Purpose of a Heat Shield?
- Thread starter Tin_Man
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earlthegoat2
Member
They are to protect your hand in high volume shooting so you dont burn yourself on the barrel.
Now prepare for a bunch of others to reiterate this.
Now prepare for a bunch of others to reiterate this.
Brian Williams
Moderator Emeritus
Do you have a heat shield on your rifle or handgun?
Shoot 15-25 rounds about as quickly as you can aim, fire and reload etc. Grab the gun/barrel around the heat shield with your bare hand. At teh same time grab the exposed part of the barrel with your other bare hand. Let us know what hand you end up holding the gun with after a few seconds 
FFMedic
FFMedic
I have never seen a shotgun with a forend at the balance point that allows you the carry the gun with one hand, arm relaxed, straight down.
Also, when I reload I (and many others) tend to flip and cradle the shotgun with one arm and load with the other. Forend does not help you out there either.
FFMedic
Also, when I reload I (and many others) tend to flip and cradle the shotgun with one arm and load with the other. Forend does not help you out there either.
FFMedic
35Rem
Member
heat shields were put on combat shotguns so the bayonet could be used. This requires grasping the barrel with one hand. If you just emptyed your shotgun on the enemy your barrel will be very hot when you grab it to use the bayonet.
I may not understand what you mean, but I'm having a hard time picturing where you're holding it. Do you cradle the foreend and receiver, buttstock up, with the barrel in your hand and the muzzle pointed down?
I know someone who blew a chunk of concrete at someone's leg with a hangfire. I don't carry a shotgun muzzle-down, nor would I be too excited to be around someone who did. But that depends on the situation, of course.
Like I said, in competition that could be an advantage.
Somehow I've managed to reload a semiauto or pump shotgun quickly, and carry it for miles, without holding it by the barrel, but if you have a certain way you like, there's nothing wrong with that.
But for a gun to keep in the truck? Seems like a good way to accumulate dirt and moisture, with no advantage.
It's hard to think of any real-world situation where anyone shoots 25 shotshell rounds as fast as they can.
Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
And the cheap seegar goes to 35Rem. They were originally installed on trench guns to allow the use of bayonets on shotguns when the barrels were too hot to hold.
lpl
lpl
oneounceload
member
Current heat shields are not necessary, IMO......looks aside, they serve no real purpose.......as to getting barrels hot, go to Argentina and shoot several thousand rounds a day and then grab the barrel
Owen Sparks
member
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
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I shoot in tactical matches and have burned my thumb a few times in training. The barrel gets pretty hot after 25 rounds. I can see a real use for heat shields in high volume shooting drills.
JWF III
Member
Dangit, 3pairs12 beat me to it.
In all reality, they're meant for the trash.
I used to on skeet with 4 people running 2 manual traps as fast as they could. They wouldn't even stop and give me a chance to reload but about once every 30 seconds. There were times that I easily put 100 rounds through my 870 about 5 minutes. The handgaurd never got too hot. It's just common sense not to grab the barrel of a shotgun that's been shot like that.
It would be an extremely rare occasion (even in combat or SWAT action) for there to ever be more than about 10-15 rounds fired in less than a couple minutes. Then they'd usually have time to cool before the next "fire fight". The only possible exception that I can come up with would be trench warfare during WW I. My guess is that this is where the "fad" of a heat shield on shotguns came from. And nobody's really questioned the reasoning behind it since.
Wyman
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
You don't have to guess.
Bayonet fighting during WWI trench warfare was the reason.
As already noted by 35 Rem & Lee Lapen.
rc
Bayonet fighting during WWI trench warfare was the reason.
As already noted by 35 Rem & Lee Lapen.
rc
mljdeckard
Member
zoom6zoom beat me to the Carolyn McCarthy reference.
I have on occasion shot so much through my 870 that the barrel was seriously hot. (Busting clays with S&B birdshot by the case.) I was thinking to myself a shroud would be nice, but at the same time, I kept going without one and never burned myself. Thinking about it, I have several guns with the barrel covered by something or other, (M-1 carbine, SKS, Nylon 66 for example,) but I've never gone out of my way to add one.
I have on occasion shot so much through my 870 that the barrel was seriously hot. (Busting clays with S&B birdshot by the case.) I was thinking to myself a shroud would be nice, but at the same time, I kept going without one and never burned myself. Thinking about it, I have several guns with the barrel covered by something or other, (M-1 carbine, SKS, Nylon 66 for example,) but I've never gone out of my way to add one.
MAX100
Member
I like the way HS look on some shotguns. A Mossberg HS looks really nice on a 590.
A Vent rib serves very little purpose but I like the way they look on some shotguns.
What good is engraving, gold inlays, beautiful wood grain stocks...ect They look good to the owner and that's all that counts.
GC
A Vent rib serves very little purpose but I like the way they look on some shotguns.
What good is engraving, gold inlays, beautiful wood grain stocks...ect They look good to the owner and that's all that counts.
GC
General Geoff
Member
1. They look cool.
2. They do prevent burns if you need or want to grasp a hot shotgun by the barrel.
2. They do prevent burns if you need or want to grasp a hot shotgun by the barrel.
The Deer Hunter
Member
They are to protect your hand in high volume shooting so you dont burn yourself on the barrel.
earlthegoat2
Member
You got it Deer Hunter, I guess your just last in line so far.
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