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Barrel preheating (is it a thing)

Thunderskunk

Private
Minuteman
Sep 16, 2020
57
18
Is there anyone out there preheating barrels to combat cold bore flyers? I'm just curious. It sounds like more trouble than it's worth given how hot it must have to get.
 
@Greg Langelius * wrote about bringing a barrel up to “using temp” before shooting groups. The idea being that the gun is going to be hot when shot more than once, might as well test it hot.

As I am primarily a hunter, my usage is primarily with a cold gun, so that is the condition that preoccupies my evaluations.
 
Ive noticed my first shot of the day is slower and outside of the group even on a fouled bore. After that first shot all is good
 
I send five rounds downrange, as fast as I can cycle the bolt, without even looking through the scope, so the barrel is good and hot when I start the actual shooting. Just point it at the berm and blast. Makes the ROs real nervous. What a bunch of fudds.










I’m of the opinion that “cold bore flyers” are a shooter issue (assuming the bore has not been cleaned) and if your first shot doesn’t go into the group, you need to practice more.

But that’s not what was asked. No, I’ve never heard of preheating a barrel to “test it hot….since it gets hotter as you shoot, how would you know when to stop the warmup and start the test?
 
if your point of impact is shifting as the barrel heats up, you have a poorly bedded rifle (stock issues) or a barrel with internal stresses. This occurs frequently on cheap hunting rifles with a pencil contour barrel. Rifles with a properly bedded stock and a quality barrel—Bartlein, Brux, Krieger, etc—hold POI Independent of barrel heat.

Clean vs fouled barrel is a different subject. My F-Class rifles with heavy-contoured Bartlein barrels require 3-6 fouling shots before I shoot for record. I normally don’t clean my barrel after the first day of a two-day match. I can start the second day of a LR match with a cold barrel knowing my POI will be the same as the last match of the first day, notwithstanding environmental issues.
 
Maybe wrap some hot hands along the barrel with athletic wrap? I might try that next winter….
 
I’ve been putting two hot hands packets over my rifle kuhl so that the warm air blows down the bore before I start shooting, the first round is always on target this way, if I do my part.
 
I’ve been putting two hot hands packets over my rifle kuhl so that the warm air blows down the bore before I start shooting, the first round is always on target this way, if I do my part.
The key being if you do your part….
 
Wow.
We could no agree on the color of shite.

We got cold bore deniers.
Hand warmers, someone warming it up with thier man tities.

Pretty soon I'm figuring someone will pull the barrel out thier butt and claim to have the cold bore solution.


Claims that a cold wet bore has same impact as fouled warmed is hilarious.
 
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I just jam my cartridge heater in the chamber and hook it up to my Interstate seconds ATV battery. I used to get first round flyers from my bucket o bullets but no more!!!
Brian Litz is supposed to write an article about it sometime.

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I just jam my cartridge heater in the chamber and hook it up to my Interstate seconds ATV battery. I used to get first round flyers from my bucket o bullets but no more!!!
Brian Litz is supposed to write an article about it sometime.

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I can't tell if you're joking or not. If serious, yea, it would be cool to see an article about it. To other's points, it be interesting to see the data/statistics between four combinations of cold/hot/clean/dirty bore.
 
I can't tell if you're joking or not. If serious, yea, it would be cool to see an article about it. To other's points, it be interesting to see the data/statistics between four combinations of cold/hot/clean/dirty bore.
I was joking but it should be very easy to make.

I just wonder what temperature you would need to get everything up to

The picture is of a cartridge heeter I think something like this would work
 
I always rub my barrel down with K-Y warming liquid. Sometimes, I dip my bolt in it, too. It makes those longer shots easier.
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I can't tell if you're joking or not. If serious, yea, it would be cool to see an article about it. To other's points, it be interesting to see the data/statistics between four combinations of cold/hot/clean/dirty bore.

Clean and dirty bore is easy to understand, would you care to define what is cold and hot?
 
Claims that a cold wet bore has same impact as fouled warmed is hilarious.

If the rifle is built properly with good components, you won't see a POI shift on cold bore. If you're talking clean vs fouled, then you may and probably will see a poi shift.

If a rifle does exhibit a cold bore shift that is not traced back to the shooter, then you should start troubleshooting and fix the issue or replace the part contributing. Unless you're fine with that first shot POI vs followup shots.

Cold bore shifts do happen, but not just because of normal conditions. If you go to a top tier training such as Rifles Only, you won't cover cold bore POI knowledge because it shouldn't be happening. If you're shooting a match that doesn't allow foolers, guys aren't holding a different POA on the first shot of each stage or string. Also hence the rounds fired before a string are called "sighters" and shots after clean barrels are called "foulers."
 
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In this scenario, cold bore is stable “room” temperature. Hot bore is after one shot where the internal temperature has an effect on the geometry of the barrel and action.

To speak to things somewhat scientifically, the problem is “missing a target on the first shot at a long distance when the gun is cold and barrel is clean.” The question is whether the root cause to the POI shift is the barrel fouling or a geometry change. I’m not a pro shooter; part time job kinda thing. Don’t take me wrong here; I think you’re spot on with build quality and shooter ability playing into some myths. Thus the question in the first place; I didn’t know if it was something anyone was addressing or if it even mattered.
 
I’m of the opinion that “cold bore flyers” are a shooter issue (assuming the bore has not been cleaned) and if your first shot doesn’t go into the group, you need to practice more.
Perhaps true these days, but on older guns when the metallurgy wasn't as impeccable as it is now, there is definitely a tendency for cold bore shots to be quite a bit different from "warm" groups.

The Mauser 66 I've been shooting recently to get a new optic sighted in for hunting season is a great example of that, made in 1971, very light barrel profile. cold bore can be over an inch left and high at 200 compared to a grouping with the barrel warm, all shots taken off a lead sled and concrete bench.