Thread: Interesting view on the 308 v new calibres

Originally Posted by csmiffy

The funny thing is, back in the day I never heard anyone saying 270's (or even 243s as I read somewhere recently) were barrel burners especially when using factory ammo.
They were all good for several thousand rounds minimum when looked after properly. 5k seems to be a number that popped up back then for centerfires.
maybe 22-250 and some of the magnums like the 7mm rem mag.
unless you were culling and only shot a couple of deer a year with a sight check every know and again, they were meant to last for yonks.

Not saying they are barrel burners as such, just that part of the trade off when going with a smaller caliber for a given powder capacity is reduced barrel life. I would class 7mm RUM, .264win mag, some of the Nosler cartridges etc as true barrel burners, some being poked at 600-800 rounds.
The more powder a cartridge has for a given bore diameter the less barrel life it will have.
eg .243, .260, 7mm-08, .308, all have similar powder capacities being based off the same parent case, so barrel life will follow from the smallest diameter having the least barrel life (.243), to the largest diameter having the longest barrel life (.308). The .243 would the most "overbore", and the .308 the least overbore out of the options mentioned.
A .243 barrel may be good for say 2500 rounds and the .308 good for 5000 + rounds. (im just making numbers up but they are probably in the ballpark - .308 may even be higher).
For some its may not be a factor worth considering, and for others it may be a fairly important consideration.

My point is nothing is for free when it comes to cartridges, everything has a trade-off in some form or another.
Is a few less clicks on the elevation turret worth a couple thousand rounds less barrel life? Is less energy at 0-600m hunting ranges, and slightly more energy at 600-1000 at the expense of a couple thousand rounds of barrel life a trade-off you would like to make? Is a couple inches more wind drift at 500 (so even less at closer ranges) worth a couple thousand rounds barrel life?

Im not sure, to each his own..
One thing is for sure, im glad we have so many great options to choose from.