Quenching A Barrel

[Dusty]

I was reading on another forum that some 3 gun shooters where quenching their bbls with water to cool them during long courses of fire. Is this common? Will It damage them?

[HSMITH]

If you get it hot enough where a quench can hurt it there wasn't anything left to save.

[Chills1994]

I'd have to say that this a lot like getting your brake's rotors hot and then driving through a puddle. The water cools it too fast in one spot and not another and you end up w/ a warped rotor. This in turn gives you that "chug, chug, chug" feeling when you're trying to stop. Not good, it lengthens your braking/stopping distance and it probably doesn't help out he ABS (computer?).

[Patrick Sweeney]

And yet......

I once had this beater AR. The "owner" (he brought it in for repair) got hauled off to prison, so I ended up with it on a mechanic's lien. So I had no money nor emotional investment in it. Yes, I rode it hard.

Back then we invented a winter match called "Mad Minute." One target at 50 yards, one at 100 yards. Alternate shots offhand. 60 seconds, we scored all hits. We quit after I set the record, 60 shots in 60 seconds, for 59 hits. (and I fumbled the second reload, drat!)

It was too hard on the guns. However, despite pouring water in the handguards to cool the barrel between runs, that barrel, 15,000 rounds late, was still doing 1.5 MOA.

Would I do it again, match or water? Not if I could avoid it. Did it seem to hurt that barrel? It never changed zero, nor had a loss of accuracy (other than gradually) in the years I had it.

[George]

Better to just let it cool on it's own for warpage reasons, but like Patrick says, it probably won't hurt it much more than getting it that hot in the first place.

I have shot my JP CTR-002 at matches to where it was smoking under the handguards and it still holds .5 to .75 MOA with good fodder.

The bigger issue with heat warpage is if you leave the bolt closed on a super-heated bbl extension for too long. This can warp the bolt head and that can effect reliability if the warpage is bad enough.

[Bronco]

Once watched the HK bunch from MO. shoot a full auto .223 until you couldn't hang on to it, then stick it in an ice chest to cool it down. Ater it cooled went back to hammering full auto again. Didn't seem to hurt it, glad it wasn't my rifle!

[Putty]

I wonder if a cryo tanked barrel will be less resistent to warpage?

[George]

I wonder if a cryo tanked barrel will be less resistent to warpage?

Can't speak to not warping, but did see less cold to hot POI offset on a rifle I had cryo'd. Not huge but definitely noticeable. It was an average quality medium weight bbl, so I can't say how a quality heavy bbl will respond, or even if it will ;-/

[GentlemanJim]

I have shot my old m16 full auto enough to cook off rounds and had the barrel dull red many many times.

When I sold it I had put about 20k through it and it would still shoot about 3moa.

also it was VERY used when i got it.

I hate to admit that I abused it so badly...but it sure was fun

Jim

[EricW]

I pour water down the bbl of my STI all the time. It's hard to believe that bad juju is going to happen unless you get the metal to the 800 to 1000F range.

In the end, it's just a gun. And if I need to dunk it periodically to use it the way I want to, BFD.

[Patrick Sweeney]

Now that I think about it, I've seen skeet and trap ranges with special, two-headed hoses. After a hot string of high-speed claybusting some will hose their bores out from the tap.

Steel isn't magical, and it isn't delicate.

[Bronco]

Have shot a 30 round mag as fast as I could pull the trigger then took a reading with a infa red thermometer at the end of the handguard of a 20" barrel, temp was 290*.

[Chills1994]

WRT my comments about brake rotors up above, it is apples and oranges. A rifle barrel isn't going to be subjected to the same mechanical forces and friction that a rotor gets. A rifle barrel doesn't have to stop a 2,000 to 6,000 pound vehicle going 65 MPH, or more.

One tip I picked up from benchrest competition shooters was to open the bolt or to pull the bolt out and then run a few oil/solvent soaked patches through the barrel and then leave the cleaning rod in the barrel as it cooled. The cleaning rod acts like a heat sink.

Those "finned" heat sink barrels by JP sure do look cool though.

[320pf]

Have shot a 30 round mag as fast as I could pull the trigger then took a reading with a infa red thermometer at the end of the handguard of a 20" barrel, temp was 290*.

290 degrees F or C???

290° F is not all that hot. 290°C (464°F) is a different story... but well within the tolerances of an AR barrel.

Edited April 12, 2007 by 320pf

[Matt Cheely]

I pour water down the bbl of my STI all the time. It's hard to believe that bad juju is going to happen unless you get the metal to the 800 to 1000F range.

+1

You'd have to get the barrel up to a temperature that would temper the metal to have any effect. You wouldn't be able to hold onto it at that point...

[Bronco]

320PF, F I live in the US none of that commie metric crap for me.