Cooling hot barrel

[mikegaiz]

Thanks for all the information and opinions. Something that needs to be considered is we are talking about hot barrels. Not hot enough to burn you to the touch buy hot to the touch, around 180* so we are taking the barrel from 180* to around 85* average air temp in the summer. That is why I keep asking the same question.

 

[dennisinaz]

Oxygen tanks are pressurized at 4000 to 5000 psi then into a flow regulator to be used at a lower pressure. If oil is inside this high pressure regulator then it's a problem.

Comparing oxygen blown at low pressure into a barrel thinking it will flash would be the same as saying every machinist or mechanic in the world who uses an air hose to blow away oily chips or oily parts are at risk of explosion.
Is that what is being said?

Tim, you have obviously never looked at the gauges on an oxygen bottle before have you? No industrial gasses are packaged for consumers at 200 Bar +. Oxygen typically is 2000 PSI max which is less than 150 Bar. Nitrogen, Argon and Helium are similar. CO2 is usually less than that. You can get pressurized air in carbon fiber tanks that high but they are typically used for SCBA applications and very few places can service to those pressures.

In any event pure oxygen, especially under pressure reacts violently with petroleum products. One is not even supposed to check connects with soapy water for leaks. There are special inert fluids we use to check this. NEVER run oxygen down a barrel. Use anything else. Pressurized air is the cheapest. Nitrogen is the next cheapest. CO2 is the most effective.

 

[Tim Singleton]

Oxygen tanks are pressurized at 4000 to 5000 psi then into a flow regulator to be used at a lower pressure. If oil is inside this high pressure regulator then it's a problem.

Comparing oxygen blown at low pressure into a barrel thinking it will flash would be the same as saying every machinist or mechanic in the world who uses an air hose to blow away oily chips or oily parts are at risk of explosion.
Is that what is being said?

In any event pure oxygen, especially under pressure reacts violently with petroleum products. One is not even supposed to check connects with soapy water for leaks. There are special inert fluids we use to check this. NEVER run oxygen down a barrel. Use anything else. Pressurized air is the cheapest. Nitrogen is the next cheapest. CO2 is the most effective.

If you read later posts I'm pretty sure that's what I said when under high pressure is it dangerous when in contact with oil or grease. And yes I've looked at more than a few O2 gauges

 

[Ackman]

Say you are doing load development on a hot day. Will it hurt your barrel if you cool it down evenly with ice, or cold water? Inquiring minds want to know.

Amazing, and it happens all the time. On an internet shooting forum something as simple as barrel cooling can be picked and nit-picked to death and made far more complex than it is. I've no authoritative article - by a genuine metallurgist - to post and make me look authoritative. And I've not stayed in Holiday Inn the last year or even 3 or 4. But something to think about......what's the determination of a "hot" barrel, what's "cold" when using something cold to cool a barrel, and what criteria determines "fast" cooling? The chamber and barrel is a hostile environment. Temps up to 5,000 degrees (?) (The number I read in another "authoritative" article was 3,500*) No matter, it goes from not-hot to very d@mn hot in a tiny instant, then back to not hot in the next tiny instant. Going from not-hot to an insanely hot 3500/5000* then back to not hot......could that reasonably be considered very fast cooling? Ok. Barrel temps - really, 120* is uncomfortably hot to the human touch, and you don't want to hold onto something that's 130*. That's nowhere even remotely close to what's "hot" for steel or a barrel. Surely other people are different about this, but I'll set it aside when the barrel feels uncomfortably hot to the touch. At 120, or 130, I've no idea if the bore is hotter or by how much. Water - cold refrig water is about 40*, cold tap water is about 60*. The water bottle could stay in a coooler, mine just sits in the truck at whatever ambient temp is. A barrel only needs cooling to ambient temp, freezing it is pointless. Even air temp water works just fine. So a couple questions. Is 80* water, 70, 50, or even 40* water considered a "cold" coolant? Cooling a barrel from 120 or 130* back down to 100, or 90, or 70, or whatever ambient is in 30 seconds.....would that be considered "fast cooling?" I've no authoritative source to tout and have no plans for a Holiday Inn. But there's such a thing as common sense when interpreting something written. Think about things a bit before buying into it. This isn't brain surgery.

 

[JRS]

The Amos 'N' Andy show ;D

 

[dennisinaz]

Oxygen tanks are pressurized at 4000 to 5000 psi then into a flow regulator to be used at a lower pressure.

I

If you read later posts I'm pretty sure that's what I said when under high pressure is it dangerous when in contact with oil or grease. And yes I've looked at more than a few O2 gauges

You did and you also said that it is 4000-5000 psi which is more than twice as high as it really is which kinda makes the whole rest of the post look like you are just guessing.

We will agree that using O2 to blow through a barrel is tantamount to playing with IEDs.

 

[RossL]

I live in S. Az and don't have the time to wait for a rifle barrel to cool on its own.

I have been using CO2 to keep a barrel close to ambient for load development. Been doing this for over a decade.

The idea is to use a slow flow from a 20 lb CO2 tank to bring the warm barrel to ambient. I only shoot two rounds from a magnum, cool, then wait for the barrel to stabilize to ambient. I use a infrared temp gun. I have found this is the fastest way to develop a load in our hot environment. The intent is to try and duplicate hunting conditions where the first round is from an ambient temp barrel.

I am not cooking the barrel like the fools with their ARs with 20 plus rounds in under a minute.

I am a hunter not a BR shooter. I have a borescope and monitor all barrels. I have not seen any undue wear of the throat on any rifle that has undergone this process.

 

[finnaddict]

Get a mini refrigerator, cut one hole in one side, then another for the muzzle on the opposite side. Insert rifle and plug in. Should keep the barrel temps consistent all through out the day ;D . Seriously, just using a ice sheet ( a rag sealed in a ziplock bag) that has been sitting on ice works well too. No water to worry about that makes contact with your metal or wood.

 

[BoydAllen]

RossL,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Boyd

 

[bigedp51]

Benchrest Central
Thread: Barrel cooling technique?
http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?61097-Barrel-cooling-technique

Guns&Ammo forum
Barrel Cooling Ideas.
http://forums.gunsandammo.com/showthread.php?15431-Barrel-Cooling-Ideas

Coleman QuickPump
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-QuickPump-4D-Battery-Pump/dp/B00LZ5NA1U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439480368&sr=8-2&keywords=coleman+quickpump+4d

 

[fguffey]

I do not get into mortal combat with reloading and shooting, I take at least 6 rifles to the range. I have one rifle that heats up and is slow to cool. And ambient is surrounding temperature, heat travels to cold.

F. Guffey

 

[bigedp51]

Then everyone knows for over 100 years Enfield benchrest shooters just pore water down the bore. ;D

It true, water isn't going to ruin your barrel, the British pored at least 2 pints of boiling water down the bore after shooting corrosive ammunition. The water removed the corrosive priming salts and the carbon from the bore. Then a using a pull through a oiled patch was pulled through the bore. Then with the remaining hot water thy made a cup of tea.

Then there is the ultimate water cooling method developed by Navy Seals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MA1IFKwdAQ

 

[mikegaiz]

Thanks for the open minded approach to the information. ;D

 

[bsumoba]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have been working on something for the last 5-6 months. It is now patent pending and will be showing the barrel cooling product soon.

My invention is different than the others out there and you will understand why.

stay tuned :-X

 

[fourpower]

I use temp strips on my bbls and never shoot them when they get up to 122. I then use old trapshooting trick for shooting in high heat. I use a old towel that is damp and wrap around bbl and set in rack and get another gun to shoot. I have been doing this for longer then I like to remember. have a 25-06 with over 3500 rds on it and it still shoots better than I can hold.

 

[Ironworker]

If I run water down the bore,won't it all naturally evaporate ,so as to not be necessary to run a patch before resuming to shoot.

 

[Fotheringill]

I also use the strips and shoot a .22lr while the barrel is cooling.

 

[Webster]

Say you are doing load development on a hot day. Will it hurt your barrel if you cool it down evenly with ice, or cold water? Inquiring minds want to know.

Several months ago I met a guy at the range he was cooling his barrel with a battery powered homemade gizmo. It blew a lot of air down the bore. I believe it was a campers battery powered air pump made to fill air matresses. A friend of his is in the business of making them. Will try to post his name or website. It may take a while. The batteries last about 4 hrs on his rig. It isn't a simple setup. Some pumps on the market put out so little air they are useless. You have to make several adapters. Pump to tygon tubing and a fitting that goes in the bore with a fairly tight fit so the air doesn't go in both directions.

 

[corsair4360]

I find that standing the rifle in a rack with the barrel up and action open cools the barrel at least twice as fast compared to the barrel horizontal, regardless of ambient temperature. I usually am shooting two or three rifles and just stand up the ones not being shot. For hunting rifles with their long thin barrels I shoot three rounds, then let them cool.

 

[JRS]

A small shot of N20.