Do barrel cooling fans work (chamber chiller)?

[Daves762]

I went down to the local pet store and bought an aquarium air pump. This was 14 years ago before I'd ever seen a commercial barrel cooler thingy. I shoulda patented the idea or something. It worked great, and was cheap, quiet and stood on the end of the bench nice.

 

[Pointman]

I use the chamber chiller on my 338 LM. This rifle does get really hot. I shoot for small groups so I rarely shoot more than 10 rounds before sticking the chiller in and taking a break and a cup. At 100 yds, the difference in POI is about .5" higher and .5" left from cold bore. That;s where I zeroed the scope. My hunting days are over, knees and ankle are no longer happy campers. Now it's steel and long-range target shooting that rings my bell.

 

[Danehunter]

WATER IN BORE:
Tests have shown that the worst thing for accuracy is water in the bore.
Avoid this when cooling barrels with wet towels.

Eric B.

 

[tnek13]

They work I have one as well as a Caldwell rechargeable for my ARs and an air mattress pump which puts out more than the chamber chiller. I second to avoid water.

 

[milo-2]

I've got the unit that Magnetospeed makes. I've done some tests using one of those IR thermometers and honestly I can't tell if it's cooling much. I find it helps to put a wet paper towel over the barrel during rest periods

Pull that white filter, quiet it down, move more air.
The barrel is cooling from the inside out, so it the outside of the barrel feels warm longer, plus you can feel the air exiting getting cooler the whole time.

 

[25WSM]

If I'm doing a Lot of load development in a single day I use the soft ice packs you use for sports injuries. I have at least 15 in my freezer. Just take one and slide it up and down the barrel. Takes just a few minutes. If your going to the range put a bunch in a small cooler with your drinks and sammies. And you are good to go.
I use the ones that are about 4x4 inches. Mine have little blue balls in them and came from Amazon. Go on YouTube and find out how to make you own for cheap.
Shep

 

[keithcandler]

Do you plug the barrel or just let it run out the muzzle?

Do you plug the barrel or just let it run out the muzzle?

Do you plug the barrel or just let it run out the muzzle?

Do you plug the barrel or just let it run out the muzzle?

Let the water run out the muzzle. When you push the tight patches down the barrel, it removes a tremendous amount of carbon. This is a $3.75 fix for hot barrels. Most people use a rod guide that they already have.

 

[25WSM]

I doubt that water is getting any carbon out. Carbon is very hard to remove even with carbon cleaner and brushes. I believe what you see coming out is powder residue. I could be wrong but carbon cleaner is definatly not made from water.
Shep

 

[Don A Parsons]

Same up here in the North.

$20 Coalman battery powered air mattress pump...

Simple easy and fast.

Cheers from the North

 

[rsbhunter]

Looking for a solution also.....had thought about using isopropyl alcohol on a rag or paper towel....the fast evaporation should work pretty well....bottle runs about 79 cents....should cool about 10-12 times .....not free, but ??? Any pro or cons? rsbhunter

 

[keithcandler]

WATER IN BORE:
Tests have shown that the worst thing for accuracy is water in the bore.
Avoid this when cooling barrels with wet towels.

Eric B.

Eric, I am shooting Stolle Panda's and Hall M benchrest rifles that were turned into varmint rifles. Then went to other factory and custom rifles.

You got some very bad information from somewhere, reading on the internet is often real bad. My system was developed by Rockwell's #1 engineer on the B-1 bomber project. Steel has to get to 850* before water would warp the barrel, and barrel heat from a bolt gun shooting is no where near that amount.

Eric, you need to stop repeating that fake news, it is ALL wrong!

Remember, after water is ran down the bore, 4 TIGHT patches are ran down the bore, then chamber is cleaned. Temperature in the thousands of degrees proceed a bullet down the bore, vaporizing any micro water droplets. People forget about this simple fact about the firing process.

My hunting partner and I shot out 30 or more barrels on p. dog towns shooting 24-26K rounds a year, our equipment was top drawer. This Hunting partner was a Vice president, and electrical engineer of a major arms manufacturer in the country.

If water down the bore was going to hurt a bore, he and the other engineer would have known it. We have all heard the saying, "water does not compress" but there is no water in the bore to compress, tight patches plus the hot gases during the firing process eliminate all moisture.

We used Hart, Krieger, Shilen, barrels almost exclusively. We also shot out no telling how many Remington Varmint, and Ruger varmint in several calibers...all cooled with water down the barrel.

Best of luck with your air cooling

WATER IN BORE:
Tests have shown that the worst thing for accuracy is water in the bore.
Avoid this when cooling barrels with wet towels.

Eric B.

 

[Sevy]

I made this last weekend, seems to work pretty well. Had the tubing and fittings laying around bought the air pump for 15 bucks. It needs refined but it does the trick for cheap.

 

[keithcandler]

Looking for a solution also.....had thought about using isopropyl alcohol on a rag or paper towel....the fast evaporation should work pretty well....bottle runs about 79 cents....should cool about 10-12 times .....not free, but ??? Any pro or cons? rsbhunter

If you can get the quart bottles of rubbing alcohol and mix them 50/50 with water, douse a wash cloth, rub the barrel until the fluid is dripping off the bottom of the barrel, the barrel will cool in a big hurry.

Oil the blued barrels before you leave the rifle range. Not as fast as water down the bore, but will work very well. I was using this method on a friends gun last Friday. Key is to completely saturate the wash cloth till it will not hold more fluid. Cheap method and effective.

 

[Ingwe]

Eric, I am shooting Stolle Panda's and Hall M benchrest rifles that were turned into varmint rifles. Then went to other factory and custom rifles.

You got some very bad information from somewhere, reading on the internet is often real bad. My system was developed by Rockwell's #1 engineer on the B-1 bomber project. Steel has to get to 850* before water would warp the barrel, and barrel heat from a bolt gun shooting is no where near that amount.

Eric, you need to stop repeating that fake news, it is ALL wrong!

Remember, after water is ran down the bore, 4 TIGHT patches are ran down the bore, then chamber is cleaned. Temperature in the thousands of degrees proceed a bullet down the bore, vaporizing any micro water droplets. People forget about this simple fact about the firing process.

My hunting partner and I shot out 30 or more barrels on p. dog towns shooting 24-26K rounds a year, our equipment was top drawer. This Hunting partner was a Vice president, and electrical engineer of a major arms manufacturer in the country.

If water down the bore was going to hurt a bore, he and the other engineer would have known it. We have all heard the saying, "water does not compress" but there is no water in the bore to compress, tight patches plus the hot gases during the firing process eliminate all moisture.

We used Hart, Krieger, Shilen, barrels almost exclusively. We also shot out no telling how many Remington Varmint, and Ruger varmint in several calibers...all cooled with water down the barrel.

Best of luck with your air cooling

Great Post!

How on EARTH do you load and shoot 26K rounds a year to shoot...Incredible!

I load 1500 and call it a chore