[mrm14]

Heres my 2 cents.

My 300 Win. Mag. 1000 yard target rifle has a barrel life of about 1200 rounds. The barrel with this rifle is a Krieger #9 contour, 28" long, and the muzzel velocity with 190 grain SMK's is 3080 fps.

My 260 Rem. or 6.5X51 1000 yard target rifle should have a barrel life of about 2000 rounds. This rifle has a Bartlein #7 contour barrel, 26" long, and with 139 grain Scenars I'm getting just a tad under 2900 fps.

The come up dope for both these rounds are near the same out to 1000 yards. There is a bit more wind deveation for the 139 gr. Scenar over the 190 gr. SMK but it's not that much different from what I'm experiencing.

The .308 Winchester barrel life is considerably longer than either the 300 Win. Mag or the 260 Rem. The .308 Win. should be double or a bit more than double the barrel life of the 260 Rem.

An aquantaince I shoot with from time to time has a .243 Win. which kicks a$$ for the 1000 yard stuff but his barrel life is about 800 to 900 rounds before he has to replace it.

If your just learning shooting to 1000 yards I would recommend to start with the .308 Win. It is true that there are much better rounds for the 1000 yard distance but the .308 Win. is a good trainer as this round is just at it's limit at 1000 yards which makes it the "moon shot" but is good for training and the barrel life is much longer.