Cold bore zero versus (very) Hot bore zero “test”

[nm.otter]

to extend barrel life they use a little battery powered air duster with a hose and a nozzle that fits in your chamber. They just run them when they check targets to cool everything down from the inside. I’m interested in that idea

Someone suggested these here last year so I bought one. After adding a brass hose barb and a bit of tubing, it gets the job done.

 

[journeyman713]

 

[Hurley88]

I dont think anyone is going to debate shooting a lot with a piping hot barrel is going to result in less barrel life than slow firing and never letting a barrel get hot as has been historically advised for hunting rifles.

True 30 shot strings would result in more mirage than i'd want to deal with before getting to 30 with a suppressed hunting weight rifle/can.

Oh yeah. Cardboard was used.

 

[Hurley88]

Sorry guys I’ll not detail the thread further. I had three of those barrels so they got picked for most of my testing. Didn’t really have a purpose for the third so it just got put in the rotation to test for barrel life. If she goes up into 2000-2500, it’ll impact my shooting for sure. But we’ll see.

 

[Macintosh]

Sorry guys I’ll not detail the thread further. I had three of those barrels so they got picked for most of my testing. Didn’t really have a purpose for the third so it just got put in the rotation to test for barrel life. If she goes up into 2000-2500, it’ll impact my shooting for sure. But we’ll see.

It kind of seems like one of the most ON-topic tangents yet. My impression just from forum osmosis is that 2000+ rounds is quite good barrel life for a 243, but also probably depends on bullet and powder used. But it seems like a legit “thing”. I think I’d be more likely to pick a cartridge with an eye toward barrel life, than I would let a given barrel life tell me how to shoot. If the performance is something important, it seems like its just the cost of doing business at least to a degree.

NOT DIRECTED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR: What it makes me think though, is that it seems people have this impression that the “high round count groups crowd” shoots 20 or 30 rounds as fast as they can, EVERY time they pull the trigger. Which I dont think is true. I think the reality is that people who shoot a lot, shoot a lot. Some of it (getting to know a gun and load, zeroing, etc) is with various higher round count groups. But outside of zeroing and basic baseline and dope, the majority of shots can still be single shots or smallish groups. I just dont think its an either/or thing, it’s both.

 

[Hurley88]

It kind of seems like one of the most ON-topic tangents yet. My impression just from forum osmosis is that 2000+ rounds is quite good barrel life for a 243, but also probably depends on bullet and powder used. But it seems like a legit “thing”. I think I’d be more likely to pick a cartridge with an eye toward barrel life, than I would let a given barrel life tell me how to shoot. If the performance is something important, it seems like its just the cost of doing business at least to a degree.

NOT DIRECTED AT ANYONE IN PARTICULAR: What it makes me think though, is that it seems people have this impression that the “high round count groups crowd” shoots 20 or 30 rounds as fast as they can, EVERY time they pull the trigger. Which I dont think is true. I think the reality is that people who shoot a lot, shoot a lot. Some of it (getting to know a gun and load, zeroing, etc) is with various higher round count groups. But outside of zeroing and basic baseline and dope, the majority of shots can still be single shots or smallish groups. I just dont think its an either/or thing, it’s both.

Oh no you’re dead on; most often I shoot 5-8 shots before cooling just in general. For zero/load dev I use four 5-shot groups and make a composite with OnTarget. Mostly bc I can actually mark each hole doing it that way.

I treated those 243 barrels like trash bc I wanted to see what would happen. Wanted to see how mirage affected groups, whether hot barrels wandered, whether cleaning affected barrel life, etc.

One lasted 1400(ish), the next 1700(ish) without cleaning, although that data is skewed bc both used the same bullet and different powders. To compound the matter, I didn’t keep a log of which shot long stings or how many times I did it. And worse yet, this third barrel is using another powder yet again.
In general I just want to see how much longer the barrel lasts versus the first two. Why not, better than throwing the components in the trash, not using them for anything else.

But no, I don’t make regular habit of sitting down and shooting 30-shot strings. But I did do it & similar things quite a bit with those two barrels.

 

[Formidilosus]

Was checking POI shifts using vastly different holds, but 5 rounds on another target, then10 rounds rapid in this one, then 5 more on this one after 10 rounds on another target. The barrel and can were extremely hot.

 

[WyldGoose]

I shoot almost everyday and my range sessions are typically limited to around an hour and a half, only because I go during our baby’s nap time. I don’t waste time letting my barrel cool down and typically shoot around 60 rounds +/-. Only “cooling” breaks are when I’m reloading mags.
Barrel gets way hot but it shoots the same regardless. Only thing I’ve observed that opens up groups is when there’s no breeze to knock down mirage.
This group(prone off pack) is rapid fire and at least 16 rounds since I show up with a 4rd & two 6rd mags ready to go. Might be 20 rds.