Y'all think I'm nuts, so I'll prove it.

Sometimes we have a need to put a lot of rounds down range in a brief time, resulting in a hot barrel. I recall seeing a video, I think from Zimbabwe, of some shooters using water to cool their bores. They used an enema bag. Worked well.

I discussed this with a metallurgist friend and he described the likely effects, heat treating, metal molecular structure, etc. Too much detail for here. In brief, HOT is something around 200-250 deg F. TOO hot might be around 300-400 deg. He thought the water method would have no nasty effects, but said a fan would be very effective, too. Electricity required, of course. Have any of you other nuts tried this?

Three shots and it will be hot! Take a walk, take a break, clean the bore, walk down range and check target, shoot a different gun, whatever, but let it cool. Test with the back of your hand.

An anecdote. I sometimes snowshoe into a local range in winter to do some FA blasting. After I'm done I would have to wait before putting a hot upper in a foam/nylon case, so I sometimes quench it in snow.

Few things to bear in mind. Make sure to pull the upper off the reg receiver. Also pull the BCG. Reason is there will be a geyser of water, ie., don't look down the bore as you're doing this.

Don't run a couple of back to back betas and stuff it in the snow the next instant, either. Let it air cool some. You're right, there is such a thing as too hot.

Also, this is not something to do to your high-dollar accuracy first Noveske upper. I'm talking about well-worn shortys.

Have also seen water quenching of beltfeds at shoots. Again, most such bbls are replaceable milsurp.

My Uncle in North Africa in WWII quoted cooling his air cooled 30 with a 5 gallon can of Oil. Poured it through, into another can, shoot and repeat. Defending harbor from attacking aircraft was the purpose. They came up with the plan after the water-cooled MG's next to them could Keep on shooting whilst they had to stop. "Necessity is the mother of invention..."
So is envy it appears.

While PD hunting I have cooled down by running water through the barrel.

I used to just slowly pour a 16 ounce bottle of water down the bore. When it was hot, it dried pretty quickly.

I use a fired cartridge case with the base drilled out and a barb fitting soldered in. Plastic hose and a small funnel is used. I use distilled water to prevent minerals from building up.
Case keeps water from getting into the action.
I learned this tip about 50 years ago and have used it since. No damage to any carbon/stainless barrels.

I use a wet rag and wipe the outside of my barrels often when it is hot out.

I think using an enema bag would be a crappy deal, using a douche bag would be sexier.

Back in the day we all shot 788s prairie doggin and used dripping wet towels and rotated guns. Shoot one 15 times while the other two sat with towels. 6 guns cooling at a time, the Ice in the big cooler could hardly melt fast enough to keep the towels wet. Those guns had no ill accuracy affects for the normal life of a barrel, but they looked terrible after the first year. My first 3 788s cost $78.00 a piece from Sears.

The realguns guy built a cooling device:

http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar195.htm

I've used snow on the outside of a barrel to good effect.

i have had a rifle or two that shot like it.... well, that it could benefit from said enema

Check out these products Battlefield Technologies

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:

I discussed this with a metallurgist friend and he described the likely effects, heat treating, metal molecular structure, etc. Too much detail for here. In brief, HOT is something around 200-250 deg F. TOO hot might be around 300-400 deg. He thought the water method would have no nasty effects, but said a fan would be very effective, too. Electricity required, of course. Have any of you other nuts tried this?

200-250 will raise blisters on your hand, 300-400 and you'll be heading to the burn ward of your local hospital.
IOW what most of us consider "a hot barrel" will be in the 125-175 range.

What I've learned:

-The link posted by jpl proves that I'm not the only nut on the range, nor the most advanced (or demented).
-My highly unscientific definition of hot needs adjustment. Thanks, Tailgunner.
-There's really no such thing as a dumb question.

Use alcohol instead and simply have a big syringe with a hose ending in a plug with an O-ring so it plugs the chamber 100%
Squirt in some alcohol and simply let it evaporate, uses way more energy than simply heating water, and it wont rust the barrel!

We use a bucket of water and a towel soaked in it.

Point the barrel down, and wrap the wet towel around it.

Takes no time if cooling the barrel.

Wasn't all that long ago that you could buy a CO2 cylinder and regulator with a flexible tube to cool the barrel of your rifle. It was advertised in all the gun rags. Never thought I needed one. Looks like no one else needed or wanted one either as they didn't stay on the market long.

wow!

When we're at a place and electricity is available we turn on 2 fans blowing up the receivers in bolt actions while their standing up. You would be suprised how quickly they cool down.
When I don't have that available I have a cooler with ice , water and a towel that speeds things up.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
wow!

Wow what?

If you want fast and easy, get canned air from the office supply store (staples , Best buy), put the extender nosel on, hold can up-side down and squirt down the barrel. You will have ice build up in no time.

I found a small fan in the Auto Dept at Wal Mart that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket, and found it works just fine to cool the barrel when I point it into the action and blow down the barrel.

The cans of compressed gas sold at office supply stores that are sold to blow out computer key boards works great . put the little straw in the spray nozzle and spray from the breech end.

Cragister,
Wow is a term that means I'm amazed,

Apparantly their are lots of different ways to cool a barrel according to the many posts, going all the way back to the old buff hunters who pissed down the barrel, but it's todays use of all manor of methods of cooling that caught my attention..

I used to smoke a cigerettte between shots, then quit smoking and took a chew between shots, today I just take like 5 guns and let 4 cool with bolts open, while I shoot no. 5 and so fourth..

Also I don't shoot as much as I used to per session, I usually find a load, sight in, and that's about it once a year and during coyote and Rockchuck shooting sessions..Also my stocks are wood and I don't cherish pouring water etc. on them. I suddenly realize that most of today shooter use SS and plastic stocks and that's one plus they have over other stock and metal rifles.

Occasionally it get warm here in Virginia. Several of us like to shoot 4-600 rounds of 45 Colt ammo thru, in my case S&W model 25s. I made a gallon bucket of Ed's Red to cool the pistols when they got to hot to handle. I'd take three pistols and shoot until they hot I'd drop muzzle first in the bucket and go to the second, then the third. When I got finished and the weapons were cool I'd clean them and put them back to their cases.
I remember reading about a couple of dedicated prairie dog shooters building rifles with a water jackets around the barrel like the old Browning machine guns. I believe it was in Gun World. They had an ice chest, used an aquarium pump, tubing to and from the water in the ice chest to the jacket and back. Every thing was set up in pick up bed.

Sounded like a great solution.

Jim

How about one of those battery powered air pumps that you use to pump an air mattress? I have not tried it yet, would seems simple enough to rig up a hose or tubing suitable to cool down a rifle bore.

When you are constantly shoving suppositories up a rifles behind, you should expect to have to give it an enema every once in a while.

The old buffalo hide hunters who shot perhaps a 100 buffalo at one stand by lung shooting them, and they used black powder and a hot barrel would ignite a round pissed down the bore to cool them off...Folks in town thought they smelled ripe because of skinning bufflo but burning piss smells mighty bad also.

quote:

If you want fast and easy, get canned air from the office supply store (staples , Best buy), put the extender nosel on, hold can up-side down and squirt down the barrel. You will have ice build up in no time.

I'll take your word for the smell of burning piss , Ray. roger

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:

quote:

If you want fast and easy, get canned air from the office supply store (staples , Best buy), put the extender nosel on, hold can up-side down and squirt down the barrel. You will have ice build up in no time.

FWIW
2c of useless info:-
Canned Air is not compressed air it's a refrigerant gas ...... so it is mighty cold as it evaporates exiting the nozzle after the initial burst.
Used to be freon , but its a little more environmentally friendly & less combustible compound today............ the main reason for the change was not the enviro impact , but the high combustibility of the original gas .
The change in chemistry occurred about 3 yrs ago after several incidents where the gas ignited from a spark when blowing dust off electrical eqpt.

its not cheap either.