11/111 .308 Barrel Heat

[David13]

I was out at Angeles today shooting my new 11/111 Trophy Hunter .308.
In one half hour shoot, I shot 10 rounds, the last 5 of which were within about 10 minutes.
The barrel then got extremely hot.
I don't suppose it matters. I need to make every shot count. So I just need to slow down. But is there something that could be wrong?
It seems a little excessive.
It was a hot day. I didn't get a heat reading, but the weather site says it was 99 out there.
I guess I need to get more guns to fill in in the interim, while the Savage cools down.
dc

[stangfish]

This is common with a sporter length barrel. More so with heavier bullets.

[6mmBR_Shooter]

Your metal barrel sitting in the sun is going to get well over the ambient temp to begin with. Add in the heat from the powder burning inside the barrel and it heats up quite a bit more.

If you can shoot with the rifle in the shade the barrel will still heat up, but not quite as much. Also, when I shoot for groups, I leave the bolt open between shots to allow the barrel to cool just a bit more. As stangfish said, the sporter barrel will heat up faster than a varmint barrel simply because there isn't as much meat there.

[tammons]

Its common especially when its really hot outside. 99df heat and dark metal in the sun can get too hot to touch without doing anything.

[davemuzz]

I agree with all of the above. You gotta get outta the sun if you can. And if your shooting a sporter barrel, remember, it's the first three shots that really count anyway. If your working up a load on hot days, your going to have to be patient and let that barrel sit and cool down. (Ask me how I know this?)

Usually if I'm doing a load work up on a sporter barrel, I will bring another rifle to plink with, and even one of my handguns just to kill some time while the barrel is cooling down.

It only takes three quick shots on a hot day to get those sporter barrels hot, so go on a day when you have time to kill. (My story is....I went out and killed everything I shot at today.....paper and time!! :) )

[rmdailey]

I've got that model in a 30-06. 22" sporter. I'll get Sub-MOA for about 5 quick shots, after that my group starts to open up to about 2 MOA. It depends on the sun and the temp on how long it takes to cool down. I waited about 20 minutes on a 80 degree day for it to cool down enough for accuracy to return. I found that 10 minutes didn't do much to help as the heat is still working through the barrel.