What do you think a reasonable round count would be before the barrel was toast ? 500 ?

If you do not practice good control at the range and let the barrel cool down between every shot, you could easily toast one of those barrels in under 500 rounds. I had a friend who fried his 300 RUM in under 300 rounds because he didn't practice this. I watched him fire 9 consecutive shots on the range without cooling the barrel, even though I was yelling at him to stop.

He learned his lesson, because by next year his Christensen was toast and he had to buy another right before a trip to Kansas after he discovered his gun wouldn't group on a paper plate at 300 yards.

Ouch hard lesson learned right there what's your thoughts on a 35 whelen barrel for a swap?

1000-1500

That would be my guess also.
My thinking with barrel life is you don't buy a Corvette because you're looking for an economical daily driver that has low cost long lasting tires.

I'm pretty sure the .35Whelen is a .470 bolt face but it sure is a fantastic round.

Ya I looked it up shortly after I posted that and saw that it wouldn't work. I'm starting to lean towards the 270wby and or maybe the 270wsm but I can't seem to find anything if the bolt would match up. I had someone mention to me off aldeer about the 26nosler. Anyone have any experience with it?

Powder burner. You can do much better with less.

Which one you referring to 257?

The 26 nosler. Way too much hype. Idk exactly what you're looking for but I'd probly rebarrel that 300 win mag with a bartlein or broughton barrel have it handy for a true big game hunt. Keep the 257wbymag ready for deer.

Bolt face is the same for all three, but the 270 WSM is a short action cartridge. Also, magazine and feed ramp must be set up for WSM cartridges or you will have feeding problems. When the WSM's were introduced years ago, many factory rifles had feeding issues because they just used existing short actions and did not modify the feed ramps for the fat case.

26 Nosler is a powder burner like 257 said. The big 6.5/.264 cartridges introduced lately are all victims of the law of diminishing returns. What type of hunting do you want to do, long range deer hunting or big critters out West? I would make my choice based on this information.

I completely wasn't thinking about the 270wsm being a short action. Far as use I would have to say for hunting around here 400yds or less on shots. With the possibility of taking it out west although I have plenty of other choices to take on western trips depending upon the game being pursued. Far as likes go I have really started leaning towards the smaller lighter weight bullets that kill with speed such as th he 257wby with 100gr, 25-06 same bullet weight 243diameter etc. I know some here don't care for the 270 caliber but I have always had good luck with it as well as the 30 calibers. So basically I guess I'm just looking for something practical far as over the shelf ammo purchase/reloading and isn't a burden or painful recoil.

Change out the magnum bolt face and make you a 280AI.

the .270 Winchester is a fine deer round. It's just been so widely produced that far too many people who don't know how to select bullets , or shoot well had their hands on them. They are good deer medicine.

quickshot - if you reload I would do a 6.5x284 in a long action I'm getting an honest 3100fps and can push 3200 with 140's and it is mild recoil compared to a magnum but same barrel life as the 6.5-300 I probably get just north of 1,000 rounds on a barrel. The Weatherby is using a lot more powder to get a couple hundred fps increase in speed.

I like the 280AI suggestion as well. I like 7mm there are some great bullets out there ballistics wise. That would be an excellent choice.

If you have the .257 WBY you have the best of the speed demons in the small calibers I don't really see how you can practically top it.

Now there's a deer hammer. I like .280 Ackley and .264 Win Mag almost equally.

I257wby won't ever be topped in my book it's a just a laser beam of death when shot. The 6.5x284 was what I originally started out looking at but quickly found that it wouldn't fit a magnum bolt face so dropped that idea sadly.

Never really thought much about the 280AI I currently have a 280 rem and it's a badass round how is it comparable to each other?

And for those of you that are more familiar with building than I am as this would be my first venture doing a custom rifle what's the cost of swapping bolt faces?

This is a good idea. If you're already getting a new barrel go ahead and get a new bolt for this great cartridge. 160 gr bullets at 3000 FPS will reach out and drop the hammer on any critter in the lower 48.

What kind of rifle quickshot? Makes a big difference in cost of going custom.

If you already have a 280, I don't think an AI is worth the cost, especially if you have to swap bolt face. Pretty much gives you 100 fps over comparable grain bullet in the 280 Rem. Get nostalgic with the original Magnum, the .300 Holland & Holland.