Summertime Temps and Barrel heating...

P

precision_shooter

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It's HOT here!

We are on day 28 of consecutive 100+ temps with no end in sight. Forecasts calling for highs of 108 next week.

Needless to say, I've haven't gone to the range since it started getting up around 95 but the itch is getting stronger to brave the heat and go. It's already 90 by 8:00 am so going early doesn't do much good.

How do you deal with hot temps when at the range?

Obviously, the hot temps outside will lend to the barrel heating up quicker and taking longer to cool down. Do you just deal with it, cut your trips short, or not go at all?
 
Lucky for me, I have my own 100 yard range with a covered shooting area that's 25 feet from my air conditioned workshop. I set up early in the morning to load and shoot and then shoot 5 rounds, consider the result, and back to the workshop to load 5 more with more or less powder. By then the barrel is cooler (a little bit). And lately I've just been shooting 3 shot groups. And sometimes I'll just get up early go shoot for a while, particularly after the grandson (16) has been here and hunting with my 223. Gotta check the sights once he's gone.

And it's hot here too. I'm about 100 miles due south of you.
 
It's been in the low 90's here in northeast Ohio; we were at the range last weekend and the AR-15's/.223 Varminter's heavy barrels got noticeably hotter quicker along with the longer cool down. Utilized this waiting time to towel off the sweat, it's humid here as well, and when leaving the range I must've grabbed the Varminters blued barrel with the sweaty hands, because some rust-colored fingerprints showed up the next day when I was cleaning it.:D
 
"Anyone ever thought of watering down the barrel with warm water..."
Sure did..about 140 years ago...Buffalo hunters used to cool their Sharp's and Remington's by peeing thru them! Now that outta' perk up the old firing line!
 
I don't imagine the gun really cares if it's 90° or 110° outside. I do though, so I find myself doing more reloading in the summer and more shooting the rest of the year.
 
When it is really hot I get to the range early and have my targets up before sunrise. I'm done by 9 or 10 AM. I usually take several rifles and shoot a string through each and usually shoot several mags of 22's to let them cool between stings.

If it gets really hot, and I have to get some load development testing done I will leave my truck running with the AC on. After shooting a rifle it goes into the cab to cool down while I shoot another.

Not possible at all ranges, but I can park within 10 feet of the benches at the range I use.
 
Where I shoot on our family's land there is a shed by the shooting bench where I set my guns between shooting to let them cool down in the shade. If I cant get out early or late I wont go shoot. Its been hot as crap here this summer. I always take 3-4 guns that way they can cool down in between being shot.
 
"...barrel heating up quicker and taking longer to cool down..." Not really. The outside temperature has nothing to do with barrel heating. That's mostly how fast you shoot. Doesn't have much to do with cooling either. Mind you, steel in hot sunlight will be hot anyway.
 
The outside temperature has nothing to do with barrel heating
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Really? So when I take my rifle out and it's 100 and sitting in the sun, why it is already to the point where it's warm enough you don't really want to touch the metal without even firing a shot? But if I go in winter or even spring, I can fire multple shots before bit starts to feel even warm.

Not trying to be sarcastic, I just don't understand your comment.

To the OP, I pretty much don't go if I can't get the desired amount of shooting done before 9:00am. I've lived in SC and AR, and with my .30-06 you can get literally 2 shots in before the groups start to open up. And that's waiting 3-4 minutes between shots.
 
The outside temperature has nothing to do with barrel heating.
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Maybe in Canada where you live. Come to Georgia in August. After a 3 shot group when outside temps are 100+ in the shade it can take 30 minutes to cool enough to touch. At 40 degrees or cooler I only need about 10 minutes or less between strings
 
Merril Martin wrote an article about brl. cooling in Precision Shooting many years ago. He was competing in plain-base cast bullet matches. Now with a plain-base cast bullet..you have to watch brl. temp. as this can open groups.
His solution?...Now this is the honest truth guys..He filled a Douch Bag with water & squirted it down brl! I'd like to see the look on the face of any women present when he pulled that one!::o
 
How do you deal with hot temps when at the range?
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I take off my sweatshirt.

Living in the 49th state does have some definite advantages.

On the flip side, I have called off Winter moose hunting trips when it has dropped down to -45F and windy; I have dressed out moose in the negative numbers, somehow -45F and windy is just a bit too much for me. I must be getting older or something...

The outside temperature has nothing to do with barrel heating.
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Now that just does not jive with my experiences with living and shooting year round in Alaska.
 
I try to get there early and get my business done, but it's a grind in hot weather, sweating all over the place and my glasses get wet when I'm trying to shoot,,,,,,,,:o. It's still fun however,;)
 
HAHA, yeah here in OK it has been over 100 almost a month straight and I cant remember last time it rained. Our 5 day is 103, 103, 107, 107, 109. I already went to the range once this summer. Let me tell you when its 104 in the shade 5 shot groups are out of the question. I was doing 3 shot groups with 5 mins btw each shot and it was still borderline too much.
 
My sympathies, I do recall when I lived in West TX and it would be 90 an hour after sunup. It does make a difference of course on how fast the barrel cools when it's 60 degrees compared to 100 degrees. The cooling rate is proportional to the difference in air temperature compared to the barrel temperature.

I'm lucky here. At 6 AM it is usually about 60 degrees. By 8 AM I am done shooting and it's only 70 degrees. I Usually take 3 rifles and a handgun or two with me. When it's 60 degrees, I take about 5 shots with each rifle, fired at a leisurely pace, maybe averaging one shot each minute. Then I put that rifle down, pick up another, shoot 5 shots, etc. When I'm done shooting the 3 rifles at 100 or 200 yds and a pistol at the 50 yd target, I go get a drink of water and start over. It takes about 20 - 25 minutes before I'm back to the first rifle. That's good enough. When it's hotter, like in the 90s, then I only fire 3 shots with each rifle.
 
Yeah I set out today to get the daughter's Mark X .243 sighted in, and its 85 and high humidity right now here today. The rifle started spraying at one hundred yds after it got warmer than usuall. The first ten round or so were right in the same dime sized area at fifty yds so we moved the target down to one hundred and started to adjust the scope, but really never was quite comfortable with it or the grouping... We'll wait til 50 or 60's take it back out to the range and get some better data.;)
 
Here in the mountains of Idaho it has been a cooler summer than usual. Summer started late this year. We typically have about a month of 100+ temperatures but no 100+ days so far. Next week it is should to cool down again.

That said Direct sun light on a hot day does my my barrels more hot.
 
The only reason a gun would care about the temperature is the difference in coefficients of thermal expansion between the steel of the action and barrel and the stock and between the barrel/action and the scope. The stock was fitted to the action at the factory at a temperature of 68˚F (20C), and any professional bedding job or other gunsmithing will have been done at or very near that temperature as well.

If the barrel and action are uniform in temperature, then the POI shouldn't change, regardless of the actual value of the temperature. That's if the action is bolted to some fixture made of the same steel as the gun. The POI relative to the POA may change due to changes in relative size between the stock and action and scope and action, but these changes will affect the shot much less than the bead of sweat inching down your nose in the summer or a shiver in the wintertime will affect the shot.
 
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