How long before cooling

[elkkid3]

I searched but didn't find anything, my question is how many rounds do you guys shoot before letting your barrel cool. I talked to my dads buddy who is a very gun smart guy and he said 3 max, or your zero will change. I just said okay but I call BS from lowlights youtube video. Just want to know because I have been told if your barrel gets hot and you continue to shoot it cuts back on barrel life?

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: How long before cooling

If it's a factory rifle you may get 8-10 shots before the POI starts to shift around a bit. Custom, Match Grade barrels have gotten branding iron hot during a match and never shifted POI. That being said, if the barrel feels hot or very warm to the touch I'll let it cool if I'm just plinking. During a match, I'll shoot my entire string before stopping.

 

[deadly0311]

Re: How long before cooling

the 3 shots your dad's buddy is talking about is more than likely from a pencil contour hunting rifle. i run a medium palma and like Roscoe said, if im plinking and it starts to get warm, ill cool down for a bit. If its a match shoot till done

 

[elkkid3]

Re: How long before cooling

Thanks for the input thats what I will do. I shoot 4 then let cool but all try tell hot. My dads buddy was talking about benchrest, everything he told me was about benchrest. He didn't understand the
shooting steel and taking the fundamentals into the field. The shooting range here only goes out to 300yards he helps out a lot there. I live out in the desert so I could set a target out at 1000 and shoot at it..... I wouldn't hit it haha.

 

[Armed Ferret]

Re: How long before cooling

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: huntinaz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for the input thats what I will do. I shoot 4 then let cool but all try tell hot. My dads buddy was talking about benchrest, everything he told me was about benchrest. He didn't understand the
shooting steel and taking the fundamentals into the field. The shooting range here only goes out to 300yards he helps out a lot there. I live out in the desert so I could set a target out at 1000 and shoot at it..... I wouldn't hit it haha.</div></div>


so then practice until you can.

 

[elkkid3]

Re: How long before cooling

I will be when I get a optic on the new remington 700 .308

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: How long before cooling

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: huntinaz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I searched but didn't find anything, my question is how many rounds do you guys shoot before letting your barrel cool.</div></div>

When the mirage makes it hard to see the target.

Seriously I run a Varmint profile Remington barrel. I don't shoot benchrest. When the barrel is too hot to touch I generally need to let it cool because I can't see the target downrange well enough to maintain an acceptable level of accuracy.

I can shoot a 20 round dot drill as fast as I can keep them breaking the black and not notice a change in POI.

If you are shooting a "sporter weight" barrel then your mileage may vary. Shoot and see.

As for reducing barrel life? Maybe. Not shooting more than 10 rounds a week will make it last too, but I am not willing to change my shooting to accommodate the equipment. Barrels are disposable.

 

[LongShot94]

Re: How long before cooling

i was at the range the other day with my 700p in .308 and went through around 100 rounds in 15-20 min with no POI shift, mirage was killing me though.

 

[acttacus]

Re: How long before cooling

With a properly bedded action and free float barrel, POI shouldn't change significantly with barrel heat.

POI change is more noticable with old school war hammer like Enfield, Dragunov, AK ...etc where the pencil barrels are in direct contact with the stock. And when the metal expands with heat, it pushes against the stock in a directional manner, resulting in change of POI. In my old AK and Enfield, when you fire a string of 10 rounds, you can see each bullet travel a little left/right in line compared to the previous shot.

Now, in my GAP7000, I can shoot 100+ rapid fire with absolutely no POI shift. The barrel gets burning hot, but POI stays the same.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: How long before cooling

If I can't place the back of my palm against the barrel ahead of the scope bell and leave it there indefinitely, I'm going too far into the red for plinking or testing.

Match shooting, I try to establish a firing cadence that slows as I go along, to make at least some effort to manage barrel heating; but generally, that's when things get their hottest, and it's harder on the barrel. As barrel heat gets intense, I see more dispersion, and this may speak in favor of a load alteration.

Greg

 

[Hummer]

Re: How long before cooling

That is a deep question and alot depends on barrel quality. For instance I had a barrel that in first four rounds would shoot 12" vertical at 100 yards. I called H&R and they told me they did not stress relieve barrels and to send it in and they replaced it.
I have done temp testing in T shirt weather and taken barrel temps with industrial thermometers. In 308 I got 122 deg F with 22 rounds of 308 (at muzzle) shooting at one minute intervals
At 30 second intervals temp went to 160 deg. with 30 rounds.
At 15 second intervals temp went to 190 deg with 30 rounds.

I did lots of testing with another rifle at Aberdeen. 30.06 Match ammo in Mod 70 on 100 yard indoor range. Rifle would print 1.5" first five shots about every time. Taken to 10 shots group opened to 2.5"

I have seen guys adjust for elevation at long range about ten to 12 rounds in string as they knew at that point things would change.

I have seen pencil thin barrels walk to hell and gone which is normally expected as others have said. Most amazing thing I ever saw was a guy laid down at 1000 yards with a featherweight 308 Mod 70 and he shot 100 w/ 7X first ten shots at 1000 and then he either got tired or went walkabout. He was like 70 something so don't know but I was scoring next target so could watch his shooting at it was amazing.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: How long before cooling

One of the things to understand is what I call the 'fooled ya' factor.

Until you get to really know what your rifle will do under multiple conditions, it will never fail to throw a 'fooled ya' at you periodically.

The good news is that consistently repeated conditions most likely will reveal consistently repeated consequences, so experience has a real value here. Thats what helped that older guy, and deserted him once he got beyond his comfort zone.

Greg

 

[Sig685]

Re: How long before cooling

I agree it's all about the barrel. My current F-class barrels are fairly heavy very high quality barrels that allow me to shoot a 22 round string as fast as the target puller can score the target. (In F-class, if the conditions are favorable, fast shooting is good thing.) I see no dispersion on target and frequently note that my some of best shots of the match are at the end; makes sense as by that time, I have the conditions pegged out and I am on a roll. I love finishing strong and many a times (but not always, (sigh)) the last shot on target is an X.

The prior barrel on my .223 match rifle had issues at about round 12 or 13 and would start dropping straight down for a few shots then settle in a new POI. Very disconcerting, but I learned to live with it for a while and then I just changed it. The current one does not do that at all.

 

[03psd]

Re: How long before cooling

your search fu is weak. this allowed me to shorten my range trips by not waiting ridiculously between shots. proof is in the pudding and the video doesnt lie. You cannot get your barrel hot enought to damage it with a bolt action. i believe 1200* is what it would take, iirc.

Barrel Temp Thread

 

[elkkid3]

Re: How long before cooling

I have seen the video I want to know if I let the barrel get hotter will it kill barrel life?

 

[elkkid3]

Re: How long before cooling

Of topic but, I have always been told don't dry fire well everything I read on here says DRY FIRE DRY FIRE DRY FIRE. Is it bad to dry fire?

 

[ArcticLight]

Re: How long before cooling

I have a factory rem bull barrel (Cryo'd) - again back to the 1000y ard matches, 2-5 spotters and 20 for record, let it cool while I pull targets and back on that, do that 3 times and you can fry an egg on the barrel by the time the match is over.

I shoot about 50 rds when I go out, 20-25 at a time.

It gets warm, it can cool when shooting is over.

 

[ArcticLight]

Re: How long before cooling

PS - if you need to shoot through the mirage, do what I did on my highpower rifle and set up a barrel band, directs the heat out of the way.....never had to do that on my scoped rifle tho.

Nice vid Frank!

 

[NBLongRanger]

Re: How long before cooling

Barring any aiming deficiency..It's all in the materials.
-hot chamber pre-heats powder..
-hot chamber heats bullet
-Unless it's a near perfectly prepared barrel will flex somewhat
-Difference of coefficient of bullet and barrel could cause more or less friction of bullet going down the barrel.

Stainless coeff of linear thermal expansion = 17.3x10^-6
steel is 11.0-13.3
copper 17
nickel 13
lead 29

stainless being the worst
coeff * starting to hot temperature in c * circ of ID of a .308
(17.3 x (10^(-6))) * 60 * 0.96760972 = 0.00100437889"

If the outsides 60 the inside's like 80-90(guess)..this stresses the steel, which screws with your POI..Depending on how homogeneous the steel is and weather the tempering is even through-out..


**If the change in POI isn't costing me points. I'd let the barrel get up to 90c exterior max!.. well within tempering temperatures(generally 300c+), but beyond what most people let them get to.

 

[Sig685]

Re: How long before cooling

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ArcticLight</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have a factory rem bull barrel (Cryo'd) - again back to the 1000y ard matches, 2-5 spotters and 20 for record, let it cool while I pull targets and back on that, do that 3 times and you can fry an egg on the barrel by the time the match is over.

I shoot about 50 rds when I go out, 20-25 at a time.

It gets warm, it can cool when shooting is over. </div></div>

In the Houston area, where it is warm in the summer, some of us are using a mechanical method to cool the barrel between matches and as you walk down the line you can hear the cooling pumps working. The rifles all have fairly heavy contours so as to remain stable during the match, so they absorb a lot of heat; we just help them cool down faster. The big barrels cool down faster than the skinny barrels, for the same number of shots, but we will be shooting again in 40-45 minutes.

One needs to remember that while the barrel is hot on the surface, the bore will be much hotter still.

As for dry firing, no it will not hurt your rifle, but if you are concerned get some snap caps. I believe shotguns can be damaged by dry fire and I know it's not good for .22 or other rimfires, but centerfire are not an issue.