crazy2medic wrote:the .204 is not suppose to be any more of a barrel burner than a .223, even though it generates a hellacious velocity, it does it with a moderate use of powder, I've read that hornady and ruger both say that this cartridge is not a barrel burner! unlike the swift and the 22-250 which use a large amount of powder(heat) to get near the same velocity!
Ahhhhhhhh....the bliss of young love....
Barrel life is like guessing how many fairies you can place on the head of a pin. Any time you are using a cartridge which is slightly over bore (read 204 Ruger, 220 Swift, 22-250 Rem), you are going to have barrel life as a concern. On the other hand, the number of folks who actually will shoot their rifles enough to truly wear out a barrel is not very large...
Other factors such as quality of the barrel steel, how the barrel is used (shot hot a bunch, etc.,), and a host of other variables will determine barrel life. Since accuracy is the primary determining factor in barrel life, even what "accuracy" means from one person to another is a variable.
For contrast, I have shot out a 223 Rem barrel in a bolt action rifle in a single PD trip by using it too hard. I'm guessing that other unseen variables beyond my level of concern helped as I was surprised the accuracy went so quickly. And yes, it was supposedly a good quality custom barrel.
On the other hand, I used a factory barreled Rem 788 in 222-50 for almost 8 seasons of coyote and PD shooting and the rifle would still kill PD's at extended ranges after well over 5K hots down the tube. (I was surprised at that result also, and if I had been young and foolish, I probably would have told the world that a 22-250 does not "burn up" factory barrels. By experience I know this one barrel was a fluke.)
The best way to determine when a barrel is toast is not always determined by measuring throat erosion, etc. Some cartridges - like the 204 Ruger - like long bullet jumps. And generally when noticeable throat erosion is found, its actually the condition of the barrel beyond the throat that affects accuracy. If throat erosion occurs in a consistent manner on all lands and grooves, the barrel may continue to shoot well far beyond even what Roy Weatherby thought it should. For those who are young, Roy Weatherby made a very nice living on high velocity over-bore cartridges that were safe to shoot because of extremely loooooong bullet jumps into the rifling of a barrel.
When a barrel is approaching being toast will show up in how long it takes for normal accuracy to return to the barrel after cleaning. If the barrel settles down after a couple of shots,
the throat and beyond in the barrel is probably in pretty good condition. If it takes 10-20 shots for the barrel to calm down, you can probably expect accuracy to leave at some point in time. At this point, accuracy may leave in just a few additional shots if cracked, fried (alligator hide) barrel steel goes out the end of the tube. Or it may last for a long time in this condition. With any cartridge, this may happen at any time after probably @ 1500 rounds down the barrel. Or it may not happen until well beyond that number... Again....many different variables...
The only way to predict long barrel life for any high intensity cartridge is to leave the rifle in a gun safe for 10 year. If the barrel has been stored properly, you can then accurately say it lasted at least 10 years. Otherwise, how long a barrel will last - in numbers of shots fired - is a variable that even changes from one shooter to the next.
The 204 Ruger - just like any other cartridge - does not posses magical qualities..... In spite of young love telling some of us otherwise...
-BCB
You should, if you're just shooting the odd crow, groundhog and coyote, be able to do that, or considerably more, probably double that, is my guess. They aren't terribly hard on barrels, but clean them regularly, don't get them too hot, and they should last a very long time, in rifle terms.