Post pertains to Kimbers, ULA/Nula, 'Mountain rifle contour' barrels, or similar.

Curious since we have folks using them in Alaska and the Northwest, vs other areas where temps often a good bit lower.

Knowing barrel heat makes fliers, just curious if lightweight barrels shoot more consistently in these colder areas?

I would expect first shot cold bore POI to be similar.

I dont think it would matter. Im not going to heat either up enough in a typical hunting situation to notice a difference. But then again im not hunting prairie dogs and such where you shoot tons of ammo.

as the other guy said, doesnt matter, if yah fire a normal string the barrel heats up just the same.....yeah it can cool down faster but it will get to just about the same temp if your not waiting much between shots....

I don't think so....light barrels can walk from heat but some walk less than others.Especially light barrels not properly stress relieved.

At least that's my observation.

It's kind of hard to say. I don't have one of the named specimens, my light barrelled rifle being a M700 Mountain. My thoughts are these: at cold temps I am content with having the snow, or most of it anyway, cleared from the scope lenses. Then I try to control my breathing, not to avoid shot-muffing so much as to prevent fogging the objective. (There's a follow-through issue here too.) Then, assuming multiple shots are needed, I am now shooting at a moving target, so any MOA shooting is more than likely to be a moot point anyway. But you can often see your misses as they often land and spray in snow, and correct from there if need be.

This same thought was rambling around in my head and for sometime now my opinion has been for some reason I have found them more consistent in cold weather. Right or wrong, I'm not sure. So for what it's worth, 30F out this AM and this is the best overall group this young rifle has shot and the first time it has been shot with temps in the low 30's.

.243W Montana. First three shots out of a cold clean barrel went into an inch cloverleaf. Shot the .22-250 for two strings and then went back to the .243W.

Six shots total-third was the screw-up, but it looked good-load, shoot, load, shoot because things seemed to be going good. Still only an inch group, however Deer workup with the Barnes 80gr TTSX is done I'm thinking.

Klik - no doubt, the FIRST shot is often the best for success, and if not made, no matter why, follow up shots are often on running game.

That said, there were a few times in my hunting career that I had to shoot more than once for various reasons, inc. deflected bullets, etc. As to snow, none here - Lol.

I was just curious if temperature affected various owners accuracy results, as some are good, some great, and some, not so much. I know this is assuming equally built guns of the same model, quality ammo, scope, conditions, and shooter skill.

Thanks guys.

Battue, I'd say 'let the good times roll' You have a deer killer! TTSX is bad juju as you know. Good hunting! BTW, as you know, a smaller bore of the same OD barrel, means stiffer, and slower to heat up...so a 243 in the same contour POTENTIALLY is more prone to shoot w/more precision than say a 338.

Forgot to add the Nula .22-250 could essentially care less what the ambient temp is. It just keeps pumping out .75in or better groups for the most part.

That's common with NULA's of all barrel weights.

In fact they normally shoot just as accurately with the barrel screaming hot as with it cold, and to the same point of impact as well. That's one reason I often use my NULA .30-06 as a scope-test rifle: I can keep shooting without letting the barrel cool down, getting results a LOT more quickly than if I had to cool the barrel down between shots or groups.

The same applies to the one Forbes Rifle I've tested as well.