CO2 barrel cooler
- Thread starter moellermd
- Start date
Evil_Lurker
New member
Quote:
Anyone ever use one or have thoughts on the idea?
I've never used one, but my concern would be that chilling a hot barrel like that might cause heat cracks to form. would you pour ice water in your car engine block if it was overheating, too?
Anyone ever use one or have thoughts on the idea?
I've never used one, but my concern would be that chilling a hot barrel like that might cause heat cracks to form. would you pour ice water in your car engine block if it was overheating, too?
This will be a good one to watch. Good ol'John Browning developed a water cooled .50 cal machine gun. I'll watch this with interest. Jack and Dan : What do you guys think ???? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
I have found that just shooting in some kind of shade will allow the barrel to cool off much quicker than shooting in direct sunlight. I think it was Gale McMillan that stated the key to long barrel life was the keep the temperature of the barrel consistent. Therefore, I would think rapid heating and cooling wouldn't be a good thing. The water-cooled Browning mguns would have kept the temp. consistent.
How about just taking a cooler with some ice and water. Barrel gets hot, stick it in the cooler. I'm no metalurgist but you are far far from temperatures that will change any metal structure. I know it makes guys cringe but find me one person who does it that has ever had a problem. I shoot some custom barrels and have yet to see it harm anything. I would argue that it is a whole lot better than to keep shooting them well beyond "too hot to touch".
If it is that hot I just dunk a towel in the cooler and wrap it around the barrel. Works pretty good and the comment to keep it in the shade is good advice for when you are letting the rifle cool off. Also try to keep the rifle verticle with the bolt open and they seem to cool a little sooner.
Towel is good. I thought of using a freon cartridge, we have them for electronics work. They were also used to make glasses frosty in night clubs.
I think cooling it before it gets real roasty is key.
Merle used to pull the bolt and put the whole [beeep] gun in the creek with the water running through the bore. Geeez!
Best: 2- 223's and switch off. works for me.
HM
I think cooling it before it gets real roasty is key.
Merle used to pull the bolt and put the whole [beeep] gun in the creek with the water running through the bore. Geeez!
Best: 2- 223's and switch off. works for me.
HM
AirRifleGuy
New member
Just shoot through a peep hole from a walk-in cooler- simple solutions are the best. Just kidding.
The Co2 sounds effective but hauling a tank around might turn into a PITA after awhile?
Here's some dumba$$ questions:
How many shots until YOUR gun gets too hot, interval between shots, and what is the cool down time to repeat a similar cycle? Yes, I also shoot rim/centerfire in addition to air rifles but I get to shoot airguns ALL the time.
Being a bit of a computer geek I once stuck a computer into my our chest freezer and ran it for 6 months- the performance was greatly improved.
The Co2 sounds effective but hauling a tank around might turn into a PITA after awhile?
Here's some dumba$$ questions:
How many shots until YOUR gun gets too hot, interval between shots, and what is the cool down time to repeat a similar cycle? Yes, I also shoot rim/centerfire in addition to air rifles but I get to shoot airguns ALL the time.
Being a bit of a computer geek I once stuck a computer into my our chest freezer and ran it for 6 months- the performance was greatly improved.
savagerookie
New member
This isn't CO2 cooling but H2O. Very cool set up, wouldn't make a very good walking varminter, but it could be done ala Browning MG setup.
Water jacketed PD guns
Water jacketed PD guns
Quote:
If it is that hot I just dunk a towel in the cooler and wrap it around the barrel. Works pretty good and the comment to keep it in the shade is good advice for when you are letting the rifle cool off. Also try to keep the rifle verticle with the bolt open and they seem to cool a little sooner.
That's the way I keep my barrels cooled down in a Prairie dog field-dunk towels in the cooler and lay them over the barrel, or pick up another rifle and let the other cool down.
-MP
If it is that hot I just dunk a towel in the cooler and wrap it around the barrel. Works pretty good and the comment to keep it in the shade is good advice for when you are letting the rifle cool off. Also try to keep the rifle verticle with the bolt open and they seem to cool a little sooner.
That's the way I keep my barrels cooled down in a Prairie dog field-dunk towels in the cooler and lay them over the barrel, or pick up another rifle and let the other cool down.
-MP
stiff neck
New member
But that towel trick only cools the front half of the barrel. It doesn't reach the rear half, which is the probably the hottest due to the cumbustion that occurs in the chamber.
Maybe I should have clarifed to keep the towel as close as you can to the chamber. A towel will only do so much anyway, that's why you have to be prepared to stop when they get too hot.
There is another method that some benchrest shooters use that works pretty good when the temps get high and would work great in the field if you only had one rifle. It is a cooler unit that you pump water though the barrel. Both ends on the barrel are sealed with rubber stoppers while you do this so no water goes into the bedding or leaks out over the stock. In between matches, BR shooters will use these pumps before cleaning to get the rifle as cool as possible. They only have 30 minutes during most relays, so getting the barrels cooled down quickly is essential when your shooting 100 degree or higher conditions.
I have a friend who manufactures them, but there hasn't been a great demand so he makes them on a "one at a time basis". It seems like there was something written about them, I will have to dig it up.
Turkey basters work well too, just tilt your barrel down and squirt water through them-and run a cleaning patch through them and your ready to go. These can be extreme measures on a barrel that is beyond hot to the touch, but you may damage the barrel if you keep shooting it.
-MP
There is another method that some benchrest shooters use that works pretty good when the temps get high and would work great in the field if you only had one rifle. It is a cooler unit that you pump water though the barrel. Both ends on the barrel are sealed with rubber stoppers while you do this so no water goes into the bedding or leaks out over the stock. In between matches, BR shooters will use these pumps before cleaning to get the rifle as cool as possible. They only have 30 minutes during most relays, so getting the barrels cooled down quickly is essential when your shooting 100 degree or higher conditions.
I have a friend who manufactures them, but there hasn't been a great demand so he makes them on a "one at a time basis". It seems like there was something written about them, I will have to dig it up.
Turkey basters work well too, just tilt your barrel down and squirt water through them-and run a cleaning patch through them and your ready to go. These can be extreme measures on a barrel that is beyond hot to the touch, but you may damage the barrel if you keep shooting it.
-MP
Here are a couple of coolers. One is a relatively easy one to make with a sprayer. The other one has a reservoir that uses alcohol and recycles itself. Both use delrin guide rods with o-rings that go in the chamber. You could get one from Sinclair’s without the solvent port, connect a hose to it, and make your own.
The one I described in my first post is a much more compact unit. Maybe I will go over to Jerrel's house next week and show you his design-it's much smaller and works really well. It's made to go out in the field.
-MP
The one I described in my first post is a much more compact unit. Maybe I will go over to Jerrel's house next week and show you his design-it's much smaller and works really well. It's made to go out in the field.
-MP
Bear
New member
Moellermd on the canned air I talked a gunsmith I have do all my work and he said that using the liquid canned air would do no harm to the barrel as you can't get it hot enough to change the molecular structure or have any effect on the strengh of the barrel. There is not enough expansion of the steel to allow microscopic cracks to form inside rifling area of the barrel. He said to run a patch down the barrel to remove any moisture and go shoot.
Marc Norlin, of SD, is the developer of the Winter Breeze system, and I have one. It works pretty well, with the gas going down the barrel being at about 32 deg., which won't harm anything. Others, in the gas industry, assure me that CO2 is caustic... "they have seen the results, working with it every day"... My tank is empty, and I guess it will stay that way until I feel safer about using it. I liked it for load development, as you spend too much time otherwise, just letting barrels cool down.