Painted Barrel Performance

T

T.A.Sharps

New member
Hello,

My question is if anyone knows the effects on a barrel's performance from painting it.

The only thing I can think of is that the barrel would be more insulated and would not cool as fast, other than maybe shifting your zero a little.

I am not painting a competition rifle, but I am thinking of painting a rifle, or at least my rifled shotgun.

My shotgun is a rifled barrel that I shoot for accuracy in hunting. The barrel is very thin, so I think it would be more susceptible to warping from the barrel heating.
 
Don't sweat it. A black finish will technically radiate heat faster than another color, but it will also absorb more heat from the sun.
 
If you can crank enough rounds through a rifled slug barrel fast enough to warp it, you are a way tougher son-of-a-gun than I am:p
 
I have painted two Savage rifles (a MkII .22LR and a 10FP HS Precision .308) and it did not effect accuracy at all. My friends make fun of me for spray-painting my rifles, but after they saw my .5 MOA results (from the HS Precision) they joke about how much more accurate your rifles get when you paint them.

As for overheating, I doubt it. My buddy has a painted RRA M4 that has not had any shift in zero or anything else.

I have had no adverse reactions from painting my guns. Your mileage may vary.
 
I've got about 6 coats of paint on my rifle (couldnt make my mind up whether I wanted it to look like a tiger or the numerous camo treatments that its had :o) and I havent seen any difference in its accuracy. As long as I can hit the gong at 300M with it, I am happy. :D
 
I wasn't talking about having the barrel melt off the receiver from the heat.

If a barrel heats up quicker, it will change the harmonics of the barrel faster. Then your zero will start to shift.

So, basically I am concerned about fallow up shots, rather than a cold bore shot. I don't think it will hurt the accuracy of any firearm.

My rifled slug gun has a thin barrel and heats faster than a normal rifle, so I think it would be more prone to shifting zero with fallowups.
 
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