How bad can a barrel get before it wont shoot

[Rook]

Last year i decided to get into F-Standard basically just to get out at least once a week and do some shooting. The local SSAA range and there 100meter games didn't really appeal.
So I headed of to the local fullbore club where I had heard a few scoped rifles where lurking. To cut a long story short after a few months with the 300win mag I decided to get a target style rifle and go from there so a second hand Nielson was quickly sourced and the grand total of $400 handed over ( A bargain for a handicapped left hander like me) Quick trip to the local smiths for a picatinny rail fitting and on went the 3.5-15x56 Br Nightforce Recently replaced with a LRS millet). Well it shot bloody well have shot a possible at 500 yards and usually end up with scores or 104-105 with 14 plus vees (Scoring is done full bore style and no they wont change mention a six and you nearly get shot).
So essentially its a good rifle typically I am 1st or 2nd in the club comps and have even had a couple of placings out at crows nest early this year. But occasional I seem to get a string of a few shots that just dont seem right etc. Now I knew the barrel (Madco stainless) was fairly well used when I purchased it as the last owner had no idea how many he had put down the tube and it was second hand when he purchased it also the barrel has been set back at least 4 times you can see the front sight locking screw marks at different index points so im guessing 8000 rounds plus. And on top of that myself and several other target shooters have looked down the bore and there is essentially no sign of a throat as such the rifling just seems to slowly ramp up out of no where . Pretty much every one just looks down the bore then says the same 4 letter swear word followed by so how the hell can it shoot so well.
Just wondering how many other shooters out there have experienced the same sort of thing. I can remember when we first got a borescope at a gunshop I used to work at you never saw so many really good barrels get removed and replaced after shooter inspected them and decided that the barrel was F...Ked even though they still shot well.
Which brings me to the main point i picked up a new Krieger the other day and intend to get it fitted prior to the QLD Queens hopefully this is the right choice.

[macca]

Rook,I've seen a few 308's like that.Almost qualify as smooth bores .
The kriegers I have come up against whilst down in Vic were almost universally competitive so unless your dead unlucky it should go alright.
I have a liking for the Trueflites as they seem excellent on the 308's at our club.Mine goes okay on the 6mmBr as well.Though today I shot 97 & 96 and got dusted by 6 points.A 260 trueflite very well driven for 100/99 at 600 yards.
Have a good one,
Macca

[Ned Kelly]

G'Day Rook,
Well with a BR barrel such as maddco, shilen ,krieger etc I find they will usually deliver around .15moa when new (and depending on the driver ) however no driver can consistently shoot that well . I retire mine somewhere between 2500-3500 rds and that is when they agg around >0.32-0.35 moa.

Based on that evidence, I would expect a F class barrel to deliver good accuracy to around 4000-6000 rds and that would, of course, depend on the frequency of cleaning and how it was cleaned, use of a bore guide or not and how hot the loads were...just to name a few variables.

I would expect that after so many re-chambers, your old barrel is probably stuffed for target shooting accuracy. I'm amazed you shoot as well with it. I think you will find if properly fitted the new barrel will give yo a real boost in shooting and your learning will jump to another level with a real good barrel. You will certainly notice the difference!

Time to get the other FS shooters to recognise a V bull as a 6 Good luck!

Cheerio Ned

[shane]

I have seen barrels that should shoot well shoot very bad and barrels that should be bad perform very well.

You can never pick it.

One thing i will say, when you find that barrel has its bad runs now and then a lot of it could be a build up of fouling. A barrel with a large number of rounds through it will have a lot of erosion and it will be a fair way up the barrel by now too.

So it will most likely pay to become more regular with the cleaning, such as after each yardage is shot as opposed to the end of the day. Maybe you are already doing this, i just though i should mention it in case it is of some help.
cheers,
Shane