How fast do you need to shoot a bolt action rifle to overheat?

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It would depend on the load, cartridge and atmospherics for that particular day. Your question is simply unanswerable.

Me I let em rest when they get too hot for me to keep bare skin on the barrel unless I'm shooting a rapid fire stage at a match
 
Get a varmint, tactical or heavy barrel version. It will help you shoot more frequently if needed.
 
This is as fast as you can shoot one (so they say) & it did not over heat, I don`t think you can...........
The fast-operating Lee bolt-action and large magazine capacity enabled a well-trained rifleman to perform the "Mad minute" firing 20 to 30 aimed rounds in 60 seconds, making the Lee-Enfield the fastest military bolt-action rifle of the day.
Maybe even faster if your not aiming, never heard of one (Over Heating)............
 
Rifles are made to be shot. Sure they heat up & group size may increase , especially in non free floated barrels, but no permanent damage would occur in firing say 100 rounds(& probably many more) of factory ammunition in quick succession through the rifles you listed.
 
You only run a risk of overheating with full auto fire. The question should be what is the barrel life? Or how quickly can you fire it in succession before mirage becomes an issue.
 
Overheating for a precision rifle is quite different than for a carbine:

precision rifle - barrel over 200-300 degrees, accelerated wear, absolutely no safety issue
carbine - barrel over 800 degrees, hard to hold the handguard even with gloves, barrel getting in danger of bursting, barrel or gas tube may be glowing, wear is hugely accelerated

No one shoots a bolt action rifle at anywhere near carbine rates of fire. BUT, if you paid $500 for the barrel and have a 1/2 MOA barrel, and you're using something like .22-250 that heats fast and wears fast anyway, you might want to take minutes between shots to maximize your short barrel life.
 
Depends on the caliber - .22LR your arm would probably tire out before you could do even minor damage to the barrel. 22-250 you are wearing the throat with every round, and a hot barrel probably makes the erosion on each shot even greater.
 
In WWI the Brit infantry was famous for firing a wall of lead against any enemy. They would use their little fingers on the trigger and the thumb and first two fingers to cycle the bolt. Their speed of accurate fire was legendary.
 
One round a minute in my 7mm mag a-bolt stainless stalker on a hot Texas day. After 5 rounds my barrel is scorching hot.
 
I fired 40 rounds of Turkish 8mm in a Yugo Model 48 last week. Not fast but steady fire. It got so hot it cooked the cosmoline out of the hand guard. barrel was simmering.
 
out of a fwt xtr .223 thats about as pencil a barrel as you can get, I can get 2 shots into 1" at 100yds as fast as I can rack the bolt and aim. probably 10 seconds between them. The third shot will be a flyer, 3-4" away. 10 minutes cooling is required to be back on zero
 
My rule of thumb is to touch the underside of my forearm to the barrel. If it is too hot to be comfortable is time to let the barrel cool. You can damage a barrel by overheating it.
 
On another site, there was a varmint hunter that didn't believe you could cook a barrel. Went on a PD hunt. He shot out a new Savage .220 Swift in a few hundred rounds in a morning. Factory replaced it but said they'd only do it once.
 
I was looking at the .308/7.62x51mm caliber in a stainless steel action/barrel, which should be slower than 22-250 and .220 swift, right?

Also, what is barrel mirage?
 
I was looking at the .308/7.62x51mm caliber in a stainless steel action/barrel, which should be slower than 22-250 and .220 swift, right?

Also, what is barrel mirage?
Click to expand...

.308 will be much nicer to barrels than .22-250 or .220 Swift.

Barrel mirage is the term used for the heat waves rising off of the barrel that mess with your vision, making it tough to aim at long-range targets. Scopes make it much worse.
 
As mentioned, there are a lot of variables. Both the rifles you are considering look to have fairly thin contour barrels that are made to be responsive and easy to pack in the field. Heavier barrels will heat more slowly but won't shoulder as quickly and will obviously weigh more.

Cartridge selection also matters. The more powder to ignite every time you drop the hammer, the faster your barrel is going to heat up. Barrels are also going to heat up faster if the ambient air temp is warmer and will stay warm longer. This might be more of a consideration in some parts of the country than others.

It also depends how much accuracy you are expecting. If you're going to notice a 1/10th MOA difference in group size, you're limit is going to be lower than a more practical hunting rifle accuracy standard.

Either of those rifles should be able to print with acceptable accuracy and maintain cool enough temps under more normal hunting conditions for at least as fast as you can put one magazine through the rifle. If you have to reload under most hunting conditions, you're not doing you job, the game is probably gone, and you should have time to let the barrel cool as you reload.
 
I own the same model Savage you mentioned, even at the target range firing a 5 shot group every 5-10 minutes for an hour the accuracy is very good. The only shots I ever really notice as different are the first couple after a good scrubbing. Realisticly i believe you would have to be purposely trying to overheat the gun to do so. That much 30-06 ammo would cost a fortune to boot.
 
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