Hey all,

What makes the thoat of a chamber errode? Can you prevent it? I've noticed that the COL for an established load in my 300 WM is stretching. It hasn't gone past my magazine length but darn close. I use a Stone Point OAL comparator to determine COL - I feel it is accurate. What are you guys thoughts.

later, D

IMO its heat + friction. That end of the barrel stays hotter longer so it has more time to heat up the lands...


-DallanC

Yup...You can eliminate throat erosion by not firing your firearm. Erosion is caused by hot gasses passing the throat of the chamber. Somewhat like a cutting torch. The hotter the round the faster erosion will occur. It's very noticable on revolvers that have had lots of hot loads fired through them...

Yup just like they said but to also add.....Keep it clean!

Like the others say - the amount of powder you burn with each shot. You could make the barrel last longer by cutting the powder charge but then you might as well shoot a 308. You bought a 300 WM so just accept the fact the barrel life will be less than a more tame round and buy a new barrel when that one is shot out.

More then likely with proper care and cleaning even the fast magnum barrels should last quite a while. Before I hunt with a .308 I'll use my ol' "Jack handle"....

Another thing that helps reduce throat erosion , especially in the big Wby cases that are overbore , is not firing three or four rapid shots .. Keep the barrel as cool as practical ...
Jack

Does this mean I have to stop driving my car because if I do it will eventually wear out.

Hey guys, we like em, we bought em, let's have fun with em and when they wear out buy two to replace one.

Just a poor boys opine.

Walt

Hey Walt...When you wear one out and buy two more...Buy me one too...

Just another poor boys opine...

Bushmaster wrote:

More then likely with proper care and cleaning even the fast magnum barrels should last quite a while. Before I hunt with a .308 I'll use my ol' "Jack handle"....

How much throat errosion do you suppose you would get from a "jack handle"............??????

Then again, I guess it would depend on the "velocity" of the swing.............. !!

he dunno how much throat erosion , he'd probly bonk hisself on his lit'l punkin' head on the rebound
Jack

Heat from the gasses coming out of the round cause throat erosion. Some rounds have a relatively long barrel life because of the caliber and the amount of powder. For example the .308 win has a relatively long barrel life because it is .30 cal, it uses a relatively small case and it pushes the bullet out at moderate velocity and pressures. On the other hand the .243 Win, which uses the same case as the .308, generally has a significantly shorter barrel life than the .308. This is because it is smaller caliber and this smaller diameter causes the same amount of gas to push through a smaller hole, and becasue of the higher velocity of the bullet . The .300 WM you have will erode the throat becasue of the large amount of powder that you are burning to push the bullet down the barrel. As far as I know the only way that you can decrease the throat erosion in yor rifle is to use lighter loads.

Thanks 1895ss
Thanks GroovyJack

A "Jack Handle" is the name a friend of mine used for one of my rifles until he witnessed the three holes in a neat triangle in a three inch dot at 100 yards. It was my Winchester Mod 94 .30-30 circa 1949...Loaded using Remington cases, 32 grains of W-748, 170 grain Speer FN and a CCI-200 primer. That is my favorite deer and pig round..."Jack Handle" indeed.....

Oh rats...That means that my 22-250 barrel of 25 years is worn out already...And I thoutht it might last a couple of years more...


Just spoofin' ya JO422. And welcome to this site in case no one has welcomed you yet...

Another note is any load exceeding 60,000 cup will etch a barrel very fast because at that pressure steel melts.


-DallanC