24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,988
Campfire Tracker
OP Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 3,988
While reading Mule Deer's Rifle Troubleshooting and Reloading in the chapter on barrels, shooting a hot barrel is mentioned several times. Since steel gets softer with heat, shooting a barrel that is "too hot" can cause significant throat erosion but what is "too hot"?
Somewhere along the line I heard/read if you can't hold your hand on a barrel it is too hot so for years that has been my rule of thumb during range sessions but is that right? It definitely varies by cartridge since 5 rounds from a big over bore like the 300RUM can exceed my ability to keep a hand on the barrel while 20 rounds through a 223Rem or 375H&H doesn't seem to get that hot.
So what is "to hot" and how do you measure it?


I am continually astounded at how quickly people make up their minds on little evidence or none at all.
Jack O'Connor
BP-B2

Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
F
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
F
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
I am a groupie to a guy who has a huge vintage machine gun collection. There have been a few firing sessions, back when 8x57 ball was delivered here in the US for pennies per round, '06 tracer belted for only a little more, and although we didn't conduct any scientific measurements afterward, I recall seeing barrels on air cooled 1919's glowing a dull red in the evening twilight.
Cleaning the barrels the next day was not particularly problematic. I doubt you could do serious damage to any sporting rifle barrel by sustained fire, even with their slim profiles. Just my opinion.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,155
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,155
My highly-scientific standard is whether the barrel is too hot for me to hold into.

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,516
T
Campfire 'Bwana
Online Happy
Campfire 'Bwana
T
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 30,516


keep 'em cool

even this heavy 20-222 will heat up @ 60 rds an hour

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


T R U M P W O N !

U L T R A M A G A !

Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,466
I
Campfire Regular
Online Content
Campfire Regular
I
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,466
There have been a lot of barrels cooked in a prairie dog town , But I do not know how many rounds it takes.

At 90f a 223 will warm very fast.

IC B2

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,299
P
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
P
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,299
I bought myself a stainless model 70 .270 in 1993, as a young teenager. I then proceeded to shoot the heck out of it. It laid the foundation for field marksmanship and rapid fire ability for me. Lots of rapid fire practice! The other night I checked it with the teslong borescope to see just how alligator looking the throat was. Strangely, the thing looks pristine. I cannot believe it based on how much and in what way I used to shoot it. A chromed bore 5.56 looks similarly nice despite much rapid fire.

So.......I have no idea.

Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
F
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
F
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
I need to amend my earlier conjecture...as the OP stated, it's all about cartridge design. I would opine that any military cartridge of WW I or WW II can have a long life. Overbore varmint and target cartridges have a very short life to go by the experts.
Kind of off topic, but an interesting historical note: In WW I, the Brit 100th Machine Gun Company fired their 12 Vickers MG's for 12 continuous hours, expending in excess of a million rounds, only going through ten barrels. But wait...there's more...no stoppages in a million rounds. And then in the Nam we had the low bidder M-60...Jesus wept.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,341
From my bench here at home if I can't take the heat from the underside of my wrist I wait. I just grab and shoot a different gun.

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,709
C
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
C
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,709
Originally Posted by flintlocke
I need to amend my earlier conjecture...as the OP stated, it's all about cartridge design. I would opine that any military cartridge of WW I or WW II can have a long life. Overbore varmint and target cartridges have a very short life to go by the experts.
Kind of off topic, but an interesting historical note: In WW I, the Brit 100th Machine Gun Company fired their 12 Vickers MG's for 12 continuous hours, expending in excess of a million rounds, only going through ten barrels. But wait...there's more...no stoppages in a million rounds. And then in the Nam we had the low bidder M-60...Jesus wept.


I saw more than a few 60s get red hot when I was in 'Nam.


Old Corps

Semper Fi

Get off my lawn.

FJB
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
M
Campfire Kahuna
Offline
Campfire Kahuna
M
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
Have fried a few barrels over the years, some relatively quickly on prairie dog towns. Thought the .204 Ruger was THE answer for PD shooting, but finally realized it fries barrels within 1500-2000 rounds if you shoot it a lot. That was using it in combination with a .17 HMR to "start" a town, even though I always took at least one other centerfire to shoot when the .204 got hot.

Lately my PD combo is still a .17 HMR for start-ups, and a .204 for when the shots tend to get over 250-300. But in between I use a CZ Varmint ,17 Hornet, which doesn't heat up the relatively heavy barrel (.75" at the muzzle) much at all except on those really warm days of 90+.

Have burned out more than a few big-game cartridge barrels just practicing and trying loads, including two .270s.


“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
IC B3

Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 12,987
P
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
P
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 12,987
My goal is to shoot out a barrel.

Someday...




P


Obey lawful commands. Video interactions. Hold bad cops accountable. Problem solved.

~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~

Member #547
Join date 3/09/2001
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 150,091
Campfire Savant
Online Content
Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 150,091
It seems like some writer used a funnel and piece of tubing to pour ice water down barrels to cool them with no ill effects. Will that work?

Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 47,719
B
Campfire 'Bwana
Offline
Campfire 'Bwana
B
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 47,719
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
My goal is to shoot out a barrel.

Someday...




P


The trick to that is you have to shoot your rifle more. Those occasional 1 and 3 shot groups, just aren't cutting it.


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole.

BSA MAGA
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 10,812
P
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
P
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 10,812
years ago I was shooting in competition, started out using a heavy barrel in 22/250, but one shoot switched to my 25/06 rem 700 with standard barrel, got it got, but did not realize till I picked t up again that it had melted into the mat I was using to lay on, imagine that it was pretty hot, but never knew how hot it was, should look up the info on melting point of those blue camp mats, would be interesting to see how hot it was.


"The 375HH is the greatest level of power you can get for the investment in recoil." (JJHack)
79s and losttrail, biggest waste of air.
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 5,870
CRS Offline
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 5,870
Originally Posted by pabucktail
I bought myself a stainless model 70 .270 in 1993, as a young teenager. I then proceeded to shoot the heck out of it. It laid the foundation for field marksmanship and rapid fire ability for me. Lots of rapid fire practice! The other night I checked it with the teslong borescope to see just how alligator looking the throat was. Strangely, the thing looks pristine. I cannot believe it based on how much and in what way I used to shoot it. A chromed bore 5.56 looks similarly nice despite much rapid fire.

So.......I have no idea.


Interesting, as I bought a Remington 700 mountain rifle in stainless circa 1992 and was my only CF rifle for more than a few years. I do not know how many rounds I shot through that rifle. When I finally got a borescope, it was the first rifle barrel I looked at. I had noticed accuracy was slipping and I wanted to check it out. It was a mountain contour barrel and heated up fairly quickly and was heated up many times, but too hot to handle only a few times. It now has a new barrel, throat was eroded and lots of alligator in the rest of the bore.

Second rifle was a Remington 22-250 LVSF that my boys grew up shooting. Another barrel that had thousands of rounds through it. Not all full power, but when the boys are having fun, it is hard to get them to stop shooting. That barrel was too hot to handle more times than I can count. That throat was trashed and alligatored too. Now wears a 1:8 Shilen. Hoping to shoot that one out too.

Next rilfe I want to shoot the barrel out on is my 375 H&H, I love shooting that rifle. I bought it used, so I have no idea of actual round count. But I am up to 600 now and plan on shooting it again this weekend. Everything still looks good but am monitoring the barrel every time I clean it.


Arcus Venator
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,980
C
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
C
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,980
Originally Posted by flintlocke
I need to amend my earlier conjecture...as the OP stated, it's all about cartridge design. I would opine that any military cartridge of WW I or WW II can have a long life. Overbore varmint and target cartridges have a very short life to go by the experts.
Kind of off topic, but an interesting historical note: In WW I, the Brit 100th Machine Gun Company fired their 12 Vickers MG's for 12 continuous hours, expending in excess of a million rounds, only going through ten barrels. But wait...there's more...no stoppages in a million rounds. And then in the Nam we had the low bidder M-60...Jesus wept.

I think you will find they had 10 guns and used 100 barrels

Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
F
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
F
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 8,968
How embarassing...I stand corrected. So much for an old fart's memory.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
M
Campfire Kahuna
Offline
Campfire Kahuna
M
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,901
Partsman,

On a prairie dog shoot hosted by Kimber many years ago, a bunch of writers were mostly shooting walnut-stocked .22-250s with fairly light barrels--really more suited to coyote hunting than PDs in afternoon temperatures around 100 degrees. My shooting partner got his so hot the forend started burning. At first we smelled it, then saw smoke rising around the barrel. We finally stuck the barrel and forend in the melted icewater of a big cooler to put it out. Have no idea whether the barrel itself was truly toasted, but it got hot enough to start melting the cores in the thin-jacketed bullets of the factory loads we were using--which also did not do anything for accuracy.

There were a few .223s as well, and I brought along my own, an older Kimber, so switched it now and then for the .22-250 I was also shooting. Even so I fired about 600 rounds of .22-250 ammo from the first morning into the next morning (I kept track because we got to bring the brass home, and I dropped all the empties into a small duffel bag), when I discovered that a relatively light 22-250 started feeling more like a .375 H&H each time it went off. As a result I'd started flinching slightly, so after that switched to the .223 for the rest of the shoot, which helped a lot.


“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 7,125
G
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
G
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 7,125
A friend and I both loved the 220 swift for the longer shots but didn't shoot them a lot. Most shooting was done with 222's.
The concept of pouring water through the bore was popular for a while and it definitely worked well but you don't see it too often now. GD

Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,522
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,522
Have also seen (in print) someone using some kind of compressed gas fro a tank, maybe CO2.

Have also read, possibly in The Last Hunt of buffalo hunters stopping in the middle of a "stand" to pee down the barrel of a rifle to cool it off. Wouldn't recommend that at coed p-dog shoots!


What fresh Hell is this?
Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
711 members (117LBS, 10gaugemag, 12344mag, 01Foreman400, 10Glocks, 76 invisible), 2,673 guests, and 1,308 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,683
Posts18,399,735
Members73,820
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.142s Queries: 15 (0.003s) Memory: 0.9001 MB (Peak: 1.0545 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 22:15:53 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS