Barrel heating in Heavy Gun

[chuckgreen]

I've recently started shooting 1K Benchrest and had a question about barrel heating.

In Heavy Gun, where I shoot, we shoot some sighters and then three 10 shot groups for record, ten minutes for each group, and have 3 minutes for more sighters between groups. It's sometimes necessary to shoot 40 plus rounds in about 40 minutes with no break and the temperatures this time of year are in the 90's.

The one time I've done this the No. 8 contour 28" barrel on my 300WSM was very, very hot and I'm wondering how much damage I may be doing to my barrel by treating it this way. I did seem to be losing accuracy on the last ten shot group.

Any thoughts? Thanks,

Chuck

 

[BillK]

The hotter the barrel gets the more damage occurs during firing. I t is just a fact of life. 10 shot strings will damage a barrel more than five shot strings especially when you add on sighters.