"Rapid" firing a rifle bad?

Until the Angels Fall

Until the Angels Fall

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My friend and I were "rapidly" shooting my Savage Edge in .223Rem today...probably 11 shots within 2 mins. Is that bad? Its new and we were just playing around with it...I didn't think until after that I was possibly...but hopfully not hurting it, meaning burning out the barrel and/or hurting the rifling.

Was I?

thanks, UTAF
 
Obviously no. Firearms are meant to be fired it doesn't matter how rapidly you do it. (Well I guess it sort of does but you get my point)
Of course some guns can overheat with constant firing so you'd want to be watchful of that but you're fine.
 
Opps, I think you meant to say "Glacially slowly firing a rifle bad?" :D

If you are firing for tight groupings from a rifle with a match barrel, free floated barrel, precision handloaded ammo already tuned for your rifle, then yes, 11 shots in two minutes may be a little fast.

If you are just putting some rounds downrange for fun or even to roughly sight the rifle in, then you are fine.

If you want to see some real rapid fire, watch this... I never get bored of it.

[youtube]KA-O9iyggVQ[/youtube]
 
Okay good to know!!! I've fired semis really fast with tons of rounds no worries...but some people on here make me parinoid with how crazy they are with bolt actions...taking 1 shot and letting it cool down for a 60 seconds. I wasn't sure if bolt actions needed cool down time or not to avoid ruining them.
 
Obviously no. Firearms are meant to be fired it doesn't matter how rapidly you do it. (Well I guess it sort of does but you get my point)
Of course some guns can overheat with constant firing so you'd want to be watchful of that but you're fine
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter with some firearms, it does very much matter with others. You could shoot a 22lr continually, and likely not reduce the barrel life at all, but if you try the same thing with a high capacity cartridge, you can greatly reduce the barrel life, by accelerating the rate of throat erosion. Try shooting a sporter weight 7mmRUM or a 30-378, rapid fire,on a regular basis, and see how long the throat lasts.
 
"...1 shot and letting it cool down for..." You do that when you're working up a load or sighting in a hunting rifle, but it's not necessary when you're shooting because it's fun.
Isn't exactly a bad idea to know how well and sometimes where the POI is out of a hot barrel. 11 rounds in 2 minutes isn't terribly fast either, but it'll heat the barrel enough for that.
 
A barrel is meant to take thousands of rounds, was it glowing red hot when you were done ? If you can fire off 30 rds in your bolt action in 15 seconds and put 200 rds through then you might have a case for concern. My 2c
 
"Runners" shoot 5 shots in 20s in benchrest shooting

Even in benchrest shooting competition, some of the best, most successful contestant shoot 5 shots in 20s on a single shot bolt action!
Their idea is to shot while the conditions are good and stable to avoid varying wind conditions and it works.

Just limit your "burst" size, keep our barrel clean and allow it to cool.
 
This is my idea of rapid fire.

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[youtube]jFEafMjrlOw[/youtube]
[youtube]dGAwrmOapb4[/youtube]
 
It's a progressive rate of wear on the throat and barrel... the hotter it gets the faster it wears... although 11 rounds wouldn't do much... the 11th round probably eroded the throat more than the previous 10 rounds did...

I did see a .257 Weatherby barrel worn out and ruined in 100 rounds...
 
stubblejumper said:
It doesn't matter with some firearms, it does very much matter with others. You could shoot a 22lr continually, and likely not reduce the barrel life at all, but if you try the same thing with a high capacity cartridge, you can greatly reduce the barrel life, by accelerating the rate of throat erosion. Try shooting a sporter weight 7mmRUM or a 30-378, rapid fire,on a regular basis, and see how long the throat lasts.
Click to expand...

Lets see how long the shoulder lasts too. :p
 
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