Throat erosion

[280Ackley]

I am pretty sure the throat on my 280ai is getting eroded. What I was wondering is if changing bullet grain up or down would help? I am hoping to get a few more years of service out of it! It’s still shoots good enough that I killed my elk and whitetail at 400 yards this year but the groups have definitely opened up.

 

[Wrench]

Are you around 2k rds fired?

 

[JD Jones]

Scoped it? How many rounds?

 

[280Ackley]

Yeah closer to 2500. She’s had a great run just trying to squeeze a couple more years out!

 

[wind gypsy]

Yeah closer to 2500. She’s had a great run just trying to squeeze a couple more years out!

Might be able to do something that will work for a little bit but I'd guess you're chasing your tail at this point.

 

[nobody]

That's pretty good on that rifle sounds like to me. If you want a few more years, I say just seat the bullets out to touch the "new lands" and then back off a couple thousandths and go back to shooting!

How much have they opened up? What's your 10 shot group look like now? If it's still sub 1.3-ish MOA on a 10 shot group you've probably got another season in it (depending on how much you shoot it), but if it's opened up closer to 2 MOA 10 shot groups it might be time to play Taps for her and send the tube into the great beyond. Might be time for a rebarrel!

 

[Wapiti1]

As others have stated, it's getting long in the tooth and throat. Cheapest correct fix is to have the barrel set back and re-chambered. Most sporter barrels can be set back once, some more than that. It might open up a gap in the barrel channel inlet, but you save the cost of a new barrel.

Jeremy

 

[49ereric]

Seat the bullets farther out if you have the magazine room or a single shot with the longer cartridge and follow up shots less accurate.
None of that works for you then set the barrel back if a borescope says the barrel is worth it.

 

[Only Shooters]

You might be able to squeeze a few hundred more rounds out by switching to a bullet with a longer bearing surface. Additionally an eroded throat doesn’t always lead to significantly diminished accuracy. Sometimes you just lose velocity. I would definitely tinker with loads a bit if you are not quite ready to scrap that barrel. All that said, barrels are a consumable item and the time will come eventually you will have to let it go and start fresh.