Cooling down the bore.

[bsumoba]

Did some load development on my new rifle Friday, this used to take forever due to the barrel heating up (90F) outside in full sun to boot.
I'd say this little gem cut about two hours off of my normal shooting time. I got home early and the wife was happy...what's that worth? Lol

I'm glad it worked out for you.

 

[LHSmith]

Be careful cooling a barrel if done to rapidly can increase fire cracking. And accelerate wear and shorten barrel life. Due to rapid heating and cooling.

To qualify why Thud (and a few other members who agree with his post) advises to use caution when cooling a bore with water: In an article written in the Feb. 2005 issue of PS magazine authored by Fred Barker entitled " Heat Checking In Rifle Bores" he offered : "So the following recommendations may be made to reduce heat checking in a bore, and thus extend barrel life: 1/ in extended firing (e.g., highpower, and LR competition and PD shooting) keep the barrel warm; keep the number of cool-to-hot-to-cool cycles as low as possible; 2/ if the outer surface of the barrel becomes too hot to touch, cool it down to where it can be handled- this is to reduce the nitridation reaction on firing; 3/ do not run any coolant down a hot bore: that would give thermal shock and induce cracking; 4/ preheat the bore before firing:....attempt to raise the temperature of the surface of the throat prior to firing and reduce thermal shock; and 5/ use a rifle configuration that maximizes heat flow from the barrel to the surrounding air: enlarge the barrel channel..."

 

[itchyTF]

I guess this is obvious but running ambient air through the bore is a much more gentle way to cool. Thermal conductivity of water is much higher than air which is why air takes longer but the thermal shock is less.

 

[LHSmith]

I guess this is obvious but running ambient air through the bore is a much more gentle way to cool. Thermal conductivity of water is much higher than air which is why air takes longer but the thermal shock is less.

Agreed. Just wanted to point out there may be consequences to the various methods used to cool down bores and to the degree they are cooled down to.

 

[Chief 101]

Stand the gun up with the chamber open, the chimney effect will take it from there. It doesn't take as long as you would think.

as a Varmint hunter I can have more than one rifle ready so standing hot rifle in the shade for a few minutes, even on a hot day, is quick...for working with loads I have to take more than one firearm to work with...

 

[nmkid]

Well, I just ordered one, hopefully it'll be here by Friday.

 

[rockable]

I used my first barrelcool this weekend and it worked like a charm. My shooting buddy used it to cool his .300 H&H and was blown away at how quickly it cooled off after a 3 shot string. He had already been working up some loads earlier in the week and said this reduced his session by 30 minutes or more. He was sold. I ordered another one today.

 

[Immike]

I used my first barrelcool this weekend and it worked like a charm. My shooting buddy used it to cool his .300 H&H and was blown away at how quickly it cooled off after a 3 shot string. He had already been working up some loads earlier in the week and said this reduced his session by 30 minutes or more. He was sold. I ordered another one today.

For working with factory barrels this product is a necessity! Good deal, this was needed.

 

[bsumoba]

For BarrelCool, many people were having issues with IE and Firefox browsers. Website is finally up and running. You can now place orders on all web browsers. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[mbkmkk]

For BarrelCool, many people were having issues with IE and Firefox browsers. Website is finally up and running. You can now place orders on all web browsers. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I ordered my BarrelCool this week.
Will use in AZ on PDs.

 

[BP1]

I ordered two Barrelcoolers on Thursday evening by phone from Brian and they were at my house Saturday morning thanks and talk about fast shipping.

 

[ericbc7]

Will the AW RCR123 rechargeables work in this unit? As mentioned earlier the voltage and dimentions are slightly different, but are often interchangeable with some performance differences.

 

[bsumoba]

Will the AW RCR123 rechargeables work in this unit? As mentioned earlier the voltage and dimentions are slightly different, but are often interchangeable with some performance differences.

If the size is reasonably the same in diameter and length, it will work. Not sure about longevity as I read that it has quite a bit less capacity (nearly 1/3 that of CR123A). With a new set of CR123A batteries, BarrelCool will operate from 7-10 hours.

 

[Grimstod]

My own interpretation and system. Made from 1/2in rubber hose a mattress air pump and Premier Accuracy bore guide. Works quite well. External barrel temp dropped from 95f to 85f with 10 sec of air pumped through.

 

[hogpatrol]

My own interpretation and system. Made from 1/2in rubber hose a mattress air pump and Premier Accuracy bore guide. Works quite well. External barrel temp dropped from 95f to 85f with 10 sec of air pumped through.

Grim, I use the same setup. What kind of battery life are you getting? I'm only good for two and maybe three trips to the range. Tried the Harbor Freight cheapos and they barely last one time. On another note, I bought and tried one of the barrel cool units and compared to the efficiency of this unit for barrel cooling, they're pathetic. In my .17s and .20s I can barely feel any air at all at the muzzle.

 

[Grimstod]

Grim, I use the same setup. What kind of battery life are you getting? I'm only good for two and maybe three trips to the range. Tried the Harbor Freight cheapos and they barely last one time. On another note, I bought and tried one of the barrel cool units and compared to the efficiency of this unit for barrel cooling, they're pathetic. In my .17s and .20s I can barely feel any air at all at the muzzle.

I have only been to the range once with one. That seams like very poor battery time though. This unit i perchased from amizon. Ill keep track of its time. It takes very little time to cool down the barrel with this.

 

[AckleymanII]

Agreed. Just wanted to point out there may be consequences to the various methods used to cool down bores and to the degree they are cooled down to.

this Theory did not prove out in our actual use of water over, many, many years, and Rockwell's #1 engineer, head of the B1 bomber project, was the guy that thought of it. This man also build the Olympic rifles and developed the Federal gold metal Match ammo that won the Olympics, developed the 17 HMR, along with the Browning BOSS system, just to state a few of his accomplishments.

Rem 700's
Rem 788's
Sako A 1's
Rugers with Blued Barrels
many, many shilen and hart SS barrels on custom actions

None had any damage in looking with a bore scope, all continued to shoot bug holes.

Added advantage was that after running the water down the bore, the tight patches removed a LOT of powder fouling so shot strings could be extended over what you would consider normal before cleaning was needed.

We cooled barrels with water since 1987, key to remember was that we used water at room temp and out of the ice chest, but the 4 patches on a punch type jag were a very tight fit, there was no water left in the bore after the 4 patches. When we were done shooting for the day, or that night at the motel, a patch of eezox was ran down the barrel on Blued barrels.

He did not market this idea because it is so cheap that anyone could duplicate it.

 

[TAJ45]

this Theory did not prove out in our actual use of water over, many, many years, and Rockwell's #1 engineer, head of the B1 bomber project, was the guy that thought of it. This man also build the Olympic rifles and developed the Federal gold metal Match ammo that won the Olympics, developed the 17 HMR, along with the Browning BOSS system, just to state a few of his accomplishments.

Rem 700's
Rem 788's
Sako A 1's
Rugers with Blued Barrels
many, many shilen and hart SS barrels on custom actions

None had any damage in looking with a bore scope, all continued to shoot bug holes.

Added advantage was that after running the water down the bore, the tight patches removed a LOT of powder fouling so shot strings could be extended over what you would consider normal before cleaning was needed.

We cooled barrels with water since 1987, key to remember was that we used water at room temp and out of the ice chest, but the 4 patches on a punch type jag were a very tight fit, there was no water left in the bore after the 4 patches. When we were done shooting for the day, or that night at the motel, a patch of eezox was ran down the barrel on Blued barrels.

He did not market this idea because it is so cheap that anyone could duplicate it.

this Theory did not prove out in our actual use of water over, many, many years, and Rockwell's #1 engineer, head of the B1 bomber project, was the guy that thought of it. This man also build the Olympic rifles and developed the Federal gold metal Match ammo that won the Olympics, developed the 17 HMR, along with the Browning BOSS system, just to state a few of his accomplishments.

Rem 700's
Rem 788's
Sako A 1's
Rugers with Blued Barrels
many, many shilen and hart SS barrels on custom actions

None had any damage in looking with a bore scope, all continued to shoot bug holes.

Added advantage was that after running the water down the bore, the tight patches removed a LOT of powder fouling so shot strings could be extended over what you would consider normal before cleaning was needed.

We cooled barrels with water since 1987, key to remember was that we used water at room temp and out of the ice chest, but the 4 patches on a punch type jag were a very tight fit, there was no water left in the bore after the 4 patches. When we were done shooting for the day, or that night at the motel, a patch of eezox was ran down the barrel on Blued barrels.

He did not market this idea because it is so cheap that anyone could duplicate it.

I had a supe once who also carried "Toolmaker" in his title but a pretty poor excuse in both capacities........ Don't really remember the particulars but tossed out the "thermal shock" phrase one day on one of his "ideas" and absolutely cross threaded his brain. Yes, it's real but at temps that may go from LOW triple digits to ambient minus 40°......???? Say what?

 

[nmkid]

I have only been to the range once with one. That seams like very poor battery time though. This unit i perchased from amizon. Ill keep track of its time. It takes very little time to cool down the barrel with this.[/

I also ended up with the same setup. Battery life means nothing! Not boasting but, my present, new "toy" cost way over $2,000. Buying extra batteries is the least of my worries. The BarrelCool worked OK in my short barreled rifles but, did next to nothing on my heavy, 30" barrel.

 

[Grimstod]

That is a good thing to bring up. These heavy barrels contain a lot more heat so more air is probably better to cool the big boys off.