[giddonah]

Shooting the other day I went through 100 rounds in maybe 45 minutes. I wasn't emptying clips as fast as I could, but I wasn't taking a long time before each shot either.

I wasn't too terribly concerned about how hot the gun (S&W M&P9c) was getting, but was wondering how hot it can get before I should stop and let it cool down.

[Eightball]

If you can't touch it, it's too hot. That's about how I go about things.

[joesolo]

+1 what 8ball said

[XD-40 Shooter]

After 30 rounds out of my SKS, its too hot to touch, that's when I usually call it a day.:D

[SeanMTX]

Too hot is when you can see the bullets going down the barrel.

Gun barrels are treated and made to handle high heat. If you stopped when it was too hot for you to touch, wars, competition shooting, tactical training, hunting and backyard fun would be a helluva lot shorter.

Don't let yer pink booger hookers determine if your gun is too hot, they're a lot weaker than your gun barrel.

[The Bushmaster]

When it's stolen...:D

[peck1234]

I like to bring a bucket of ice and water to throw my guns in when there to hot.... works great... ; )

[orionengnr]

Here is a vid of Todd Jarrett running 1000 rounds of 45 acp through a Para-Ord in 10 min 44 sec (he has two or three people loading mags the whole time).

I don't think I'll ever be able to afford the ammo to attempt to break this record :)

http://www.downrange.tv/artman2/publish/industry/133.shtml

[moooose102]

when the barrel starts to sag! but seriously, IMO, if it is to hot to touch, you have already gotten it to hot. for me, when the barrel is warm enough that it is uncomfortable to wrap my hand around it, i stop, open the action, and let it cool off. to a lot of people, i am probably a whimp. but, i have to take good care of the equipment, i can not afford to replace it!

[VolDaddy]

When it is glowing.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sFNXRvMbIg

[possum]

i have shot 800+rds in 2.0-2.5hrs on many occasions, and i have never had a handgun that was too hot.

[brickeyee]

Gun barrels are treated and made to handle high heat.

Most gun barrels have no heat treatment.
Stainless barrels receive some treatment before boring and rifling to try and make sure the sulfur inclusions are small, but chrome moly is not normally treated at all.

For barrels the elastic nature is far more important than hardness.

[10-Ring]

75-100 rounds through my P7M8 & ouch :eek: it's HOT!

Hot is when all the fun is gone just trying to shoot it

[Ridgerunner665]

With rifles...its a real problem. (still not as bad as its made out to be...except in precision long range equipment)

With "combat" handguns...run the heck out of them, you ain't gonna hurt them.

[Treo]

When it starts coooking rounds off?

[Jeff F]

When is a gun too hot?
When it catches fire!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNAohtjG14c

[mgregg85]

100 rounds in 45 minutes is nothing to worry about. 100 rounds in one or two minutes might heat it up a bit though.

[giddonah]

I can't imagine high heat is good for the metal. Sure, it may not hurt it that day, but there must be a point where it's not good for the longevity of the gun and it's various moving parts.

[The Lone Haranguer]

Shooting the other day I went through 100 rounds in maybe 45 minutes.
At that rate it will get lukewarm, at most. ;) It might be interesting - some day - to measure the temperature at various points with an infrared thermometer. I believe American Handgunner magazine has done this during "torture tests."

Actually, I've found revolvers to get rather warm - almost uncomfortable to hold if you touch the cylinder or barrel directly - as well as retain the heat longer. Even this is in no way enough to cause changes in the metal.

[mljdeckard]

Once at a .50 range in Germany, we became aware that there was a LOT of firing coming from one particular weapon, while the rest of us had paused. Found out later, an office monkey who had tagged along had linked about 400 rds, and tried to fire them continuously. When the 1sg confronted him to ask why he would do such a thing, he replied that the B-17 gunners used a lot more ammo than that and they were ok to do it. We explained to him, they did NOT EVER squeeze off that many rounds without pause, and they had air-cooled barrels on their guns. We took off the barrel, (With mits, of course,) and when it finally cooled off, it had turned blue. I'm not enough of an expert to know what the exact terms for this condition, but we knew that we weren't going to use it anymore. We turned it in, lots of paperwork.

An old marine I grew up with told me that in Korea facing the Chinese, once he fired the .50 on his Sherman until the barrel glowed in the night, and then suddenly, the rifling shot out the end. He said he used the mit, tossed the old barrel, screwed a new one in all the way, backed it off two clicks, and kept on firing.

[AlexM105]

When it's stolen...:D
Haha, that's what I was gonna say!

[jjk308]

Handguns, dunno.

Rifles? back when 7.62x39 was dirt cheap we put 1000 rounds through a MAK90 as fast as a dozen 30 rounders, a 100 round drum and 2 loaders could keep it operating. Much too hot to hold the handguard but never skipped a beat. It was in perfect shape after it cooled off and has worked perfectly ever since.

[jad0110]

Rifles? back when 7.62x39 was dirt cheap we put 1000 rounds through a MAK90 as fast as a dozen 30 rounders, a 100 round drum and 2 loaders could keep it operating. Much too hot to hold the handguard but never skipped a beat. It was in perfect shape after it cooled off and has worked perfectly ever since.

Since you didn't get your handguards to burst into flames, you don't get the AK badge of honor! :D :evil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNAohtjG14c

[ColinthePilot]

I've found my centerfire semi auto's heat up pretty quick. I usually only shoot a magazine or two in any rifle before I switch to another, so that keeps the heat down. I also have to factor in that usually the rifles are sitting in the sun for long periods of time, which will heat up any black surfaces.
I have one polymer handgun, which I've never noticed heating up. My Sig P6 has, I believe, an aluminum frame, and that definitely gets warm after about 10 magazines. Not too hot to touch, but borderline uncomfortable.

[XD-40 Shooter]

I usually run about 60 rounds out of my XD-40 in about 10 minutes, it doesn't seem to get all that hot. However, my dad's Browning A-Bolt 30-06, after 8 rounds, that thing is too hot to touch.

[358minus1]

I have been a ferrous metallurgist for 20 years. Gun barrels are definitiely heat treated for increase the strength, wear resistance and hardness of the steel. Non stainless barrels are generally made from medium carbon steels such as 1040 or 4140 and are heat treated to about Rockwell C 40-45. Stainless steel barrels are also heat treated to the same approximate hardness level and are generally made from steels such at 17-4PH and 420 stainless steels. The final step in the heat treatment process involves tempering the steel somewhere around 1000 degrees Fahrenhiet for a few hours. This temperature must be exceeded before you do any significant damage to the steel's mechanical properties. However, the steel's wear properties can deteriorate somewhat above 500-600F. So a barrel that shoots 200 rounds in 2 minutes twice a week might wear out slightly faster than a barrel that fires 200 rounds over a couple of hours twice a week. If you consistantly shoot your gun enough to cause metallurgical damage to the barrel, you are likely damaging it in many other ways, such as burning up all your oil lubrication.

You really can't damage the barrel from shooting it in what most of us would consider heavy usage.

100 rounds in 45 minutes is no where near damaging your gun. Shoot away!!!

[BlindJustice]

Thanks 358minus1.

A Gunner's Mate CPO on my second ship, DD-971 allowed me and I was the
only non-gunners mate during this session on the fantail at sea
to fire an M60. He told me before I had my turn with a 100 rd belt of
7.62 "A good B.A.R. man in WWII could flick his finger and fire a
single shot when he wanted to even if the weapon was in full auto
mode. Well, I accomplished that about the 3rd flick of the finger
then I did the rest of the belt in 5-10 rd bursts, Then the
lowest ranked gunners mate got his turn He ripped an entire belt
and the Chief was yelling at him to SLow that Weapon down.
Chief Scotty then had them swap out the barrel. Problem is with
long sustained bursts, the area in the leading edge of the chamber
where the bullet comes out of the case - that's the spot that
gets too hot and that area can actually be eroded away. Same
thing can happen with bolt action magnums that have too much
powder behind the bullet, .220 Swift, as well as .264 Win
Magnum are a couple that come to mind that are known to
have short barrel life.

Since I only have two mags for my CZ 75B it doesn't get
over fairly warm until about the 4th reloading of both mags.
I recall reading the CZ 75B although it has cast frame and slide,
the barrels are hammer forged and heat treated.

my most rounds fired in a single session with my S&W Model
60-15 - it's the '97 or later chambered for .357 Mag., the
Magnum J-frame has a little more metal ahead of the cylinder
and perhaps the top 'strap.' I was shooting .38 special and
.38 Spcl +P one day reloading the 5 shooter as quickly as a
sustained rate allowed and by 55-60 rds the
cylinder was a bit too hot too reload without being
careful for a oh, that is hot if my fingers touched the metal
cylinder.

Even though I have 5 magazines for my 1911 it has the
slidecovering the barrel and enough mass to not get too warm
in a 150-200 rd session in approx. 30-35 minutes.
I wondered about it once, when the slide was back and touched
the exposed barrel, ouch. won't do that again.

Randall