Guys,

I went to the range today and all in all had a good day. I have read here that you can wipe your rifle barrel down with water to cool it off. So yesterday I stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of towels that are used for drying off vehicles. They seemed to work really well. I loaded a small ice chest with some ice and water and headed off to the range. It definitely worked at far as cooling the barrel off but I found that at least in my case you can cool off a barrel too much. It was on the third group that I noticed that after cooling off the barrel, I would fire three rounds and then cool the barrel to shoot the last two, and the first bullet I fired after cooling off the barrel was about an inch wide and then the next one was right back in the original group. So in the future I think I will use less ice and not wrap the barrel in it and let it set. So it is a work in progress but I do think it will work for me when it is really hot.

I would suggest caution in doing this. Putting something on cold on something hot can lead to warping among other bad things...

It would have to be dull orange and suddenly hit with a cold water quench to affect the integrity of the steel.

Barrel temp does affect how a thin barrel shoots, no doubt.

I've read quite a bit about it and have read posts where guys say they have poured water down the barrel to cool it, this I couldn't do but using a damp cool/cold cloth and wiping the barrel down I can.

Cleric, thank you for your concern. I really appreciate it. I do think shooting three rounds just doesn't get the barrel hot enough to cause problems...

As stated I fired three rounds and then used an ice cold damp towel to wipe down the barrel. What I realize is that I got the barrel too cold. I've got to practice this a little more in order to get it right but I did work...it just worked too good.

Years ago when I was hanging around the Savage smokeless muzzleloading boards, guys were building .5 inch cooling rods that they kept in a specifically made cooler (all built out of PVC, IIRC). Between shots they'd run the rod down the barrel to cool it. I think I remember them having good success with it.

I use a piece of terry cloth towel (thin not thick) and a small spray bottle with water to cool the barrel. Just dampen the towel and lay on top of the barrel. It is a little slow drawing the heat from the barrel but cools it down enough during the hot summer shooting sessions.

I take my scoped 22 to the range (summer months) for just this reason -
just park my rifle with the bolt open, and give the 22 some range-time.

I'd be worried about long-term affects of the finish on my blued barrel (tap and bottled water have minerals in them). Stainless probably wouldn't matter.

Battery powered air mattress pump. Set the gun in a rack with the muzzle up. Put hose in the breech and let it work like a chimney.

Putting water on my gun goes against my grain. Ill just be patient. Blowing air down the bore helps.

The thing about cooling a barrel like this is that there is no way to guarantee or verify that you are getting even cooling across the entire length and diameter of the barrel.

You likely have a section of cold steel and a section of hot steel at some point along the bore - and those variations in temperature are going to cause the steel to do things it would not ordinarily do with a fairly uniform cold/warm/hot barrel derived from shooting.

That's likely why you get a flyer in your group. And it will be very difficult to predict where that flier will be because how you cool the barrel will likely be different every time.

I'm not sure what the benefits of doing this are to be honest.

I've seen guys use the compressed air bottles like the ones used for blowing off computer keyboards and such, they blow fairly cold and I assume may cool down a hot bore quite a bit. I've only tried to "speed up" my cooling with shade and I did shoot at a range for a while that had a "cooling rack" behind the line that had a couple of high speed fans blowing on it. I would guess water would certainly do the trick too! I've seen old black n white film clips of black powder shooters dunking their barrels in a bucket of water at the firing line.

So out of every 3 shot group you have one cold bore round? Of course you have one flyer out of every group! Seems pretty simple to me. Either cool it EVERY shot, or know what your cold bore round does prior to the shot.

I do the same as oldoak. I take a marlin 22 mag with me and shoot it while the big bore is cooling down.

Guys,

At the range I shoot at I'd have to move to a different part of the range to shoot rimfire so that's not really the answer.

But thanks for the recommendations!

we use carbon dioxide, we have bottles with small tubbing, in this hot weather we can shoot all day long, easy to move from bench to bench, we shoot out to 500yds

I just leave the bolt open for 5 min then send the next 3

Bottle of carbon dioxide? Really? Where do you get that?

Also has anyone ever tried using the "cleaning duster" and sprayed it down the barrel? It is cold and I'm pretty sure it's just air. 3 cans for $14.00

Hum...

+1 Deerhunter61

I use rubbing alcohol and rag. Have been for years. Cools very fast, and well below ambient and isn't going to give you any rust issues.

any place that sells the stuff for soda machines

This is exactly what I do and it works perfectly

HHHMMM Fast88 on to something

I just take two rifles and alternate, make notes , pee, get a diet coke, pee, shop in the pro shop, pee

shoot three rounds...repeat