Cooling hot barrel

[JRS]

It would require a great deal of water, both inside, and outside the barrel, to cool it.

 

[fguffey]

I never go to the range with one rifle, I open the bolt to eject the case as soon as possible after pulling the trigger.

Then there is the 'Ugliest Rifle', the stock, barrel and receiver is one piece. The stock doubles as the recoil lug. with that rifle there is no such thing as getting into a hurry, I could fix it but I am satisfied with the accuracy. $120.00, I did not believe anyone could build anything that ugly without knowing what they were doing. If I had been wrong the sum of the parts exceeded what I paid for the rifle.

F. Guffey

 

[BoydAllen]

Some years ago, there was an article in Precision Shooting magazine in which the author pointed out the difference in surface area of different barrel finishes and shapes. His point was that if you want to maximize surface area that a coarse sandblasted finish has more area than fluted, and that a polished finish was the worst in this regard. I guess that if you were really trying to do all that you could, you could do both.

There is also the issue of shade. Direct sunlight on a barrel will warm it up quite a bit over what it would be in the shade, especially on a hot bright day.

Back in my college days, I made money by overhauling (ring and valve jobs) gas engines for a delivery service, 600 series Fords and the like. I did this work in an unshaded parking lot, and in the heat of the summer had to cover my tools so that they would not become too hot to handle. They had polished chrome finishes.

 

[JRS]

Some years ago, there was an article in Precision Shooting magazine in which the author pointed out the difference in surface area of different barrel finishes and shapes. His point was that if you want to maximize surface area that a coarse sandblasted finish has more area than fluted, and that a polished finish was the worst in this regard. I guess that if you were really trying to do all that you could, you could do both.

There is also the issue of shade. Direct sunlight on a barrel will warm it up quite a bit over what it would be in the shade, especially on a hot bright day.

Back in my college days, I made money by overhauling (ring and valve jobs) gas engines for a delivery service, 600 series Fords and the like. I did this work in an unshaded parking lot, and in the heat of the summer had to cover my tools so that they would not become too hot to handle. They had polished chrome finishes.

Absolutely Boyd. There is a reason why the space shuttle nose and leading edges on the wings are black, rather than the white color on the remaining parts of the body of the aircraft!

Edit: The black color sucks up heat at a faster rate, but also gives up that heat at a MUCH faster rate! The remainder of my rifle barrels will be finished with a cerakote finish, rather than a pretty polished finish.

 

[chkunz]

This may not be helpful, but a black surface is the best color for radiation which means that it will cool down faster than a lighter color. Also, a fan will speed the cooling a lot if that is feasible for you, no great revelation. I am sure you already knew that. As Boyd says most flute design for barrels do not add much surface area so are not much help but a rough surface does add more surface area and helps somewhat.

 

[hogpatrol]

I machined a piece of nylon rod to fit in the receiver/chamber and hooked it to a piece of tygon hose connected to an air mattress pump. Takes it to ambient in a few minutes. Filter the incoming air. Depending on the mission, I sometimes run a wet then dry patch after cooling.

 

[jlow]

It would require a great deal of water, both inside, and outside the barrel, to cool it.

Well yes more than from a squirt gun but if you look at the old MGs, my guess is only about a gallon. The water only goes on the outside of the barrel and not the inside but to work well it would have to enclose not just the barrel but also the chamber since that is where the heat related wear is the worse. Look up Vickers Heavy Machine gun cooling system.

 

[XTR]

Smokeless ML guys use "cooling rods". If you shoot "fast" with a ML you will soften the plastic sabots and your accuracy goes to pot really fast. Burning 60+ grains of powder gets the barrel hot enough to be a problem in just a couple of shots. You really can't shoot a 5 shot group in anything less than about an hour and a half and hope for real accuracy in the last two shots.

The rods are basically copper or aluminum rods to fit into the bore and absorb heat, shooters keep them in PVC "coolers" with ice in them. Obviously it's easier to get a rod that will fit into a 45 or 50 cal bore than a 6mm, and it would be much less of a heat sink due to reduced mass of the smaller diameter rod, but it is done that way in another discipline.

 

[mikegaiz]

Thanks for the ideas, But does it hurt the barrel to cool Fast? When It cools on it's own, the pointy end cools faster than the breach and the breach cools last but heats up slower when you start with a cold barrel. so the barrel is never evenly heated????

 

[Ackman]

It would require a great deal of water, both inside, and outside the barrel, to cool it.

No, it doesn't require a great deal of water. You've obviously never used water. A few ounces through the bore is all. Hold the barrel and feel it go from hot to cool. About 15-20 seconds, that's it.

 

[Ackman]

Some years ago, there was an article in Precision Shooting magazine in which the author pointed out the difference in surface area of different barrel finishes and shapes. His point was that if you want to maximize surface area that a coarse sandblasted finish has more area than fluted, and that a polished finish was the worst in this regard. I guess that if you were really trying to do all that you could, you could do both.

It was Steve Chernicky. An excellent article, he did very thorough testing. In the 90's I believe.

 

[Ackman]

I've been through that......out there with a bunch of guns, waiting for them to cool down by themselves in the shade. That was before using water. On a hot or even a warm day, when the shooting is fast there's nothing that works like water to cool the barrel.

 

[arnie]

What kind of temperature are we talking about thats too hot to keep shooting ? If i bought these stick on Temperature Indicating Labels What range ?

 

[Ackman]

Thanks for the ideas, But does it hurt the barrel to cool Fast? When It cools on it's own, the pointy end cools faster than the breach and the breach cools last but heats up slower when you start with a cold barrel. so the barrel is never evenly heated????

To put it in persective......about 130-140* feels hot to a human. For a piece of steel that's not much. You needn't worry about how fast it cools or which end cools before the other.

 

[waterfwlr]

I've been through that......out there with a bunch of guns, waiting for them to cool down by themselves in the shade. That was before using water. On a hot or even a warm day, when the shooting is fast there's nothing that works like water to cool the barrel.

How do you get it through the barrel without it going all over?

 

[arnie]

I know a guy that uses a turkey baster to force water down his barrel. A small battery operated pump would work .

 

[Ackman]

I've been through that......out there with a bunch of guns, waiting for them to cool down by themselves in the shade. That was before using water. On a hot or even a warm day, when the shooting is fast there's nothing that works like water to cool the barrel.

How do you get it through the barrel without it going all over?

A cleaning rod guide with O-ring. There's a thing at walmart or an auto parts store, made for motor oil bottles. It's a cap with a valve and plastic tube with nozzle on the end. Screw the cap on a water bottle, the nozzle fits into the cleaning rod guide. Muzzle down, open the valve and cool away. Takes surprisingly little water.

 

[jlow]

I've been through that......out there with a bunch of guns, waiting for them to cool down by themselves in the shade. That was before using water. On a hot or even a warm day, when the shooting is fast there's nothing that works like water to cool the barrel.

How do you get it through the barrel without it going all over?

A cleaning rod guide with O-ring. There's a thing at walmart or an auto parts store, made for motor oil bottles. It's a cap with a valve and plastic tube with nozzle on the end. Screw the cap on a water bottle, the nozzle fits into the cleaning rod guide. Muzzle down, open the valve and cool away. Takes surprisingly little water.

I still like to know how you get all the water out afterwards?

 

[Ackman]

I've been through that......out there with a bunch of guns, waiting for them to cool down by themselves in the shade. That was before using water. On a hot or even a warm day, when the shooting is fast there's nothing that works like water to cool the barrel.

How do you get it through the barrel without it going all over?

A cleaning rod guide with O-ring. There's a thing at walmart or an auto parts store, made for motor oil bottles. It's a cap with a valve and plastic tube with nozzle on the end. Screw the cap on a water bottle, the nozzle fits into the cleaning rod guide. Muzzle down, open the valve and cool away. Takes surprisingly little water.

I still like to know how you get all the water out afterwards?

Dry patches. And they will get the bore dry.

 

[LHSmith]

In PS magazine one contributor claimed that extreme temperature cycling ...as in cooling a hot barrel with a CO2 canister (SeaBreeze Mfgr ?) or chilling with water promoted faster throat erosion than just allowing the barrel steel to cool in ambient temps between matches.
I wouldn't shoot any barrel whose bore was doused in liquid until it was dried out, but I also won't shoot a dry, clean bore. I leave a light film of oil or bore cleaner depending what stage of the agg I'm cleaning.
Then one has to consider that for best accuracy a barrel needs to be warmed up....if it was supercooled how many shots will be required to bring it into the temp region where the barrel shoots it's best ....so what have you really accomplished?