Does your gun get hot after shooting?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
I ask this as, when I owned my Glock, I would shoot anything between 100 to 300 rounds during the course of a range visit and it was fine.

Last week, I returned to the range with my SP-01. I shot 150 rounds, in total, having mainly gone to fire .22LR.

I did some accuracy shooting, taking my time between shots. Then, for the last couple of mags, I just went for it, seeing how closely I could get the groups whilst shooting as fast as I could squeeze the trigger. As it happens although the grouping was not too bad mostly in the "A" zone of a mini-comstock target.

That is not the issue, though. The problem is that the SP-01's frame was so hot it was bordering on painful to touch. I could not comfortably maintain my grip where my support hand's thumb runs along the frame, parralel to the slide and slide release.
With the G19, however hot the slide was, I could still hold the gun properly!!

Do you ever get this with your gun?
Is this one of the concessions of steel over plastic?
 
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I thought an SP01 was aluminum. Aluminum transmits heat well - that's why we use it for fry pans.

I've owned the notoriously hot P7s, and never really thought the heat buildup in any gun was too bad. CZs may have more barrel to slide and slide to frame contact to transmit heat than some other designs, but this is the first time I've heard a complaint about heat coming off the frame.
 
The SP-01 has several versions: the Tactical, Phantom and just plain SP-01. Some are ploymer framed, some alloy.

I have the last. It is all steel.

Ammo was Fiocchi 124gr FMJs.
 
If you run a gun... Any gun, fast, you will get heating.

All my pistols get warm, some get very warm to hot. Depends on how fast I shoot and the construction of the gun.

Poly framed guns don't transmit the heat as well so they can feel cooler. A CZ with its lower slide to frame fit and full length rails makes for a lot of heat transfer.


I have shot ARs fast enough to start burning the oil off the outside of the barrel... Actually I have done it on many occasions. My new Vz 58 gets blisteringly hot after a couple mags, but it vents the hot gas from the piston into the handgaurd.


Slow down your shooting if you get the pistol too hot. I like to leave actions locked open to aid cooling while I clean up and get ready to leave the range, and pack my guns away last if possible, so they have some time to cool a bit.
 
So you expected the pistol to become cooler while having controlled explosions occurring on a regular basis? I shoot my AR's until they look like a burning building, set it aside and shoot a different one while the first is cooling. Burning powder equals heat...friction of the bullet traveling down the barrel creates more heat...put on a glove if it bothers you.
 
I almost made the mistake of loading and holstering my new to me carry revolver after 70 rounds at the range. That sure would have burned my ... since I carry S.O.B.

Good thing I noticed it was just a bit hot.

We had two other guns to shoot, so just opened the cylinder and let it cool on the bench.

This is my only gun with no plastic at all.
 
So you expected the pistol to become cooler while having controlled explosions occurring on a regular basis?
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If all you have is sarcasm to post, please feel free not to post.... :rolleyes:

What I was expecting was a gun, being based on a combat/service pistol such as the CZ75, not to become so hot it is not possible to hold it comfortably after two mags of rapid firing. If gloves were that necessary, perhaps they should have come included...

Poly framed guns don't transmit the heat as well so they can feel cooler. A CZ with its lower slide to frame fit and full length rails makes for a lot of heat transfer.
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I will say this one goes the poly-frame crowd as I could put rounds upon rounds through my Glock and, whilst the slide was very hot, the frame was never uncomfortable to touch...

Slow down your shooting if you get the pistol too hot. I like to leave actions locked open to aid cooling while I clean up and get ready to leave the range, and pack my guns away last if possible, so they have some time to cool a bit.
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Fortunately my little excess was only the last couple of mags, so I could just leave it be after that, lying on the bench.

What bothered me is that these are designed for combat and are issued as such. They are also used as race guns. In those situations, users may not have the luxury of setting it down...
 
I shoot a lot of action style pistol matches, using both my Gold Cup and Beretta (depending on the course of fire).

After you fire a stage, before leaving the line you of course are to "show clear" drop the mag and lock the slide back to show the RO your gun is clear.

Having grown up and being trained with the 1911s I put the palm of my left hand over the top of the slide, pushing it back and engaging the slide lock with the thumb of my shooting hand.

Quite simple really, except when I transition to the Beretta, to show clear, I put the palm of my left hand over the slide and promptly burn the crap out of my hand with the '92s exposed barrel.

So yes, my gun gets hot during shooting.
 
I typically run about 150 -200 rounds through my alloy framed TriStar T-120 in an hour session. Hasn't gotten too hot to handle, but pretty warm after a couple full rapid fire mags.

"Happiness is a warm gun"
 
Burning powder creates heat ? Duh ! :eek:
Notorious P 7 ? I've had mine since they first came out and NEVER had a heat problem even in many an IPSC match. I looked into this and found it just had to do with how you held your gun and how big your hand was !
 
What bothered me is that these are designed for combat and are issued as such. They are also used as race guns. In those situations, users may not have the luxury of setting it down...
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If you're doing rapid mag dumps with a pistol in "combat", the fact that it's getting warm is the least of your problems. I'd rather be burned than dead.
 
Aside from the material constant for heat transfer, there is the amount of heat being transmitted. HOW FAST WERE YOU SHOOTING THE CZ? The faster you shoot, the hotter it gets.
 
James, I have shot ICORE with a variety of revolvers. Ruger GP-100, S&W 686, Colt Python. All of them after a 30-40 round stage and 35-50 seconds of shooting will have a cylinder that is very hot to the touch. The top strap will be hot to the touch and remember Fiocchi is a hot ammo in my opinion.
 
To get it hot enough to hurt... You were dumping rounds very quickly. Doing that after a range session in which you already fired many rounds and had warmed up the parts pretty well and evenly... That speeds the heating process. A gun that is warmed through from lots of shooting will get hot quick after a couple mag dumps.

Firing a couple mags quick through a cold gun usually won't be too hot to hold. Three or four would be pretty hot most likely though.


As far as combat... It is a defensive arm or a backup. Your load out for it would be three mags most likely. So if you need to fire all three mags quickly and it gets too hot to hold, you are already in a bad situation. Out of ammo and in a serious fight... Better be finding a rifle most riki tik.
 
Pond said:
What bothered me is that these are designed for combat and are issued as such. They are also used as race guns. In those situations, users may not have the luxury of setting it down...
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Combat: not having been there myself, but based on what I've read and learned from friends who have "seen the bear," I think that pistols are most frequently a BACKUP weapon, and if actually used against opponents, such engagements seldom entail the rapid use of many magazines.

(One Navy SEAL I talked with said that given the choice of a handgun or an extra canteen, he might sometimes take the extra canteen. His weapon of choice would be one of several sub-guns or machine guns more suitable for combat use. For the extra weight, he figured the water might be of more value in some situations than the handgun and its ammo. People inside tanks, aircraft, officers, etc., might look at it differently.)

Combat is varied, often sporadic, and while things can and do happen quickly, you don't always get a chance to engage many targets with a handgun rapidly without being engaged yourself.

Gun Games: in the gun games, like USPSA or IPSC, shooters will fire a couple of magazines during a string or course of fire, and then they'll clear and holster that weapon and wait around for their chance to shoot another string in a different scenario. It isn't always a lot of rounds fired quickly followed by more of the same.

In the situations described above, guns may get hot, but are unlikely to get so hot that the heat causes the shooter problems. (And IF they're really that busy, the shooters probably aren't paying attention to whether the gun is hot or not.) What you do at the range is much less constrained.

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So, reading between the lines here, this is just par for the course with a steel gun, used as described.

I guess it never occurred to me, never having experienced it with my G19. Something to remember and also something for would be buyers may want to consider, depending on their intended use.
 
So, reading between the lines here, this is just par for the course with a steel gun, used as described.
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Probably so, and I would argue that there are and have been far more steel-framed guns used in combat than polymer guns. (I like Glocks, so that's not meant as a slam.)

The U.S. military has bought way more than a half-million Beretta over the past couple of decades, many SIGs, etc. While other militaries use SOME polymer guns, not all of them see a lot of combat.

I'm not a big fan of Berettas, but I suspect the Berettas have seen more combat use in the past 40 years than just about anything else used by other major military units.

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Whether a handgun heats up or not isn't going to make me shy away from a steel handgun. I think that the "heat up" is to be expected. If it's steel or aluminum or whatever - it's going to conduct heat - that's what metal does. If you have a steel barrel surrounded by plastic, the plastic is going to act as an insulator. No different that an iron skillet versus a metal one with a plastic handle - the plastic handle insulates from the heat.

When I run my 9mm through it's paces - it heats up. When I am just taking it easy . . . I don't notice the heat. I'm mainly a revolver shooter and even when I'm taking it easy with my Smiths shooting 38s, they can get hot.

James - you don't mention "what" you were shooting in terms of ammo. I can only relate from my revolver ammo reloading what my experiences are as I only use Bulls Eye in my 9mm reloads. In my revolvers . . . different powers and different charge weights seem to affect the "heat factor"- all things ring fairly equal in terms of the frequency of shots.

I have a friend that I shoot with once in a while. He always complains about his handgun "heating up" - doesn't make any difference whether its a 22 or a .380 or a 9mm. I've heard others nearby who also have complained about theirs. Funny thing though, my friend will go through three times as much ammo as I do at a range session. He's one who equates "quantity" with end effect. I'd rather take my time and practice for "shot placement" - especially when practicing with my carry piece. With a revolver carrying 5 or 6 rounds - that's the important thing.
 
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