Cooling Hot Barrel/Gun

[JigSaw]

i guess making a statement about heat transfer in the midst of a comment about how he could cool his gun was poor placement. This does not take away the facts of heat transfer between the two mediums.

I also was not suggesting that laying a gun on a block of aluminum would cool it faster than dropping it in a bucket of water.

I was just advising a different alternative as he was worried about dunking the gun in water. Just something borrowed from my experience welding and using aluminum and copper to control heat.

The thought I had about a thin bag filled with aluminum powder seems like it would be fun to test. Not sure if it would work, but I could try it out and then make some thermite w/ the aluminum powder if it doesn't. Sounds like fun.

While I was typing the I saw the link in your signature for "Entropy Engineering Corp"

I used to work just across the street from a place called Carr engineering that did all kinds of real world test for lawyers and companies that had automotive law suits where poor engineering or build quality was in question.

Learned a lot from those guys, and I bet doing your work is a blast seeing the real world results of things

[kamikaze1a]

In the time it takes me to load my mags (12 mags), my battery operated fan blowing down the barrel and slide cools it enough that I can once again touch the barrel...and on really hot days, I leave it running and redirect the air towards me!

[Hello]

What is the moral of this story?

A) To combat diminished returns during practice teach your gun to swim.

Super cool your gun... Shoot aluminum casings.

C) Pull the trigger till it burns.

USPSA Rule 24.4.1 Submerged gun starts are required on every odd numbered stage.

Rules Update: Medium and Long courses of fire will require aluminum plates not less than 12" x 12" and 1" thick be strategically placed throughout the course of fire for the sole purpose of competitor gun cooling stations. Effective immediately we will no longer utilize even numbers for identifying courses of fire.

[KevinB]

Getting back to this after a hot (hot, hot) Florida summer. Rather than deal with water, I did, in fact, go with a couple scrap aluminum plates along with an aluminum rod. They aren't an inch thick, but they do the job. Lock the slide back, run the rod down the barrel and lay it on a plate with second plate on top and it's darn near ambient temperature by the time I've loaded five magazines.

Welders for the win.

[Vespid_Wasp]

If good direct contact is made, aluminum and copper pull heat out much faster than water.

Not even close!

4.184 J/G K

Edited September 16, 2015 by Vespid_Wasp

[Vespid_Wasp]

Getting back to this after a hot (hot, hot) Florida summer. Rather than deal with water, I did, in fact, go with a couple scrap aluminum plates along with an aluminum rod. They aren't an inch thick, but they do the job. Lock the slide back, run the rod down the barrel and lay it on a plate with second plate on top and it's darn near ambient temperature by the time I've loaded five magazines.

Welders for the win.

That is a cool idea I never thought of. Used heat sinks all over the place for other things but never thought to lay a pistol on one!

[Can]

From Machinery Handbook:

416 Hardened is RC43

400F Temper is RC41

600F Temper is RC39

800F Temper is RC41

1000F Temper is RC31

Annealing Starts at 1300F

But cooling at a rate faster than 25C/hour from annealing temperatures restores martensite (hardened) properties. You don't want that since it a fully hardened barrel will probably crack.

It sound silly, but you could smear a little vegetable oil on the barrel and if you see the gun smoking, you are at the smoke point of that oil. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm

I'd be interested to know what temperature barrel makers temper their 416 barrels at.

this is along the lines of my advice also.

however, if you use any aluminum components that will be the greater concern...any hardening process on aluminum is probably gone at about 600 degrees....so if your using 7075-T6 aluminium components ...you will destroy the T6 hardness quickly by getting it to hot.

[bigtimelarry]

In the time it takes me to load my mags (12 mags), my battery operated fan blowing down the barrel and slide cools it enough that I can once again touch the barrel...and on really hot days, I leave it running and redirect the air towards me!

I do the same thing..

[Absocold]

Getting your barrel too hot WILL cause damage from accelerated throat wear at the very least. But what temperature is too hot? Depends on what your barrel is made out of and how it was hardened. I have destroyed more than a few barrels from getting them too hot. A few were so completely shot out that the rifling was more of a suggestion to the bullet than a command. However, none of them were pistols. By the time you get a pistol hot enough to cause serious problems, you'd need gloves to handle it for very long.

Every shot you fire causes some damage, even if only at the microscopic level. But that damage is cumulative over time and the hotter you get things, the quicker it happens. The rule of thumb I've come to use from my experience is that once the barrel is too hot to touch, it's time to slow down. When the dried oil on the barrel (I use CLP) starts to smoke, it's way past time to take a break because not only is the barrel wearing much quicker than normal, ammo cook-off is a very real danger.

As far as water quenching, I really don't know for sure but it doesn't sound like a great idea. If you're just sinking off some heat, fine. But if the metal is hot enough to create steam then I wouldn't do it. Rapid/uneven cooling from high temperature causes many materials to crack or shatter.