Curious.  Am buying a PSA gen 2 upper for my PA10.  Heard barrel life on average is 1500-2000 rds.  Figure to buy a few extra barrels to stash.   PSA 6.5 CM 20" barrels are about 200 each.   Are there any other brands that have better longevity that are not outrageously priced?   Thanks!

Great information, thank you!  I may wait and see if PSA comes out with the nitrated barrel.

There are alot factors and numbers thrown around but at the end of the day it just depends. We get around 3000 rounds out of our 300WM's. some people say 300WM's are toast around 1200.  Shoot hot ammo at a fast rate, you get less, shoot mild loads and a slower pace, you get more.

When I started reloading, I had a tendency to be drawn towards the fastest load, but after learning a little more about ballistics, an extra hundred FPS is not going to make or break you unless you are really shooting towards the outer limits of the round.

for Example, when shooting my 308, with a 16 inch barrel, I had to really push those rounds hard to get out to 1000. It recoiled hard, was not suppressor friendly, and at the end of the day still struggled
Today, I can shoot a Mild 6.5CM and not go subsonic till 1300. The rounds recoil less, are brass will hold up better, its more suppressor friendly.

What is your accuracy standard?  New and broken in, your barrel maybe be a 3/4 MOA shooter, lets say you put 1500 rounds down range, and drops to MOA, lets say at 2500 rounds, it holds 1.5 MOA. thats still capable of hold a 15 inch group at 1000 yards, average torso is 18 inchs so its still a capable rifle.

I would not really worry about getting multimple barrels,  I would shoot the one you have, and figure out what want for your replacement, you might want a longer or shorter barrel, you may want a lighter barrel, you may want precision barrel.

This is like going to buy a Ferrari and asking how long the rear tires are going to last.

Barrels are a wear and tear item.

I have yet to meet anyone who worries about barrel life that will actually ever shoot enough to change a barrel.

Those that do shoot that much don’t worry about it.

Don’t shoot it hot, treat it like a bolt gun that loads and ejects itself.  Then it should last a long time.

If you shoot it like a retard on a drum set it won’t last very long.

Some tires last longer than others.... hence the question.

Thank you for your reply!  Good information as well.  Am thinking about an 18" or 20" upper.   Probably go 20".  Goal is 1.5 MOA or less at 1k, and am thinking exactly on the lines you are.  Appreciate the input!

I’d suggest finding a Ballistic Advantage barrel on sale over the PSA barrel. For a cost effective build, I don’t think they can be beat. From some accuracy reports I’ve seen, the PSA barrel may not meet your precision goal.

Also, once a barrel starts to open up groups due to wear, it’s not necessarily going to be a linear degradation in precision. Just because it’s opened up to 1.5moa (based on the previous example) at 100yds doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a 1.5moa rifle at 1k. A worn barrel typically will lose speed and the std. deviation of the load won’t be as tight as it previously was. The greater variability in velocity will be impactful at extended ranges.