There was a started thread in here earlier that has since been deleted regarding barrel life. The original postings said that the Anschutz barrels were loosing significant accuracy and showing worn throats at only 10,000 rounds. I have never fired that many rounds through a 17 Annie having just bought my first LH 17 Annie.
Here is what I had posted in terms of my experience with a Marlin, a Savage and 2 CZ 17 HMRs
Interesting post but if my new Anschutz goes south after only 10,000 rounds I am going to be REALLY ****ed off. I have put 30,000 rounds through a Marlin, A savage and 2 CZs now. All of them were still shooting great when I sold them at the end of that many rounds.
The Marlin I sold to a buddy and he is creeping up on 45,000 rounds total. He is just now starting to see his groups open up. To get that much mileage out of the barrels they do need to be really well cleaned every 1000-1500 rounds but given 4 "cheap" rimfires, 3 with moly barrels and the Marlin with SS, have all gone 30,000, and one plus a lot, rounds and still shoot well I have to question the poor life on the reported Anschutz barrels. They may need a good cleaning with Wipeout and Butch's but if that isn't it I really hope my new one is much better. I may just pick up another CZ for a back up just in case.
All of those guns would easily put 5 shots in less than 1/2", even after 30,000 rounds. We use the HMRs a lot gopher shooting close to town or rural subdivisions because they are quiet and don't ricochet. Going through 10,000 rounds a year is pretty easy to do, though not cheap as 10,000 rounds costs $3000 or about 5 times as much as the gun. Like I said before, my buddy has my first Marlin. He is now at 45,000 and the groups are just starting to open up. If the Anschutz I just bought doesn't last at least 30,000 rounds I am going to be pretty upset because it was $1400, and the CZs are $600.
This I posted after taking the new Annie and the old CZ to the range.
Well my new LH Annie 17 HMR showed up so took it out to the range to sight it in a try it out. Thought that while we had it out there I would test the CZ for group size now that it has about 25,000 rounds through it. The CZ was cleaned real well about 400 rounds previous. Using Federal 17 Grain HPs, which it always shot well, it will easily shoot 1/4" 5 shot groups, outside edge to edge, at 50 yards. If you deduct bullet diameter those groups are under .1 (.250 -.179=.071).
So far the worn out CZ is out shooting the brand new Annie, though to be fair the CZ has a real light Rifle Basix trigger and has been Devcon Bedded, where the Annie is still box stock. It took about 200 rounds for the Annie to start settling in. Once it did it was shooting Winchester 17 grain Vmax into about .30 and 17 Federal HP into .31, both edge to edge. I do need to lighten the Annie's trigger as it is significantly heavier than the CZ, and once I do I believe the Annie will be down under .25 as well.
Annie Target with 17 grain Winchester ammo.
The CZ target was slightly tighter.
I believe the fellows that posted they were seeing large accuracy drops on their Annies after only 10,000 rounds. They are big Anschutz fans and have no reason to make up anything derogatory. For that reason I am beginning to think that the hammer forged CZ barrels and even the Marlin and Savage barrels may be made of a lot harder steel than the Anschutz barrels are but I have no way of measuring this. Does anyone know the Rockwell hardness ratings of Anschutz versus CZ or the others.
I would be very interested to hear what others on here have found for accuracy versus barrel life. By accuracy I mean still being able to regularly shoot less than .350, edge to edge at 50 yards and under 1" at 100.
Here is what I had posted in terms of my experience with a Marlin, a Savage and 2 CZ 17 HMRs
Interesting post but if my new Anschutz goes south after only 10,000 rounds I am going to be REALLY ****ed off. I have put 30,000 rounds through a Marlin, A savage and 2 CZs now. All of them were still shooting great when I sold them at the end of that many rounds.
The Marlin I sold to a buddy and he is creeping up on 45,000 rounds total. He is just now starting to see his groups open up. To get that much mileage out of the barrels they do need to be really well cleaned every 1000-1500 rounds but given 4 "cheap" rimfires, 3 with moly barrels and the Marlin with SS, have all gone 30,000, and one plus a lot, rounds and still shoot well I have to question the poor life on the reported Anschutz barrels. They may need a good cleaning with Wipeout and Butch's but if that isn't it I really hope my new one is much better. I may just pick up another CZ for a back up just in case.
All of those guns would easily put 5 shots in less than 1/2", even after 30,000 rounds. We use the HMRs a lot gopher shooting close to town or rural subdivisions because they are quiet and don't ricochet. Going through 10,000 rounds a year is pretty easy to do, though not cheap as 10,000 rounds costs $3000 or about 5 times as much as the gun. Like I said before, my buddy has my first Marlin. He is now at 45,000 and the groups are just starting to open up. If the Anschutz I just bought doesn't last at least 30,000 rounds I am going to be pretty upset because it was $1400, and the CZs are $600.
This I posted after taking the new Annie and the old CZ to the range.
Well my new LH Annie 17 HMR showed up so took it out to the range to sight it in a try it out. Thought that while we had it out there I would test the CZ for group size now that it has about 25,000 rounds through it. The CZ was cleaned real well about 400 rounds previous. Using Federal 17 Grain HPs, which it always shot well, it will easily shoot 1/4" 5 shot groups, outside edge to edge, at 50 yards. If you deduct bullet diameter those groups are under .1 (.250 -.179=.071).
So far the worn out CZ is out shooting the brand new Annie, though to be fair the CZ has a real light Rifle Basix trigger and has been Devcon Bedded, where the Annie is still box stock. It took about 200 rounds for the Annie to start settling in. Once it did it was shooting Winchester 17 grain Vmax into about .30 and 17 Federal HP into .31, both edge to edge. I do need to lighten the Annie's trigger as it is significantly heavier than the CZ, and once I do I believe the Annie will be down under .25 as well.
Annie Target with 17 grain Winchester ammo.

The CZ target was slightly tighter.
I believe the fellows that posted they were seeing large accuracy drops on their Annies after only 10,000 rounds. They are big Anschutz fans and have no reason to make up anything derogatory. For that reason I am beginning to think that the hammer forged CZ barrels and even the Marlin and Savage barrels may be made of a lot harder steel than the Anschutz barrels are but I have no way of measuring this. Does anyone know the Rockwell hardness ratings of Anschutz versus CZ or the others.
I would be very interested to hear what others on here have found for accuracy versus barrel life. By accuracy I mean still being able to regularly shoot less than .350, edge to edge at 50 yards and under 1" at 100.