I would like an opinion,while shooting a magnum rifle in the summer barrels heat up quite quickly-i am considering using a bucket with ice water with a wet hand towel wrapped around the end of the barrel,the barrel is stainless iam not worried about rust,i would cool this way every 3or4 shots. has anybody tried this.

I've modified a '95 GMC van as a "shooting lab", with benchrest, loading bench, gunsmithing /cleaning bench etc.

Part of the setup is an ice-water barrel-cooling system, but I run the ice-water right through the barrel from a 2-gallon cooler jug which is placed on top of the van for gravity feed. About fifteen seconds of flowing ice-water cools a barrel nicely.

After finishing with the water, I blow compressed air through the barrel for about 20 seconds, which removes any leftover moisture. There's a compressed-air tank under the benchrest for this purpose.

Been doing this for four Nevada summers now, and none of my rifles have had any ill effects. I think that as long as you're careful to keep the water out of the bedding areas, you'll be OK.

My hunting partner built a wildcat 6mm on a blown out, 30 degree shoulder 7 Mag case. He was getting 3600 fps with a 107 Sierra MK. Needless to say barrel heating was a serious problem. We would keep towels in the cooler and, as you suggested, we'd drape them over the barrell between shots. We didn't have this problem for too long because the barrel was toast after 750 rounds or so.

you might try plain ol' isopropal alcohal. it works great in the summer when evaporation rates are high.