Barrel Heat

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Barrel Heat

Post by 5Tom » 13 Oct 2013, 10:17 pm

The tikka T3 SS in a synthetic stock has a pressure point that the barrel rests on about 3 inches from the receiver. I've recently removed this pressure point because I was finding that my rifles accuracy was greatly degrading once heat was induced into the barrel (By the 3rd shot, the barrel gets warm/hot). A peice of paper now slides all the way to the receiver.

I read somewhere that if the barrel isn't squared up to the receiver properly, under heat, it can apply uneven pressure to the face of the barrel causing inconsistant harmonics and inaccuracy.

The rifle is chambered for .243 so being a hot cartridge and not knowing as much about rifles when I baught it 4 years ago, I've always shot it like a target rifle (3 to 5 rounds a minute while load testing). I've since come to the conclusion that being a light weight hunting rifle, it's only the first cold barrel shot that counts and got me wondering if I had done any damage or exess wear to the barrel when it got quite hot to touch.

Is this true and would I need a gunsmith to check for this?
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by Aster » 14 Oct 2013, 8:10 am

3-5 rounds a minute isn't really punishing. There's hot loads and then there's hot loads too.

.243 could be pushing heavy pills at 2800fps, or light pills at 4,400fps depending on your preference. Vastly different wear and tear there.

My initial thoughts would be no, you haven't done any damage.

What loads and how many rounds total do you estimate you've put through it
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by Lorgar » 14 Oct 2013, 9:07 am

How many rounds and an idea of your loads would be useful.

For your consideration, I've been shooting my .243 with 70-95gr pills and near max 2209 powder charges for a little while now. It probably has 800-900 rounds through it.

When at the range I shoot around the same as your 3-5 rounds per minute, more probably... with breaks now and then to give it a bit of a rest.

No appreciable decline in accuracy so far.
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by 5Tom » 14 Oct 2013, 11:26 am

We'll I would guess I could have shot 700-1000 odd rounds through it over the years. General target blinking, load development, hunting..

I've used ADI AR2206H and now I use AR2209 as a propellant and mostly shot 80gr factory Remington rounds and 87gr Vmax or HPBT pills.

Is there any visible signs to tell if a barrels throat may have some wear? I just want to rule that out as that will cost big $$$
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by RealNick » 14 Oct 2013, 11:30 am

5Tom wrote:We'll I would guess I could have shot 700-1000 odd rounds through it over the years. General target blinking, load development, hunting..

I've used ADI AR2206H and now I use AR2209 as a propellant and mostly shot 80gr factory Remington rounds and 87gr Vmax or HPBT pills.

Is there any visible signs to tell if a barrels throat may have some wear? I just want to rule that out as that will cost big $$$


With sensible loads and 80-90 grain pills I'd be surprised if you'd done it any harm with 1,000 rounds.

To examine the barrel properly though you'd need to have a smith run a bore scope down the length of the barrel and examine it.
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by Don10 » 15 Oct 2013, 8:33 am

Based on the information at hand I don't think you will have damaged it, in fact I would be surprised if you did. Having said that without the tools to give it a proper inspection we all are just pissing in the wind.
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Re: Barrel Heat

Post by redrum » 15 Oct 2013, 9:23 am

Don10 wrote:Having said that without the tools to give it a proper inspection we all are just pissing in the wind.


Yeah. If you have serious concerns have a smith check it out with a scope.

Otherwise we can speculate all day without solving anything...
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