Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

C

chrisj

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
May 9, 2005
622
34
Naples, FL
#1
A friend of mine who owns Master Class Sports in CT ( he is a top hioghpower and palma shooter) Just informed me of the condition of 2 Broughton bbls he is using.
He has a 1/8", 6mmbr X-course rifle and a 308 palma bbl that are both toast at around 2,000 rounds. He has had a gunsmithing business for decades and neither of us has seen this before in other custom bbls. He gets minimum of 4,000 rounds with every palma bbl. the 6br is NOT loaded hot by any stretch..around 30 gr of varget with a 105 Berger. Between matches and practice, about 80% is slow fire. Has anyone had issues with Broughton's before. I don't need to know that your Broughton got Many more rounds than that. I know they go more. I want to hear from anyone who had similar (poor) bbl life in a non magnum/bbl burning caliber.

Edited to note that I am NOT saying anything bad about Broughton bbls in general. I personally use Broughton bbls and haven't seen this kind of problem yet in my bbls.
 
#3
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

Did you contact Broughton? They are well thought of on here (as you should well know with 1900+ posts) and your word "shitty" diminishes any sense of tact you were hoping to convey. However, I am not saying it didn't happen. I do believe it is common courtesy to contact the manufacturer if you are encountering problems before you go airing dirty laundry to the masses. If you did, please correct me. This is just food for thought.

Josh
 
#4
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

I had my Broughton do the same thing. I was giving my 7WSM a steady diet of 162gr AMAXs but I then noticed one range trip at 600 yards it started to shoot all over the place. Long story short, I switched back to the Bergers and everything is back to normal. I still to this day do not know why the AMAXs won't shoot in this barrel.
 
#6
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

Give or take a hundred or so, yes I do. But what does that have to do with it?

I am not saying it's Broughtons fault or anything. I called around to different smiths to see if they ever heard of a thing and a couple of them have heard of happening to different makes of barrels. A couple of them said it could have been something in the barrel harmonics and a couple of them have said it could have been the bullet lot that was off. I doubt it because I had 2 different lots that shot the same way, shitty.
 
#8
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

2k+ rounds thru a 308 and issues; I would be ticked! Same number of rounds thru a WSM; not so ticked. That was my point! So your smith's are stating that harmonics can change as the barrel is shot more?














 
#9
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

I've seen just about every barrel maker have an issue now and then with barrel life. It could boil down to just bad steel for that barrel or that batch. Send it back to Broughton and let them look at it.

So in other words it's just not Broughton.
 
#10
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: HateCA</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've seen just about every barrel maker have an issue now and then with barrel life. It could boil down to just bad steel for that barrel or that batch. Send it back to Broughton and let them look at it.

<span style="font-weight: bold">So in other words it's NOT just Broughton.</span> </div></div>

Fixed it for ya Randy
laugh.gif
 
#11
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Turk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">2k+ rounds thru a 308 and issues; I would be ticked! Same number of rounds thru a WSM; not so ticked. That was my point! So your smith's are stating that harmonics can change as the barrel is shot more?
</div></div>

I think there was someone on the Hide that shot his .308 out in about 3k rounds. Why? I don't know.

I had a couple smiths say it could be the harmonics of the bullet or load to me, I dunno, I don't work on rifles everyday, who knows why some bullets will shoot through a barrel and some wont. All I know is that when I changed bullets in mine, the gun shot well again.

My point is barrels do some weird shit sometimes. Like why some seem to burn out faster then others and why some will shoot X bullet better then Y bullet. Why some can shoot really dirty and some has to shoot really clean.
 
#13
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Turk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Whats the purpose of this thread? Do you need more confirmation then your well trusted friend? </div></div>

The purpose is to see if anyone else had any issues like this and possible Broughton got a bad batch of steel. If there are otheres who had a similar experience, he can research the problem.
 
#14
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: chrisj</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A friend of mine who owns Master Class Sports in CT ( he is a top hioghpower and palma shooter) Just informed me of the condition of 2 Broughton bbls he is using.
He has a 1/8", 6mmbr X-course rifle and a 308 palma bbl that are both toast at around 2,000 rounds. He has had a gunsmithing business for decades and neither of us has seen this before in other custom bbls. He gets minimum of 4,000 rounds with every palma bbl. the 6br is NOT loaded hot by any stretch..around 30 gr of varget with a 105 Berger. Between matches and practice, about 80% is slow fire. Has anyone had issues with Broughtonb's before. I don't need to know that your Broghton got Many more rounds than that. I know they go more. I want to hear from anyone who had similar shitty bbl life in a non magnum/bbl burning caliber. </div></div>


I'd be willing to bet that the makers of the steel in the barrel blanks got greedy and tried to skimp on the alloy thus producing a softer steel.

I recently had a conversation with a gunsmith that had seen the same thing " poor barrel life" with the last 2-3 barrels from different barrel companies.

Steve
 
#15
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

Firstly while i might be miffed at low round count, Tim North is one of the good guys.

Have you spoke to Tim?

This thread is pointless unless you have contacted Tim

 
#16
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

I just rebarreled my Harbinger which had a Broughton 308 barrel... 12k through it and George scoped it said there was only a 1/4" of wear into the rifling.

Maybe Tim likes me better than he likes your friend.
 
#17
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jedi</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Firstly while to would be miffed at low round count, Tim North is one of the good guys.

Have you spoke to Tim?

This thread is pointless unless you have contacted Tim

</div></div>

Jedi,

I don't know if you are responding to me or the thread in general.

The last barrel I replaced was a Broughton.I was very pleased with it and it lasted appropriate to the chambering but that barrel was put on 2 years ago.

Steve
 
#18
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lowlight</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I just rebarreled my Harbinger which had a Broughton 308 barrel... 12k through it and George scoped it said there was only a 1/4" of wear into the rifling.

Maybe Tim likes me better than he likes your friend. </div></div>


LL - what was the reason for re-barreling with so little wear?

Did you get another Broughton or did you go with something else?


Good luck
 
#20
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jedi</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Firstly while i might be miffed at low round count, Tim North is one of the good guys.

Have you spoke to Tim?

This thread is pointless unless you have contacted Tim

</div></div>

Why would it be pointless to ask if others had poor bbl life in a certain bbl? My friend would like input from other shooters to see if they had similar issues and then call Tim to let him know if there were issues with other 6mm and 308 bbls or other calibers or whatever. If ONE guy calls Tim and complains about poor bbl life, then it's much harder for him to figure where the problem lies. This post ISN'T to bash Broughton, but to help him find the problem... and if it's isolated or more widespread. Is there a better place to find out then here?
 
#21
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

Chris,

It just sounded a little trollish at first read. I guess I am just the type to inform the source before the masses. Anyway, I see what you are getting at, but it would be better if you had given Tim a heads up before laying a thread out there. There are a lot of easily influenced minds who might be thinking about what barrel to get for a build. I would not want a thread such as this to lead them away from putting Broughton on the list. If you had already informed Tim then people would be less apt to believe this was an attempt at anything other than stirring the pot. I'd still give him a courtesy call. Any company worth their salt will take it onboard and might work with you to remedy the problem. Best of luck finding your info.

Josh
 
#23
Re: Poor bbl life on a couple Broughton bbls...

FWIW, I called Tim before I figured out what my problem was. Tim is a wealth of knowledge and went beyond what I was expecting when I spoke with him. He spent well over an hour on the phone with me and did give me some pointers and tips to try and solve my issues. An he was the one that told me that it could have been the bullets.
 
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