.22-6mm throat life

[barebackjack]

Ok you .22-6 shooters, what are you all getting for throat life?

[leadbiscuit]

I'm hoping these guys will speak up. Most of my experience has been with the 22-250AI and the 22-243. I will say barrel life is heavily dependent on the pressure you run with the big, fast twist 22's. Barrels will last a suprisingly long time if you don't wring the piss out of them.

The throat on my most accurate 22-243 has moved .030 to .040 in roughly 400 rnds. I push that one pretty hard. 80 grain Berger vld's at 3500.

[barebackjack]

I hear ya.

So what are you thinking you'll get before you run out of mag space to chase the lands? 1200-1500 rounds or so?

[leadbiscuit]

Mag length won't be an issue with my reamer.

When the barrel was fresh, an 80 grain Berger seated right to the shoulder/neck junction. I don't recall the OAL offhand. Point is, my barrels are normally toast before I run out of mag. I'm guessing the barrel in question will die somewhere around 1400 - 1500 rounds.

If I backed the 75 and 80 grain bullets off to 3300 - 3400 fps, and didn't take it after pd's, I could probably get another 300 rnds out of it. When my barrels won't hold around 3/4 moa day in day out, I replace them.

[barebackjack]

Thanks for the info!

[xdeano]

I know there are a couple of guys on here shoot the 22-6. Prairie ghost or coyotehunter.

I can honestly tell you that the 80g berger is a wicked little coyote zapper. Minimal pelt damage.
Its a little rough of prairie dogs though.

Xdeano

[Prairie Ghost]

BBJ i haven't got that techinacal in the reloading the 22-6mm has been a dream for me to reload for and that is the first caliber i got into to reloading. You might want to try 6mmbr.com they get a little more technical in that stuff

[Coyotehunter]

I am on my second barrel with the .22-6mm chambering. I probally got 2000-2500 rounds out of that first barrel. I started not keep as close of track of it after awhile. great cartridge.

[Jerry Hunsley]

I have heard from a pretty good reliable source that there is another sweet spot farther off the lands that will bring your accuracy back to what it was. I tried that with my .243 Rem. and I found that to be true. I was shooting 70gr. ballistic tips when the gun was new. I can't tell you how many rounds went through the gun before the groups opened up. I then went to the 80gr. ballistic tips and I got my accuracy back, but it wasn't fur friendly. Now, I found the sweet spot that is .135 off the lands, and my gun shoots great. I surmise that the same thing could be done with other calibers. I was rather surpised at that. That's a lot of jump but it seems to work. How long that will work for me has yet to be seen. Let me know if it works for you guys.

[leadbiscuit]

Jerry,

I've seen rifles shoot pretty darned well with quite a bit of jump. It's not the end of the world in a hunting rifle. I screwed a factory Remington 243 barrel onto one of my actions a few years back so my nephew would have a rifle to take out west river for deer. Even with something like .080 - .090 jump with 95 grain Bergers it consistantly shot into an inch at 200 yds. Five shots, not three. He ended up getting a doe at a little over four hundred yards and another at around 100. He did make the mistake of leaving the 400 yd doe lay while they went after another and the eagles tore the hell out of it, tho!!!

If I have a choice, I prefer to keep the freedom of seating near the lands and staying within mag length. Like you said, though, jumping can work well sometimes.

[1Coyotemaster]

It is great to have a close throat but lead biscuit is right imo. I have a lot of rounds down a Shilen Swift tube and haven't been close to the lands for years but it still shoots .5 with around 2k rounds down--all full throttle. I think that a bit of work keeping the throat smooth (JB paste short stroked) and I regularly clean with Kroil and Iosso (used by Tony Boyer also) and it seems to keep the fast steppers shooting. The .17 Predator should be shot out by now but still prints tiny groups and haven't seen the lands for ....a long time.
Jim Carmichel in his Book of the Rifle claims that he has seen Swifts with over 5k rounds still shooting tight groups. The Swift isn't the 22-6MM but isn't a slouch either. I know that eventually barrels shoot out and the bullets self destruct,tumble or won't group but a lot of barrels are retired sooner than needed.

[Coyotehunter]

Still a big fan of the .22-6MM. I will always own one and is my favorite caliber to shoot.