Throat /barrel erosion

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Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 28 Apr 2024, 9:59 pm

Howa sporter barrel 223. Not stainless. I have heard that this problem happens more the hotter things get ie lots of shooting with bugger all cooling time in between shots. In about a month I might have to do some serious roo culling . They won’t be as thick as the worst I have seen at Cunnamulla years ago. That was 75 per night for roughy four hours. After that I’m totally sick of it and I head back to camp to sleep … that many in four hours ends up like being one shot every 3.2 minutes. Is that considered a lot of heat Im sort of guessing not ?
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by deye243 » 29 Apr 2024, 12:10 am

Nope . So it's just drop and rot cull.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by bigrich » 29 Apr 2024, 1:13 pm

Blr243 wrote:Howa sporter barrel 223. Not stainless. I have heard that this problem happens more the hotter things get ie lots of shooting with bugger all cooling time in between shots. In about a month I might have to do some serious roo culling . They won’t be as thick as the worst I have seen at Cunnamulla years ago. That was 75 per night for roughy four hours. After that I’m totally sick of it and I head back to camp to sleep … that many in four hours ends up like being one shot every 3.2 minutes. Is that considered a lot of heat Im sort of guessing not ?


If the barrel is too hot to comfortably hold your hand on give it a 10 minute break. I know someone who did over 80 in 4 hours with a 223 tikka. Still a very accurate rifle. Maybe take two rifles. Something for the longer shots maybe ? Alternate between the two ? After the first day the hoppers seem to wise up and stay further away too. Well the smarter ones seem to.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by animalpest » 29 Apr 2024, 4:03 pm

Did 104 roos in 4 hours with a heavy barreled .223. Didn't get hot enough to be more than slightly warm to the touch, but nights were cool and I keep the action open between shots.

Often its a case of shoot 3,4, or 5 and then stop to pick up carcasses or move to the next mob. That lets the barrel cool between strings.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 29 Apr 2024, 4:17 pm

Good tips. It will def be less than 75 in the time period. Good tips. I esp like the idea of keeping the action open in between shots because my rifle is pointing fwd horizontally in my quad racks as my thermal is looking at the track ahead The signal goes to my iPad so I can look ahead while on the quad. Much safer having the bolt open and cooling same time. Second rifle is good idea . too … and first two weeks of June at night I think I might have my hands on the barrel trying to steal some of its heat.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 29 Apr 2024, 4:18 pm

The dingoes crows hawks cats and foxes are going to have a feast and the place is going to stink
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 29 Apr 2024, 4:19 pm

Good tips. It will def be less than 75 in the time period. Good tips. I esp like the idea of keeping the action open in between shots because my rifle is pointing fwd horizontally in my quad racks as my thermal is looking at the track ahead The signal goes to my iPad so I can look ahead while on the quad. Much safer having the bolt open and cooling same time. Second rifle is good idea . too … and first two weeks of June at night I think I might have my hands on the barrel trying to steal some of its heat.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 29 Apr 2024, 4:23 pm

Good tips. It will def be less than 75 in the time period. Good tips. I esp like the idea of keeping the action open in between shots because my rifle is pointing fwd horizontally in my quad racks as my thermal is looking at the track ahead The signal goes to my iPad so I can look ahead while on the quad. Much safer having the bolt open and cooling same time. Second rifle is good idea . too … and first two weeks of June at night I think I might have my hands on the barrel trying to steal some of its heat.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by deye243 » 29 Apr 2024, 5:47 pm

Blr243 wrote:The dingoes crows hawks cats and foxes are going to have a feast and the place is going to stink

Thanks for the memories.
One of the wheat crops I used to cull on what a stink when the heavy night air moves in and I still don't understand why that doesn't keep them away .
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 29 Apr 2024, 8:39 pm

Summertime rots so quick , nothing but skin n bones in no time. Hopefully I can get some cats foxes and a dingo or two on all the bait … at Moree I used to lay down in the paddock in the middle of the night for a snooze , set my alarm every 15 mins , wake up and scan. I remember once I saw a fox less than 15o away just casually sitting on a pig carcass I had shot early .. so easy rolling over in your bed to shoot a fox sometimes
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by on_one_wheel » 29 Apr 2024, 9:30 pm

Heat is definitely an enemy of throats, it will cause heat cracking if allowed to get too extreme, the other school of thought is the extreme velocity and pressure of powder, burnt, burning and unburned, exiting the brass like a sand blaster chews throats, it's amazing throats last as long as they do.

The only time I've had a barrel get hotter than I like was blasting away at a big mob of goats with a .243 , it was almost hot enough to remove fingerprints from my fingers.

I can shoot my .223 (light barrel) consistently without building up too much heat if I give it 3 minutes between shots leaving the breach open for most of that time, that works well on the range but isn't always practical in the field when you might let 5 or more go in quick succession, it seems that once that heat builds it takes much longer to come back down again, nothing like a damp microfibre cloth to help cool things down again :thumbsup:
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by bigrich » 30 Apr 2024, 4:02 am

okay fellas , what barrel deals with throat erosion better , chrome moly or stainless ? i've heard stainless is better , but talking to people over the years , some reckon the lothar walther chrome moly are real high grade steel and last really well . it's well documented their harder to machine than other brands if you don't know what your doing . i've got a couple of LW on my rifles recently , and their definitely the smoothest to patch, most accurate moly barrels i've had
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Jorlcrin » 30 Apr 2024, 5:31 am

A mate is here with his 40yo Winchester Featherweight .243 w/- original blued barrel, and his 20yo .260 Tikka heavy barrel, that was his main-stay for comp shooting.

The Tikka has had roughly twice the shots through it, but barrel/throat erosion is less than half of the .243.
His thoughts are that the .260 has been run with that barrel-polishing projectile treatment that was developed by David Tubb (FinalFinish® TMS Bullet Kit)
It required initially shooting a number of coated projectiles of increasing fine-ness coating, to polish the barrel/throat.
To maintain it, after my mate's fired 100 rounds, he runs a couple of the final projectiles through.
Despite giving up F-Class shooting, he's still keeping the treatments going on the .260, and finds the throat erosion is substantially less than he was expecting.
He runs pretty hot loads through the .260 when he's shooting game, so he was expecting a lot more erosion on that barrel.

NO idea if this is solely whats going on, but it interests me to consider doing this if/when I re-barrel one of my work rifles.

Regarding the "Drop & Rot" comment, we are lucky to see a carcass last more than a week, so they hardly get the chance to start getting too pongy..
Late last year, we were shooting pigs eating the carcasses of shot pigs that were eating the carcasses of shot pigs that were eating the carcasses of roos...
And even then, all the carcasses were lucky to last more than a week.
And we also end up with a LOT of obese hawks and crows...
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Obie73 » 30 Apr 2024, 4:02 pm

"In about a month I might have to do some serious roo culling . They won’t be as thick as the worst I have seen at Cunnamulla years ago. That was 75 per night for roughy four hours. After that I’m totally sick of it and I head back to camp to sleep"

Thickest plague proportion roos I ever saw was on the main road south of Blackall in Qld in 1989. They were lined up on each side of the road for a hundred kilometres, must have been eating the new shoots in the drains along the side of the dirt road. You had to see it to believe it. It was like they'd all come from far and wide to hold a very important meeting in the roo world. There were millions of them. You could only drive at a less than walking pace for hours as they were walking all across the road as they pleased, in their relaxed, slide along, draggy-tail style, completely unfazed by my 4WD. They were also suddenly hopping in front of me and it was very unpredictable. I could hardly believe my eyes, and I had a blue heeler on the seat next to me that every now and then growled at them when they got too close to the window.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 30 Apr 2024, 5:32 pm

Oboe that must have been mad to see , Not being able to drive much faster than walking pace . I have had to slow down to 90 south of blackall and reslly focus big time not to hit them but never seen them as bad as you say. I know a semi driver that reckons he hit 54 between two towns .. imagine if a semi drive thru what you saw. It would be carnage. They are on a mission. They don’t slow down for anything
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 30 Apr 2024, 8:27 pm

A v shaped bull bar for obie. Like a snow clearer on the front of a train
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by straightshooter » 01 May 2024, 8:01 am

Blr243 wrote:Howa sporter barrel 223. Not stainless. I have heard that this problem happens more the hotter things get ie lots of shooting with bugger all cooling time in between shots. In about a month I might have to do some serious roo culling . They won’t be as thick as the worst I have seen at Cunnamulla years ago. That was 75 per night for roughy four hours. After that I’m totally sick of it and I head back to camp to sleep … that many in four hours ends up like being one shot every 3.2 minutes. Is that considered a lot of heat Im sort of guessing not ?

No.
If you can touch the barrel for a moment then the outside temperature is less than 60 degrees C. You are unlikely to get anywhere near that, even if you empty a couple of magazines very quickly, especially at night.
Be aware that some chrome moly barrels have a propensity to heavily copper foul when many rounds are fired which can increase chamber pressure.
You would be well advised to clean thoroughly every night.
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Re: Throat /barrel erosion

Post by Blr243 » 01 May 2024, 6:16 pm

Cleaning noted. Thank u
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