How hot is hot?

[hessy]

I am shooting my Tikka T3 Lite in .223 with Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X40 in F-class. The barrel quickly (4-6 shots) heats up though and I cannot even touch the thinner parts of the barrel, and groups open up from 200-400 yards. The barrel is still hot after 10-15 min. Is it typical? How hot can it be before accuracy is lost? Rapid fire strings are definitely a problem. On a cold barrel, the gun is an easy sub-MOA with factory 55 gr ammo off the bag.
TIA

 

[hessy]

Tikka

No, the Tikka is a repeater, and has 4- or 6-rd mags. I dunno, I am frustrated with the barrel heating up like that. Any thoughts? Maybe it's typical?

 

[bigcim]

I dont think its suppose to do that isnt that the point of having a floatting barrel

 

[raz-0]

When you shoot a gun, it gets hot. It's simple physics. The cold bore zero will differ form the point of impact when the bore heats up. How much it varies is different with different guns. The lighter the barrel, the quicker it heats up, but also the quicker it cools down.

As for floating the barrel, that helps with barrel harmonics, and deflection of the barrel when using a sling or bipod. It really doesn't help with heating of the barrel.

How much are your groups opening up? In inches or centimeters.

Your rifle will have 3 basic points of impact. One when shooting from a clean cold bore. One when shooting from a cold bore, and one while shooting after the barrel is warmed up.

Keep a log book, and figure out what the difference in POI is on these. Then when figuring out your group, either let the gun cool completely, or dump your cold bore shot into the berm or similar, and then shoot for groups.

Also have patience and don't overheat your rifle. Shooting for accuracy requires patience.

 

[killzone]

That really should not happen that quickly. I mean yeah its pyhsics but my old tikka in .308 ( before I traded it in) used to take at least 10 - 15 rounds down to the pencil barrel.

I do agree with the "Shooting for accuracy requires patience"
statement big time.

Shoot 3-4 rounds and then wait about a good minute or two, then fire 1 round. Then wait about another minute or so. Keep firing like this for a while and try to see how long it will take your rifle to heat up to the point where it groups over 5 inches or so.

 

[Bwana John]

If you cant grab the barrel and hold on, its too hot.

For the type of hunting I do I have no problem with a buggy whip barrel that heats up after a couple of shots, I either hit em the first time, or I didnt, and the deer usually dosent know the difference between a 1 or 2 MOA rifle.

I would suggest NOT grabbing the FAL barrel after 2 or 3 fast mag dumps

 

[Vern Humphrey]

There are all kinds of solutions to the problem, but people who do a lot of shooting from one rifle at one sitting (as in a prairie dog town) sometimes use a funnel and hose arrangement to pour water from breech to bore, and then dry patch every so often.

 

[rangerruck]

fire 1 minute between shots, not mags, keep bolt open and round unchambered when letting cool down, this should be fine for you to literally fire all day long.

 

[USSR]

In F Class, you are firing 25-30 rounds in 30 minutes. Heavy contour barrels get very warm; light contour barrels get very hot. That's why we use heavy contour barrels. If the barrel is so hot that it will burn your hand, accuracy goes south and barrel life is being diminished at a quicker rate.

Don

 

[hessy]

thanks

thanks everyone for replies. I went to the range the last couple of days and checked. the barrel gets very hot (cannot touch it by bare hand) if I shoot 6 rds with 0.5 min interval, and the point of impact goes up and to the left about 0.5 inch from 100 yards. If I shoot 25 rds in 25 min, accuracy goes south and I can't figure how to get poa adjusted at 200 and 400 yards. The first 3 rds easily shoot exactly by the POA sub-MOA (1/2 inch,really), but then the rifle needs 10-15 min cooling off rest. I guess it's not an F-class competition gun, huh? The barrel is free-floated, but not entire length of it. It has a rubber bump in it:
"There is no problem with your synthetic stocked rifle only wood stocked T3 models are completely free-floated. Due to the stability of synthetic stocks the Tikka engineers have found that this rifle is more accurate with a light upward pressure applied to the barrel. This is accomplished by molding a bump in the stock about 1/2 way up the barrel channel. This could only be achieved with the synthetic stock since the wood stock will change dimensions slightly based on atmospheric conditions."

 

[rockstar.esq]

So here's something that nobody else mentioned. Your ranging problem at 200 - 400 yards. Are you using a bench rest? Are you shooting from the prone? In either of the two cases, you might consider trying different ammo, specifically trying different bullet weights. If you're attempting these shots from the offhand with a light rifle, you're making things harder than they need to be. I've also found that some types of ammo have more flash at the muzzle, additionally I've found some have left more residue in my bore that others. So it stands to reason that there could be other influential factors in your ammo choice that could be creating the heating effect you're talking about. Moly coated bullets are supposed to cut down on friction in the bore. Perhaps they would help it to stay cooler as a result.

 

[USSR]

The first 3 rds easily shoot exactly by the POA sub-MOA (1/2 inch,really), but then the rifle needs 10-15 min cooling off rest. I guess it's not an F-class competition gun, huh? The barrel is free-floated, but not entire length of it. It has a rubber bump in it...

hessy,

Yeah, you've got a fine hunting rifle. A true competition/target rifle will have a fully floated barrel that will not have a wandering zero as it heats up. As for barrel contour, I would suggest a minimum muzzle diameter of .875".

Don