Barrel heat

[Husky243]

Took a Mauser M18 243 out for first time. Been a long while since I’ve been shooting and I was a little excited to finally get out after waiting for license and pta and I ended up putting 60 rounds through it over about 1.5hr period. Accuracy dropped off at 100 yards but that was as soon as I went the heavier grain Winchester 100gr. It had a thorough clean the night before to get rid of factory grease. But I’ve since learnt that I should have broken the gun in and run some patches through after every 5 shots. But I’m more concerned that I may have over heated the barrel shooting 60 rounds in short period. Barrel was hot but not really sure how hot. Have given barrel a good clean since. Any reason for the concern?

[Bugman]

When I first got my 243, I did a bit of research, and was told that it was good practice to run some patches through, say every 5-10 rounds. I did that and also had a pause in between rounds, of say a minute or two. I don't see, and others here will correct me if I am mistaken, that firing 60 rounds in a 1.5 hour period could do much harm.

[Blr243]

A high pressure explosion in the chamber is going to generate heat ...If shooting a rifle every 90 seconds Causes damage to a rifle it ain’t worth having. Nothing to worry about ...perhaps a high rate of fire with no cooling time will cause throat erosion

[on_one_wheel]

Funny that an average of 90 seconds was fired.

I discovered that if I take 90 seconds between shots with my .243 I can shoot continuously without over heating my barrel. (rem 700 BDL)
However, I'm talking timed shots not busting mag after mag with only smoke break once in a while between sessions to stretch out the average.

I have managed to get that rifle hot a couple of times when unloading on big mobs of goats, it's something that I try to avoid, I worry about throat erosion and micro cracking.
So far after my barrel looks fine under the bore scope and I lost track of rounds years ago, she's holding up well for a .243

[SCJ429]

You will need to use a decent copper solvent to clean all the copper fouling out of it. Something like Boretec.

[Husky243]

Thanks all for your input. You’ve put my mind at ease.
It was single round loading at the range and I was doing my best to sight in using a bipod. So definitely not pumping rounds through.
SCJ449, yes I had noted what looks like copper fouling in the barrel. From researching here, that seems somewhat normal breaking in. Especially when you don’t clean until the 60th round. I originally used a concoction that my local store makes up and then had better luck using hoppes 9. Patches are coming through clean.

[JohnV]

Over that period of time the heat will not be an issue . After 100 odd rounds in a new barrel it may have some copper fouling buildup.
If a new barrel is rough then running in can help but if it's a good smooth barrel it helps less . Give it a good scrub out with sweets and it's good to go again .

[Husky243]

Thanks John

[linkoln]

Shooting is supposed to be fun and you are way over thinking it.