Can You Burn Heavy Varmint Barrel in This Heat?

[ddjchemist]

Since we are having hot weather these days, I was wondering if one could burn a heavy target SS barrel (308Win 20") if shooting 50-60 rounds in an hour? It seems my friend (range friend) might had done just that. He has a custom Win 70 with heavy target barrel (I think it is Shilen barrel, but could be wrong on that one). This afternoon he shot about 60 rounds in 50 minutes. His first 2 groups at 100 yards were 0.3 and 0.4 MOA (he shoots Federal 168gr Match Ammo), and his last group was almost 4MOA. He went home, cleaned and cooled barrel, and came back to the range this evening around 7pm and shot 2 groups and he got 2.5MOA and 3 MOA groups. It looks he might need a new barrel.

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[titsonritz]

How many rounds on the barrel?

 

[msgriff]

That sounds more like copper fouling.

 

[JustShoot]

Since we are having hot weather these days, I was wondering if one could burn a heavy target SS barrel (308Win 20") if shooting 50-60 rounds in an hour? It seems my friend (range friend) might had done just that. He has a custom Win 70 with heavy target barrel (I think it is Shilen barrel, but could be wrong on that one). This afternoon he shot about 60 rounds in 50 minutes. His first 2 groups at 100 yards were 0.3 and 0.4 MOA (he shoots Federal 168gr Match Ammo), and his last group was almost 4MOA. He went home, cleaned and cooled barrel, and came back to the range this evening around 7pm and shot 2 groups and he got 2.5MOA and 3 MOA groups. It looks he might need a new barrel.

HOT weather like we having this week 90's - 100 deg ....LOL .
.308 win. . ( For Me ) - I don't like to burn more than 20-Rounds/slow fire string . Then let it cool open chamber for 'minimum' 1/2 hour with having a barrel cooler moving/blowing some air down the bore .

if your not hotrodding it like moving 155's @ 2900 fps Vel. .. A good quality barrel and chambered in .308 win . shooting 168's or 175's @ 2600 to 2700 .. easy to get 3000 , 4000 , 6000 rounds out it before it goes TitsUp totally to the garbage can.

The crappy groups your friend experiencing, in HOT Sunny days, could be a number of things ???
PROBABLY COMBINATION OF A LOT screwing with him ALL at same time .. like .
Heat on Ammo and powder pressure spikes .. Hot weather mirage down range, that dances the scopes POI on HOT mirage, also .. Scopes Mirage off the HOT barrel . .. or Crappy factory barrel . . Bad bedding and pressure points affected by heated barrel . . Carbon Ring built up in front of the throat . . Copper Foul . .. Etc .
.

 

[Member 34319]

No. Heat does affect powder though

 

[Stomper]

I dunno, ounce upon a time (in another lifetime) I fired hundreds of continuous rounds of 7.62 NATO through my M60 while in some ridiculously hot/humid climates and put those rounds on target…..

 

[arrowshooter]

If he left his ammo in his trunk whilest he cleaned his barrel, he did not do himself a favor. He should try again after his ammo has sat inside over night, assuming that he has A/C, and try again. Hot ammo (temps) does change. I learned this with some .223 with some wild groups and a bunch of split cases before I realized this.

With the temperature could also come fatigue, along with a WTF moment that had him trying too hard.

 

[ddjchemist]

I gave him JB paste to use it to clean the bore. He will also try another scope.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Yeah cuz no ones ever shot a medium caliber machine gun in the middle east for hundreds of rounds on burst fire. yeah I highly doubt its heat. Though maybe a small contributing factor.
I was amazed, I went shooting quite a bit today as well specifically because of the heat. I wanted to know if any of my loads were temp sensitive. I measured ALL my loads even pistol loads on a sartorius lab scale down to .02 grains accuracy the weather didn't hardly affect pressures much at all. On pistols or 6.5CM. All loads were pretty stable even if I left the next round chambered in a hot chamber while note taking the next round was still pretty much right in line with the rest. Mine was a heavy .875" barrel as well. I don't think it got too hot at all.

Was the barrel black Or raw stainless? I assume since you said SS its raw. Was it in the beating sun the entire time or under an awning? I have had black barrels in direct sunlight on very hot days basically too hot to handle. But they still shot fine. In fact I shot some pretty respectable groups after that occasion.

So all though I'm asking for clarification in terms of conditions I still very much highly doubt it was the cause. Was his scope loose?

You can see after all of this AND claiming the barrel is burned out, he still get sub moa groups.
So something more HAS to be going on than just a burned out barrel.

 

[ddjchemist]

It turns out his front action screw got loose, so that might had been a problem. His rifle is Win 70 action with custom carbon-fiber stock and Shilen 308Win 20" heavy target barrel. He will go to the range tomorrow early morning and I will meet him there. I also gave him my JB Paste and he cleaned and removed all the carbon deposits. If his rifle still has a problem, I might buy it from him for my custom 308 Win. I already have Krieger 4R Heavy Barrel blank that I purchased to replace 6.5CM barrel on my Tikka when I burn the 6.5CM barrel (probably by Christmas judging by the rate I shoot the rifle).

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I had a rifle shoot great until it didn't went home and checked all the bolts and yes the action screws were hand tight wet back to the range and problem was gone .

 

[Dr Prepper]

It turns out his front action screw got loose, so that might had been a problem. His rifle is Win 70 action with custom carbon-fiber stock and Shilen 308Win 20" heavy target barrel. He will go to the range tomorrow early morning and I will meet him there. I also gave him my JB Paste and he cleaned and removed all the carbon deposits. If his rifle still has a problem, I might buy it from him for my custom 308 Win. I already have Krieger 4R Heavy Barrel blank that I purchased to replace 6.5CM barrel on my Tikka when I burn the 6.5CM barrel (probably by Christmas judging by the rate I shoot the rifle).

He should torque it for repeatable results and a little paint stripe doesnt hurt either. I just went through all my rigs and *put a little paint spot on anything that turns.
Personally I'd seriously think about investing in a custom action when your talking about that kind of barrel $$$ not to even mention the ammo costs! (Which far exceed barrel costs) Esp. These days. But to each their own.

Good luck out there.