Barrel heat up and accuracy

[guzzijohn]

Why is it that Handi barrels seem to be so heat sensitive? There have been a number of posting about stringing, etc. after two or three shots. My Handi is a .243 with the 22" bull barrel. It is good for about three shots before becoming seriously heat affected. My Savage is also a .243 with the standard thin barrel and it does not show any heat affects, even after several close together three shot firings. I have a highwall in .219 Donaldson-wasp and I can quickly shoot 20 rounds with no impact change. Have not tried more than that at one time.
GuzziJohn

[ssjohnnie]

Because the barrels are cheap poorly made and not stress relived and they what to spend no money  on a good barrel I have a Baikal 223 that has a hammer forged barrel and the forarm is mounted so it has no efect on the barrel it is a single shot and a light barrel dose NOT walk the target when it heats up holds its point of aim i traded a Handie varmit bull barrel for this gun as the Handie would start walking the target after two shots and it was sent back to the factory twice the baikal needed notting right out of the box..........Just my spin on handies

[Dinny]

I have found that the cheap poorly made barrels are not the stringing culprits some have made them out to be. With proper forend bedding those problems have nearly disappeared.   Some exceptions can be made for the superlight barrels that are extra thin. They shoot well for their intended purpose, which is not rapid firing.


Thanks, Dinny

[gcrank1]

I start to wander when I heat up too..............

[mdwest]

Because the barrels are cheap poorly made and not stress relived and they what to spend no money  on a good barrel

yup.. those cheap, poorly made handi's suck... why after only shooting 25 rounds in about a 10 minute window.. my .44 mag (notoriously inaccurate) was all over the place.. i couldnt get it under .5 MOA at 100 yards for nothin!
 

 
 
 
 

[ratdog]

i have the heat problem with the 357 but the 223 shoots ok. my ar 223 i have shot it till you could not grab the barrel still very little variation in accuracy. the heat treating must make the difference.

[gcrank1]

There are lots of issues with barrel steels, even in high priced blanks.
IIRC, the well regarded C.E.Harris has said that barrels that 'did not need ANY straightening after boring, reaming and rifling were the most accurate, and those that did (need it) would start to 'walk' their subsequent shots.
I have no idea how these barrels are made, and/or what they might do to 'salvage' production, but we can image that they dont throw barrels in the 55gal. drum to be remelted. We can also imagine that if we 'luck into a bug-shooter that we ought to keep, and treasure it, regardless of what brand or model it is.

[ratdog]

you would think that if you shortened the barrel say to 18.50 inches the barrel wiping and vibration would be decreased and would improve accuracy. has any body tried this and to what degree of improvement.

[jackddavis]

I shortened my .357 barrel to 16.5" and shot several groups of 5 shots that could be covered with a quarter. After 35 rounds in 10-15 minutes, the barrel was still cool to touch. I can't imagine shooting this rifle fast enough to heat the barrel significantly.