Barrel heat solutions?

pyscodog

Active member
Shooting in the summertime, as we all know, heats barrels up really fast. I'm "Southern Engineering" someway to cool a barrel. So far, I have an battery powered air mattress pump and some 1/4 inch plastic air line.My thoughts are attach the pump to the air line, put the airline in a container filled with ice or those lunch box cooler thingy's, then into another line to the chamber. Air from the pump circulates through the chilled hose then into the chamber. If I use the lunch box cooler things, there will be no water from melted ice and I could contain it in one smaller container. Thoughts? Or should I just scrap the idea and wait for cool weather?
 
Buy another rifle and switch off... it’s not a bad idea but I already bring too much extra stuff with me lol...
 
I saw a t the range the other day pumping water through his barrels. It'll work but it is pretty equipment intensive. There was a Winter Breeze system that used CO2 for cooling them down quick.

Greg
 
I've heard of people putting water down their barrels. I just can't bring myself to do that. A pump running air through the barrel will help cool it down I'm sure but when its 100 degrees outside seems like your still running hot air through the barrel. I was thinking if you could cool the air before it went in the barrel it would cool better and faster. You think about this stuff when its to [beeep] hot to shoot.
 
When I was shooting trap in ROC they had a bucket of water and ladle at each station to cool barrels. I haven't seen that here in the states but I haven't shot in real high temps.

With rifles just lay a damp towel over the barrels, evaporation keeps it cooling.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogShooting in the summertime, as we all know, heats barrels up really fast. I'm "Southern Engineering" someway to cool a barrel. So far, I have an battery powered air mattress pump and some 1/4 inch plastic air line.My thoughts are attach the pump to the air line, put the airline in a container filled with ice or those lunch box cooler thingy's, then into another line to the chamber. Air from the pump circulates through the chilled hose then into the chamber. If I use the lunch box cooler things, there will be no water from melted ice and I could contain it in one smaller container. Thoughts? Or should I just scrap the idea and wait for cool weather?

I built one like you describe above and it worked fine. Would cool a fairly hot(not real hot) barrel in about 7 minutes.
 
It gets really really hot here... like 107 yesterday.

I shoot a group or a round of steel and then sit the rifle back in my truck and let it cool in the AC.

I figured everyone did this?
 
Well, it don't work. When I choke the air pump down to the 1/4 inch air line it doesn't put out enough air. With the 1/2 inch coming out of the pump it works pretty good. Guess I'm back to the drawing board.
 
I remember one that hooked up a can of Freon to gas your barrel with. I imagine that worked pretty well. Dont know how long the Freon would last.

When shooting prairie dogs in hot weather all my guns would be in the shade except for the one that I was shooting. I did not might swapping off. Better than overheating a barrel. Something I have never done.
 
I and many others have been using this system since 1987 on p. dog towns, custom Stolle Panda's, Hall M's, custom 40x, custom Rem, Ruger, win, and Parker Hales.

Key thing to remember about running water down the bore:
a. steel would have to be 850* before water would warp the steel
b. a punch type of jag that is a tight fit with the patch, gets the water out of the barrel.
All that could be left is some moisture in the pores of the steel.
c. Gases that are thousands of degrees proceede the bullet down the bore, and any water vapor
is burned up.
d. clean the moisture out of your chamber, but if you use a good bore guide with an O ring, you
should not have any water in your chamber
e. three minutes is all it takes to cool the bore dead cold, you are back to shooting
f. patching the bore out gives you longer shooting strings as a lot of the carbon is removed

Bill Davis of Aberdine Proving grounds suggested that we use this method as this is what they used. We were trying to get Bill to go with us on a p. dog hunt. Bill said that this was the method they used on their guns.

My hunting partners all used custom and factory Chrome moly barrels. I have listened to the nonsense that this water down the bore causes rust in chrome moly barrels. Well, for idiots it just may do exactly that! Since you are pushing patches down the bore to dry out the bore, then your last cooling session of the day, push an oily patch down the bore. You are going to have to clean the barrel when you get back to the motel from the Day's shooting anyway.

Auto parts stores carry the nozzle that fits on top of an quart oil can to prevent spilage, it runs around $4 out the door. Wall Mart carries this part also.
This is the complete unit
a. your favorite soda pop bottle, 2 liters fit also
b. oil can spout
c. Sinclair bore guide
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Everything is a tight fit on the connections, so there is not dripping or spilage
4 to 6 oz of water is all that is needed to cool the barrel.

If you are scared of the water down the bore, then try mixing a solution of 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol. Douse a wash rag with the solution and rub over the barrel till the solution drips off the bottom of the barrel. When the solution evaporates, the heat goes with it. This method is slower, and you will have to oil your blued barrel when you get home or before you leave the range.

On p. dog towns, we poured this solution in the cracks of the fiberglass stocks around the SS barrel, barrel heat cooked off the solution. We never had any problems with our glued in actions coming apart from the stock. We got barrels so hot the fiberglass got hot, I figured that one day the action would pop loose from the stock but it never did.

Good luck
 
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Originally Posted By: pyscodogWell, it don't work. When I choke the air pump down to the 1/4 inch air line it doesn't put out enough air. With the 1/2 inch coming out of the pump it works pretty good. Guess I'm back to the drawing board.

Use big hose till right before the piece that fits in the bore. I used an old bore guide cut short.
 
A $5 sports water bottle with a straw works great. Fill it with ice water and squeeze water down your bore. Maybe canned air if you have it to blow any water out of your chamber if you feel like it but I never have. Run a dry patch or two thru the bore, or alcohol patches, or a bore snake. You're good to go.
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I shot trap back in the 70's on hot days we would run a garden hose down the barrels between rounds. It sounds bad but it did not hurt the shotguns.
 
Some of the guys I use to shoot with, would run rubbing alcohol through the bore, it actually cooled a barrel down faster than any other method I have seen. And the best part was, their rifle barrels did not sweat, and as such, immediate rusting was not an issue.
 
I had a 788 in 223, 4 Savage 112J Single shots, many Rem 700 varmints that were all blued we ran water down the bore, never any issues with Rust in the bores. The three men that got me into cooling barrels this way were giants in the shooting industry, engineers also.

My various p. dog hunting partners had as many Chrome Moly barrels as Stainless, and their barrels never got rust also.

We had a bore scope in 1987, which was actually an outdated medical instrument.

Traditions are hard to change.
 
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When shooting prairie dogs I used to dunk hot barrels in the melty ice water in the cooler all the time. That and draping wet towels over them.

- DAA
 
If there were a way to market cooling barrels where there was a lot of money to be made off of it, it would become popular. There is NO money to be made in cooling barrels with water.

All of the friends that I took p. dog hunting had seen me cool barrels at the rifle range. Their first response was that they were scared. My rifles were some serious eye candy. After seeing me cool the barrel 3-4 times, the ease and quick recovery time back to shooting, they ALL jumped in on the fun.

They knew that at 90*, barrels never really cool down. Shooting hot barrels means that barrels wear out quickly when you are shooting 600-1100 rounds a day spread between 4 rifles.

My good friend, Larry Zimmerman was a long time benchrest shooter and an electrical engineer. Larry was head engineer on the electronics on the Polaris missile system, and the moon rover. First time he saw me cool a barrel, he stood in shock, then he said that is so simple it is just plain stupid not to do it. For the next 12 years, he cooled his barrels with water down the tube.

A rifle barrel would have to get to 850* for water to warp the steel, and barrel heat from varmint shooting may get 150*, and at 150 you would in no way be able to see through a rifle scope due to mirage.

 
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