a couple years now since I first got mine that the expected barrel life was only about 1000 rounds before accuracy really started to fall off. With that in mind I bought a second factory takeoff barrel right after I got the rifle.

I just got the bug to get it out and try to start doing more load development on it the other day but I've been stressing over it so much the past couple days that I have started considering just re-barreling to something else once accuracy falls off.

If your numbers are even close to correct I will be an extremely happy camper

 

[snox801]

You should get 2000 easy if taken care of and not push hard.
Remember you can always h e it set back a bit and extended the life of that barrel.
Plus you bought it to enjoy and if your worried about that and not enjoying not worth it. But not to shoot it is crazy.
Lots of take off barrels I have a savage with less than 100 through it I took off for a longer one