Barrel temperature question - .223

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Hi - I'm hoping someone can provide some feedback on this question.

How much heat should a .223 rifle build up after firing, say 30-35 rounds, in 25-30 minutes?

I was at the range yesterday in about 25 degree weather, and was noticing that the barrel was getting uncomfortably warm (almost too hot to hold) near the action, and in fact, most of the way along the barrel towards the muzzle, by the time I had shot a couple of targets (20 rounds per target).

I had my .22lr with me, so I put the .223 in the rack for about 20 minutes while plinking away with the 22 - no noticeable change in temperature on the 22 barrel after shooting about 80 or 100 rounds, but then again, it's probably 1/10th the powder, if that.

So, questions:

1) How much heat should I expect in .223?
2) Can one damage a barrel by letting it get too warm for too long (and if so, how warm is 'too' warm/how long is too long)?

Thanks in advance!
 
Centrefire rifle barrels heat up pretty quickly, and it's especially noticeable in summer when we have warm air temperatures and strong sunlight beating down on us.

Shooting one shot per minute will make for a pretty darn hot barrel after 10-20 minutes of shooting (sometimes almost too hot to touch). And shooting ten shots in a minute can make the barrel painfully hot. However these sort of temperatures are nowhere near the point where you're going to be doing damage to your barrel.

Shooting a couple of hundred rounds within a minute (i.e. either a full auto, or a very determined semiauto shooter with several high capacity magazines at hand) will get your barrel hot enough that you are starting to do damage (wearing it out quicker).

A lot of rifles will shift their point of impact as a barrel heats up, so that's one reason to avoid having your barrel get too hot.

If you are doing precision shooting and the air is dead calm, the "bubble" of warm air rising from a hot barrel will interfere with your sight picture (it will make it blurry through a high magnification scope, and it will also shift the apparent location of the target a bit too, which will make you aim at the wrong place).

Your rifle will cool quicker if its bolt is open and it is in a vertical orientation (for example, in a rifle rack). Air moves through the vertical barrel like a "chimney", and that cools it off quicker.
 
When I'm shooting my .223 in the summer I tend to shoot one group, then allow the barrel to cool, then shoot another group. etc. I find that 5 rounds in 3-5 minutes warms up the barrel enough that its time to cool (not so bad during winter shooting). I know at the temperatures its reaching (can still keep my hand on the barrel), it likely isn't hurting anything, but I figure why risk it? I also try to avoid this shift in POI due to the heat. I just bring out another rifle or two to shoot in between groups. As rnbra-shooter said, the barrel mirage is more of a pain than anything.
 
I've got a few marks on my hand after burning it on my barrel... My AR gets HOT! Then again, if I'm precision shooting with one of my bolt guns I'm not dumping 100 round through in two runs through a lane...

I remember pouring engine oil on C6 GPMG barrels to cool them while ripping thru belts of ammo back in the day. They would actually glow orange while night firing at the range!!
 
If its got some wall thickness/heavy barrel it doesn't matter much, but some thin hunting rifles in heavier calibers really open up after 4-5shots, at which point why bother wasting ammo all over the place.
Heat from the barrel definitely does have some mirage issues, something I gotta fix soon...
 
This is why I spend so much time on CGN - friendly people willing to help people out with their knowledge about a sport we all enjoy. Thanks muchly for the quick feedback! (Of course, the occasional slag-thread can be entertaining, too... :p)

re: mirage: I've got a 10-50x SIII on top which generates mirage by the ton at high mag when the barrel gets even just warm, but I'm using a 24" x 3" piece of cardboard strengthened with clear packing tape and held in place with an elastic band almost at the end of the muzzle as an el-cheapo mirage shield. I say almost at the end, as I found out the first time I shot with it in place to not to have it overhang the end of the muzzle - small bits of cardboard flew like confetti from the muzzle blast...
 
A faster way to cool your barrel, while convection does work....albeit slowly in hot weather. I use the a/c in my truck to cool mine down when it gets hot.
IMG_20130715_200247.jpg
 
ShootingNewbie said:
re: mirage: I've got a 10-50x SIII on top which generates mirage by the ton at high mag when the barrel gets even just warm, but I'm using a 24" x 3" piece of cardboard strengthened with clear packing tape and held in place with an elastic band almost at the end of the muzzle as an el-cheapo mirage shield. I say almost at the end, as I found out the first time I shot with it in place to not to have it overhang the end of the muzzle - small bits of cardboard flew like confetti from the muzzle blast...
Click to expand...
No shame in that... that's pretty much what many serious precision shooters use for cheap but effective mirage shields:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2007/10/oversize-mirage-shield-works-well/
 
Back when I had a sporter barrel, I came up with a way to speed up barrel cooling. I bought a D battery powered mattress pump from Canadian Tire, and from ebay I got some D adapters that hold 2x AA NiMH in parallel. I used a tygon tube to connect the pump to my rifle's chamber, and used the pump to blow some air through the barrel.
 
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