Barrel life? How many shots are too many?

[Ridge Runner]

Anyone have any data on barrel life on a NEF rifle in 30/06?

How many shots are they good for if properly cared for before accuaracy is affected?

[handirifle]

RR
I have no hard data, but they like most barrels will undoubtedly go through thousands of rounds before suffering any noticable loss in accuracy.  The 30-06 is not a real barrel burner, like, say, a 22-250.

I doubt most of us would ever shout out a barrel.  I'm not sure I'd personally want to shoot a 30-06 THAT much.  That's a lot of ammo from a fairly hard kicking rifle.

[Leftoverdj]

Military High Power competitors tell me they reckon on about 7000 rounds from a .30-06 or .308 barrel.  They are the only folks I know of who regularly wear out barrels in those calibers.

Only Handi I have with that many shots through it is a .357 Max that shoots mostly cast bullets and I don't expect to live long enough to need a new barrel for it. The lower velocities and softer bullets mean that barrel should be good for 100,000 rounds or more.

Overcleaning has worn out a lot more barrels than overshooting.