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  • Steve_Zissou

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 11, 2017
    1,042
    Baltimore City
    *****Get a water cooler kit, like this one. Group buy? :innocent0

    Beat me to it.

    Hell, I've never given it any consideration. I've shot over 1000 a day for a week in training and never had an issue with worrying about my barrel cooling....not a precision gun but a fighting gun....meh, I wouldn't worry about it....

    Just let it cool a few minutes so you dont burn your case.... that's all I'd worry about.

    This is objectively correct as well. Unless it's a precision rifle, don't worry too much about heat as long as you're not burning yourself through the handguard or melting the foam in your pelican case, and if it's a precision rifle, why the hell are you putting hundreds of rounds through it in a single range trip?
     

    omegared24

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 23, 2011
    4,747
    Ijamsville, MD
    It is always wise to let any metal to cool slowly.

    With that said, I put my rifle in a case when it's pretty hot and always just wrap an old tshirt/towel around it.
     

    eagledriver

    Member
    Jan 13, 2013
    88
    Mt Airy, South sorta
    I don't believe there is a reason to go through so many rounds, if the greater goal should be accuracy.
    How does one get greater accuracy? Using good technique and making fewer mistakes.
    You may need someone to critique your practice.
    We don't always see our own mistakes. Overcome mistakes with better technique.
    This would tend to lesson the wear on your firearm and I would assume you are already using the best and most thorough cleaning and maintenance practices on them.
    Cheers,
    Happy New Decade♪
     

    E.Shell

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 5, 2007
    10,244
    Mid-Merlind
    Hell, I've never given it any consideration. I've shot over 1000 a day for a week in training and never had an issue with worrying about my barrel cooling....not a precision gun but a fighting gun....meh, I wouldn't worry about it....

    Just let it cool a few minutes so you dont burn your case.... that's all I'd worry about.
    This. ^ ^ ^

    A few shoots that I went to recently the machine guns were being cooled in buckets of water after each mag :shrug:

    NOT unheard of...


    OP: First, remind yourself you are shooting a semi-auto version of a rifle designed for full auto fire. High heat levels were anticipated in the design, and hot enough to burn skin or melt foam is no mechanical issue to the rifle.

    The advice above to "shoot slower" is great when it is practical, and really *almost* the best way to preserve your firearm. The absolute very best way is to wipe it down and put it in the safe... Sometimes though, firearms need to be treated like the tools that they are...that will used hard and occasionally abused, with failures and accelerated wear to be anticipated. I hated when my 24 oz long-handled framing hammer's serrated face got mashed smooth from driving framing nails, but that how hammers are and what they do... I guess I could have stopped driving nails at any time if I wanted to keep the hammer nice... Defensive firearms, and defensive firearms training, do not lend themselves to slow fire, nor is slow fire always the way to solve certain problems. I am all about precision shooting and taught long range marksmanship, but not all rifles are to be used for slow, deliberate precision shooting. I would not rapid fire my Winchester M54 or 300Win tac rifle, but ARs and AKs are surely fair game.

    For normal action shooting and for training where there is a high round count, as long as you can hold onto the handguards, it not "too hot". As long as you are able to cool it some before stowing it to avoid risk of fire or case/carrier damage, it will be fine.

    Regarding the water bucket method, we used to go to BulletFest in Ohio every summer and I typically took two M4 pattern Bushmasters, along with a few other misc rifles. I shot several thousand rounds in two days through the two AR-15s. I would shoot 'Rifle A' until the handguard was too hot to hold on to. I would drop 'Rifle A' into the cooler of ice water and pull 'Rifle B' out, shake the water out of the barrel and then shoot 'Rifle B' until it was too hot to hold. Into the cooler with one, out with the other for two days. When I'd drop the rifle into the cooler, it would steam and that would draw gasps from the spectators. My own main concern was getting my Cokes warm, but I was actually scolded by several people for 'abusing' the rifle. The actual abuse is shooting it until it is too hot to hold.

    Between slopping the bolt carrier with oil when it slowed down and dropping the rifles into the cooler when I couldn't hold them any more, I did nothing else to the rifles and enjoyed nearly flawless performance. Any stoppages were either magazine related or the oil had burned off the bolt carrier and it short-stroked from running dry. I still have both rifles and they still shoot and run fine. One was later observed to still shoot about 2moa, which is about the same as it was before BulletFest.

    AR barrels are relatively cheap and are very easy for me to change, but I haven't had to change anything due to firing (or cooler) damage. I have the tools, torque wrenches and gauges and I just don't sweat barrel life on a blaster. Any measurement of raw precision is 'lost in the noise' of iron sights, field positions and hasty shots - most defensive rifle training/actual field shooting would not need the shooter to know the difference between a 1 moa rifle and 5 moa rifle. I do coddle my SS match barrels and try my best not to let them get hot, but with an AR-15 and standard (chrome lined) barrels, I don't care. It is extremely difficult for a shooter to match the heat accumulation from the full-auto M-16's rate of fire and the main hazard is burning one's skin or killing the resale value of a gun case.
     

    Ammo Jon

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 3, 2008
    20,787
    Maybe some raw bacon? Make use of the heat, have a snack and use the fat to lubricate?
     

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