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Air in a can to cool barrel?

This may be a really stupid question but here it goes anyway:

You know that air-in a can stuff you use for dusting off keyboards etc- what about using that to cool a barrel?

You could put the little hose attachment on the tip, point it right into the breach and blow compressed air through the barrel, the air will cool the breach, and the stuff comes out pretty cool too.

Under normal conditions your barrel wont get hot enogh, and the air doesn't come out cold enough to affect the metal.

Seems like it might help while out shooting prairie dogs etc.

Thoughts?
 
That canned air stuff is pretty cool when it comes out of the nozzle (adiabatic cooling) and can form droplets of moisture. Using it inside a barrel could leave moisture (condensation) in the bore - not a good thing.
 
Without doing the math, I doubt that you would get enough cooling from a puff of canned air too make much difference. Pouring a little alcohol along the top of the barrel might be more effective but very inconsistent.
 
Yeah I was thinking more of a couple second blast to move the air and let the breach cool. I'll have to check it out, we're going out west at the end of this month, if it works I'll post back.
 
if you can get a big tank of CO2 or some inert gas a blast will cool a barrel pretty quick. stick a rubber hose on the valve and put it in the chamber, dont leave it open too long or you will get icicles.

otherwise keep a towel in the cooler and lay it over the barrel when you clean.
 
Good call, thanks for the suggestion.

We don't let our barrels get too hot, was just using the air in a can stuff to dust off some electronics at work and thought "hmmm....".
 
rayporter said:

otherwise keep a towel in the cooler and lay it over the barrel when you clean.
[br]
This is the cheap, easy and reliable way. Last summer, I fire formed 200 .284 Shehane cases in 100° weather and my ice-filled cooler and hand towel saw frequent use.
 
I had a set-up back in the early 80's that I made out of delrin, an O-ring and some fittings that I would flush cold water down the barrel while p-dogging. All you had to do is clean the barrel after it was cooled down which I would normally do anyhow. It worked like a charm. A couple of minutes and I was back shooting again.
 
Using a towel or rag soak with alcohol will help draw the heat out. Placing it over the barrel for a minute or two helps. Also placing the rifle upright helps with cooling as well. Try it out, it works pretty good.Just remember when finished to wipe it down with some protective oil or something similar.
 
mattri

IMHO, by no means a stupid question.

in fact, quite a few years ago i had similar thoughts and experimented initially by passing compressed air through the barrels (large match size HV profiles and 1.4"diameter parallel etc) but found from measuring internal and external temperatures that the rate of temperature decrease was extremely slow.

subsequently i revised the experiment and used a 12volt portable vacuum cleaner to draw ambient air through the same barrels with similar results. (a filter was used to eliminate dust or the like from being deposited in the barrel interiors)

as STS mentioned, cold fluids from a thermos or the like was found to be a much more effective means of cooling barrels.

cheers
goodi
 
Get a air pump with attachments for air mattress at Walmart and get a length of rubber hose to stick in the chamber. Works quicker if you stand the gun up. It is 12 volt and works off cigarette lighter in truck. Cheap and easy way to cool the barrel and not worry about moisture forming inside. The air is not cold but it keeps moving to carry the heat with it.
 
you can get an air pump, bellows type that you use your feet to work, stick the hose in and chamber and pump. If you look down the bore from the chamber end after a shot it looks like slowly moving water in the bottom half of the barrel, if you move that heat out fast the barrel cools pretty easy. Good shooting.
 
The canned air won't hurt anything. If you turn it upside down, you can get the liquid to spray out, which will get things cold enough to form dew.
 
Well it was 108 today here in Kingman AZ.
I might have to cool the barrel before the 1st shot ;D
The alcohol method seems like the way to go
John H.
 
Yep, it was 108 here today too. I don't think that much is going to cool the barrel down on a day like today!
 
I would recomend nitrogen gas, six reasons cold, dry, displaces water, comes compressed in a tank,and is relatively in expensive, not flamable, and non toxic.

Nat Lambeth
 

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